How did a Perth jazz singer end up on Eminem’s new album?

The ghostly backing vocals on Good Guy, a track on the US rapper’s latest release Kamikaze, belong to Donna Burke, who grew up in Doubleview and has lived in Japan since 1996.

Eminem collaborator Ray Fraser, aka Illa da Producer, sampled her vocals on Glassy Sky, a popular song from the soundtrack to macabre animated film Tokyo Ghoul.

Camera Icon Eminem’s latest album Kamikaze is likely to top charts around the world, including Australia. Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Rag & Bone

Kamikaze is likely to top charts around the world, including the ARIA Album chart, and the Nedlands Teachers College (now Edith Cowan University) graduate can hardly believe her luck.

Burke said that when she recorded Glassy Sky three years ago as a singer for hire, the producers “told me to sing it like a dead person” to capture the dark tone of the movie.

“I was a little bit hurt by that, because I was putting everything into it,” she said from Tokyo.

But there’s no hard feelings now, with Glassy Sky a favourite among anime fans in addition to landing on Eminem’s, below, hit album.

Camera Icon Donna Burke’s voice has been heard by passengers on the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet trains since 2004.

Since moving to Tokyo to teach English but hoping to also work as a singer, Burke has lent her vocal cords to a diverse range of projects.

She started out singing at weddings, before a TV commercial led to her first song for a Japanese animated, or anime, film on 2001’s Gundam.

Her voice has been heard by passengers on the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet trains since 2004, while she also gets regular voice acting and singing gigs for hugely popular video game franchises such as Metal Gear, Final Fantasy and Silent Hill.

Last year, Last year Burke starred in the world premiere of Metal Gear in Concert, performing hit songs from the game franchise with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Osaka Symphony Orchestra.

In October, the concert heads to Los Angeles, New York and Paris.

Camera Icon Donna Burke performing with an orchestra for Metal Gear in Concert last year.

During the US visit, Burke would love to sing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

“He’s a huge gamer, so that’s my big dream,” she said. “I love Stephen Colbert.”

Burke said that performing out front of large orchestras is now the highlight of her career, overtaking the previous pinnacle of singing Advance Australia Affair at the FIFA World Cup qualifying match between Japan and Australia at Tokyo’s Shizuoka Stadium in 2009.

She also regularly performs with her Ganime Jazz four-piece band, playing songs from anime films.

Camera Icon Donna Burke with her jazz quartet, Ganime Jazz.

Burke admitted to lying about knowing Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts to get her foot in the door.

A talented mimic who does a brilliant impersonation of British actor Emma Thompson, she put on an English accent during her first forays into voice acting but has evolved towards what she describes as “posh Australian”.

“Put me in front of a microphone and I’ll fake it,” she laughed.

In her 22 years living in Japan, Burke said the Australian accent has gone from maligned as an unintelligible ocker offshoot of Crocodile Dundee to totally acceptable.

Camera Icon Donna Burke performing with an orchestra for Metal Gear in Concert last year.

She recently did a broad Aussie accent for Doctor Coyle, the “ultimate boss” on Nintendo Switch game ARMS.

Burke said that exposure from appearing on Eminem’s album will hopefully draw more people to her shows, either with orchestras or her jazz outfit.

“I’d love to do it in Perth,” she said.