ZARD made their debut in February 10, 1991 with a single Good-bye My Loneliness. By their third album, it appears that the only member left in ZARD was Izumi Sakai, and from that point on, she has been the only member in that group. On May 27, 2007, Sakai died in Keio University Hospital at the age of 40
Sakai is also a very prolific songwriter who's also written songs for other artists, most notably, for J-pop groups Field of View, WANDS and DEEN.
She also wrote the lyrics and participated in the collaboration for the single "Hateshinai Yumewo" featuring JPOP groups ZARD, REV & WANDS. The single also featured famed Japanese baseball hero Shigeo Nagashima.
Some of her singles have been used in Anime, such as Dragon Ball GT and Detective Conan.