Born in Aichi, she joined the Yamaha Music School at the age of 3 to learn to play the piano. At the age of 12, she began pursuing a career as a piano teacher. When she turned 17, she started attending musical composition classes and prepared for an entrance exam to a university in Tokyo. Despite achieving the required grades, her family couldn't afford the monthly tuition fees. At 19, she eventually enrolled in a university in Iruma, Saitama (Musashino Academia Musicae). During her time at university, she became a devoted fan of Sachiko Kumagai and occasionally skipped classes to perform covers of Kumagai's songs for her fellow classmates. Around the same time, she also began composing classical-sounding pieces.

During her third year of university, she relocated to the Egota campus in Tokyo and began living on her own. She acquired a second-hand grand piano for her 10-square-meter living room. Additionally, she secured a part-time job at a family-owned restaurant.

At the age of 22, she compiled several songs she had written and began sending demo tapes to various recording companies. During this period, she also found employment as a receptionist at an optician clinic. Furthermore, she successfully graduated from Musashino. In 1999, her schedule was demanding, as she worked from 6 AM to 10 AM at the restaurant and from 11 AM to 8 PM at the clinic. Upon returning home, she dedicated herself to writing music. She frequently recorded songs on cassette tapes and distributed them to her restaurant coworkers to gather their feedback.

She finally had the opportunity to produce "OKAERINASAI" and secured bookings for live gigs held inside CD stores. She personally distributed this CD to Disk Union stores in Tokyo and received enthusiastic feedback. Recognizing the high demand, she began preparations for her official independent debut. She decided to leave her clinic job and took a position at an upscale tea house in Ginza. "REI" was also released around this time, marking her official entry into the music industry. Additionally, she started a newsletter also called "REI", which lasted for only seven issues before being renamed to "Super Yoeko Club" and then "Yoeko Club".

She changed jobs once again and started working at a restaurant in a hotel in Nagatacho. She also performed her first live show at an actual live venue in Shibuya Deseo on March 25, 2001. Furthermore, she was invited to host a radio program titled "Kurahashi Yoeko no satsutaba night" (Yoeko Kurahashi's Cash Night) on bayfm. Her second EP was released in June, and during the same period, she booked her first live performance in the Kansai region, specifically in Kyoto, alongside Batles and Hajimeni Kiyoshi on June 29, 2001.

Released her first full album "FUJIN'YOU" and the single "NINGEN YAMETEMO". Her first music video, "TORAREKEI", was also produced around that time. Up to that point, all her live performances had been solo acts with just herself and the piano. Consequently, she decided to form a band with Hisashi Ichinose (drums) and Kojo Yasuyuki (bass). Additionally, she distributed copies of her renamed newsletter, now called "Super Yoeko Club", all around Tokyo.

Released "MODERN GIRL". She began to grapple with the challenges of life in a bustling metropolitan city like Tokyo and contemplated leaving her job to potentially pursue music as a full-time career. During this period, she also conceived and released "TOKYO PIANO". Interestingly, the two members of her live band decided to form a band together called MeganeWrench, a name derived from the fact that both of them wore glasses, or "megane" in Japanese.

The hotel she worked for discontinued its operations, leading to her losing her job. She secured a record deal with BabeStar and made the decision to fully commit to her music career. With the record deal, she released her major debut single "TATE" and the album "TADAIMA." In February 2006, she organized her first-ever solo tour titled "Tadaima tekuteku tour" and made her debut appearance at a music festival, specifically the Fuji Rock Festival. During this time, she also collaborated with numerous musicians who covered her own songs for the recording of "OCHUUGEN."

Being attached to Victor Entertainment, she had to fulfill her contract and released another single, "SON TO USO", a full album titled "IROIRO", and her first official DVD, "THE☆KYOUKEN HIT PARADE." This DVD featured footage from her 2nd tour, "SON TO USO WA IROIRO", recorded at Tokyo Kinema Club. After her most active year in terms of releases, she came to the conclusion that she had done everything she could musically as Yoeko Kurahashi. Consequently, she announced her retirement on April 30, 2008. Her final live performance in Tokyo Kinema Club took place on July 20, 2008.

Following a petition that garnered support from hundreds of her devoted fans, a DVD capturing her final live performance at Tokyo Kinema Club in 2010 was eventually released. Simultaneously, a digital single containing her last two songs, "JEWELRY" and "SHOHOUSEN," became available for download. In 2011, her previously sold-out records underwent a remastering process and were reissued by Warner Music Japan. In 2012, a new band named SasaNishiKa whose members had previously been part of the rock-jazz band Gymnopedie, announced their debut CD and when previews of their songs were published on their website, fans quickly recognized a very familiar voice featured in three of the tracks. Rumors began circulating on the internet about the resemblance of that voice with Yoeko Kurahashi's. The guest musician was credited under the pseudonym "machi," but no further details were provided.

machi was approached by a long-time friend, Ryo Takeuchi, who was residing in China, to write a couple of songs for two upcoming web documentary series. machi composed "Country Color" and "Doremi Song" and enlisted the band SasaNishiKa to perform them in the studio. Around the same period, the band PASSEPIED released a cover of Yoeko Kurahashi's hit song "KYOU MO AME" as a B-side to their single "NAGASUGITA HARU/HYPER REALIST."

The songs that machi recorded were featured in the show in 2017 and 2018. "Country Color" was exclusively released in digital format in China. In 2019, machi was invited to join and perform "Country Color" at an event held to celebrate the success of the web series by Ryo Takeuchi in China. During that performance, she wore a mask over her eyes and had a Japanese translator accompanying her.

In 2022, singer Alfakyun. reveals the tracklist for her upcoming album #WATASHIIGAI, ZEN'IN, SHIAWASESOU NI MIERU. One of the songs, "KAKURENBO", credits "YOEKO" as the composer. Later that year, Alfakyun. confirms during a live stream to promote her album that YOEKO is indeed the new alias of Yoeko Kurahashi. One year later, YOEKO creates a Twitter account and posts a public letter announcing her return to the music industry after a 15-year hiatus. The news surprised her fans and quickly became a trending topic on Twitter in Japan. She released a mini-album of self-covers on her 47th birthday (September 20th, 2023) and started holding small fan meetings and live shows in 2024. A new album of self-covers is set to be released in September 2024.