Born in Chiba Prefecture, Koji Ueno formed "8 1/2", Kenzo Saeki and others, and "Shonen Homeruns" and "Harumens", and "Guernica" with Jun Togawa and Keiichi Ota, while studying at Nihon University College of Art. In 1982, he debuted from YEN Records with Kaizo e no Yakudo (Dynamism Towards Renovation). In 1985, he released Music For Silent Movies for silent films. In 1986-87, he participated in Ryuichi Sakamoto's film music projects, working on films such as The Adventures of Chatran, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, and The Last Emperor. For Go Takamine's film Untamagiru (1989), he received the 44th Mainichi Film Concours Music Award. His compositions include Japanese Folk Song Suite for 14 performers (1990, commissioned by the National Theatre), Sinfonietta Rurale (1992) and Ine no Ou (King of Rice) (1996) for traditional Japanese instrument ensemble (commissioned by the Japan Music Group), and Connotations for six performers (1993, commissioned by the Paul Dresher Ensemble (San Francisco)). For the NHK TV drama Gensou (1995), he received the Czech Crystal Award at the 32nd International Television Festival Golden Prague. In 1999, Koji Ueno Piano Works was published by Zen-On Music Company. Since 2000, he has been lecturing on film music at Nihon University College of Art. In 2004, his commercial music for Kewpie's "Tarako Pasta Sauce" became a topic of conversation. In 2009, Quartet Pastorale for recorder quartet premiered. For Isshin Inudo's film Zero Focus

(2009), he received the 33rd Japan Academy Prize for Excellent Music. In 2011, he began distributing the album Electronic Music, which can be considered a culmination of his musical aspects. He served as music director for Mika Ninagawa's film Helter Skelter (2012). For Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi's film The Floating Castle (2012), he received the 36th Japan Academy Prize for Excellent Music. In 2014, his works included the NHK anime Nandaka Veronica and the NHK BS drama Platonic. After leading the 16-member band "Koji Ueno and His Orchestra," he is currently active with "Société Noir."