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| Birth Name(s) : Hikaru Utada |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Arranger |
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Full Utada Hikaru Biography
Utada Hikaru (宇多田'カル, Utada Hikaru? born January 19, 1983), also known by her fan-nickname of Hikki ('ッキー, Hikkī?), is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter, arranger and record producer.
She has been hailed as one of the most successful, influential and acclaimed musicians in Japanese music history. With the release of her seven studio albums, including one compilation and two all-English, 25 solo singles (19 Japanese and 6 English) and several VHS/DVD releases, she has sold a combined estimated total of some 36,000,000 records in Japan as of 2007, making her the 9th most successful musical act ever in Japan. Her worldwide total sales of albums, singles and VHS/DVDs to date is well past 40,000,000 units. Her unusual success has been, in large part, because of her fluent bilingual skills in English and Japanese, having been raised in New York City and Tokyo. She is widely known outside Japan for her two theme song contributions, Simple & Clean/Hikari and Passion/Sanctuary, in the first two installments of the multi-million selling Kingdom Hearts video game series.
In 2003, HMV Japan announced that Utada Hikaru is the #24 Japanese pop artist in its survey of "Top 100 Japanese pop artists" of all time, making her the youngest artist with the highest rank in that survey. In 2006, Utada Hikaru also ranked #10 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time". And in July 2007, it was announced by her label EMI records that Utada's 18th Japanese-language (23rd overall) single Flavor of Life had sold the most digital units to date of any song release worldwide.
First Love is the most commercially successful debut album, and most commercially successful album overall by a Japanese artist, in Japanese music history, having sold over 10 million copies throughout Asia, with nearly 8 million copies sold in Japan alone.
In mid-2004, Utada moved back to New York. She recorded on a new contract with Island Def Jam Music Group. On October 5, 2004, she released her North American English-language debut album, Exodus, under the name "Utada". It was released nearly a month earlier, on September 9 in Japan, with a special booklet and housed in a cardboard slipcase. In an MTV interview, Utada said: "I don't think it's the music that I'm concerned about. It's obviously that I look really different and there really aren't any completely Asian people right now."
A year after the international releases and promotion of Exodus, Utada moved back to Tokyo and returned to the Japanese music scene with the release of a single track single, "Be My Last", originally rumored to be a double A-side. The title track was used as the main theme for the movie Spring Snow (春の雪 Haru no Yuki). Despite topping the Oricon charts, "Be My Last" did not meet commercial expectations, failing to sell over 30% of pre-ordered shipments. However, "Be My Last" became the second most downloaded song via PC of 2006 in Japan.
In mid-December, she released another single "Passion", commonly known around the world as the theme song for the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II. The single reached #4 on the Oricon Top 200 singles charts, selling 112,000 copies total.
Unlike all of her previous Japanese-language albums, ULTRA BLUE does not have an eponymous track to the album title. Instead, the ballad "BLUE" was recorded. The song featured Utada's new experimental pop and dance tone found in the album's last physical single "Keep Tryin'." This sound became a central theme to the album.
On 2 March 2007, Utada Hikaru and her husband Kazuaki Kiriya were officially divorced, thus ending their four and a half year marriage. They announced the divorce on Utada's blog the following day. Both stated that many factors contributed to the divorce, including personal changes, different viewpoints on the future of their marriage, and, more importantly, lack of communication due to the nature of their jobs. Kiriya hoped that Utada's fans would continue to support her and that the divorce would not affect her reputation and sales. He stated that they could not "emotionally depend on each other" and wished for everybody to support Utada.
Day of Nattō-- On her blog in July 2007, she stated that she recorded this song, and that she stayed up all night writing it. This song is possibly to be included on an upcoming single, and is speculated by most to be "Stay Gold".
Playback part 2-- A cover of legendary Japanese idol, singer, and actress Momoe Yamaguchi's classic, also performed on her Bohemian Summer 2000 tour.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams-- She covered Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams along with Passion on the Christmas of 2005. It was available as an internet download for a short period of time. |
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