Minori Chihara is a Japanese singer and lyricist who has maintained an active career as a music artist closely tied to anime productions. Born on November 18, 1980 in Tochigi Prefecture and raised in Saitama Prefecture, Chihara has released music under several major labels including King Records, Avex Trax, and Lantis. Her commercial success includes multiple albums that charted on the Oricon rankings, with her 2012 album D-Formation becoming her most commercially successful release, peaking at number three.

Chihara has contributed theme songs and character image songs to numerous anime series. Her early music work includes the character song candy (bitter&sweet) for the 2006 series Lovedol ~Lovely Idol~, released as a limited edition CD single on December 6, 2006 under the Avex Trax label. For the 2009 anime Needless, she performed Natsu Romance Doori nite, which served as the sixth ending theme for the series and appears on the character album Needless Character Album Characters Love Mission released on September 9, 2009. She also contributed to the related OAV Needless+: Saint Lily Gakuen no Himitsu, performing the song Amakute Marui Ashita as a collaboration with Yui Makino and Saori Goto.

In 2010, Chihara recorded Oira wa Sabishii Spaceman for the series Cat Planet Cuties, which was featured in the ninth episode. This song is a remake of a theme from the 1978 television series Captain Future. For the 2012 series Busou Shinki, she performed the opening theme song Install x Dream. Her single Fool The World was released on February 26, 2014 under the Lantis label for the anime Nobunaga the Fool, featuring the title track along with B-sides Harmonized Chaos and Hakanaku mo Itoshiki Sekai no Naka de.

Beyond performing, Chihara has taken an active role in songwriting. She has written lyrics for her own recordings, including contributions to her album NEO FANTASIA released on December 11, 2013, as well as her 2021 release Re:Contact. Her musical output includes numerous singles that achieved top-ten chart positions, including Tomorrow's Chance and Precious One in 2009, the latter reaching number five on the Oricon charts. Her album Sing All Love, which featured these tracks, reached number six in 2010. Additional notable singles include Freedom Dreamer from 2010, Defection, Key for Life, and Terminated from 2011, Celestial Diva and Zone//Alone from 2012, all of which charted in the top ten.

Chihara has appeared as a performer at major anime music events, including Animelo Summer Live in 2007, 2013, and 2014. Her later albums include Innocent Age released on April 6, 2016, which reached number eleven, and Spiral released on September 26, 2018, which reached number twenty-two. She announced her retirement from music in April 2021.