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Namie Amuro
MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2008
Background information
Birth name	Amuro, Namie
Born	September 20, 1977 (1977-09-20) (age 30)
Origin	Okinawa, Japan
Genre(s)	R&B, hip hop, J-pop
Occupation(s)	Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Actress
Instrument(s)	Singing
Years active	1992–1995 (group) 1995–present (solo)
Label(s)	Toshiba-EMI (1992–1995) Avex Trax (1995–present)
Associated acts	Super Monkey's Suite Chic
Website	http://www.avexnet.or.jp/amuro

In this Japanese name, the family name is Amuro.

Namie Amuro (安室 奈美恵, Amuro Namie^?, born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese singer, dancer, and former child actor/singer. Referred to as the "Queen of J-pop", Amuro has transcended fads and controversy to become one of Japan's most prolific and enduring musical acts. Born in Naha, Okinawa, Amuro debuted at the age of 14 as an idol in the girl group, Super Monkey's. Largely unsuccessful, the group grew popular during their final year together with the single, "Try Me ~Watashi wo Shinjite~" (1995). Amuro would leave the group after two more singles and begin a solo career with then small indepedent label, Avex Trax. Under the guidance of producer, Tetsuya Komuro, Amuro quickly gained major success scoring several million selling hits and creating a cultural phenomenon dubbed "Amura". However, in late 1997, Amuro announced a pregnancy and engagement, putting her career on hold.

She came back to music in 1998 with the top charting single, "I Have Never Seen," but slowly faced declining sales. She unofficially severed ties with producer, Tetsuya Komuro in 2001, shortly after taking on the project Suite Chic that would transform her from a pop idol to a R&B artist. Since reinventing herself, Amuro has achieved newfound interest. Her latest studio album, Play (2007) debuted atop the charts and was followed by "60s 70s 80s" (2008), her first top charting single in 10 years.^[1]

Over a decade since her musical debut, Amuro has remained one of the longest surviving popular female acts in Japan. She is the only Japanese female artist to have achieved a top 10 single each year for 13 consecutive years.^[2] She also continues to successfully combat social stigma as a now divorced working single mother.^[3] On July 30, 2008, Amuro released her first greatest hits package entitled, Best Fiction (2008) since transitioning to R&B music. Later this year, she will tour Japan in support of the album. Estimates predict that she could play to an audience as high as 400,000, potentially the largest audience of her career.^[4]

Biography

Childhood and Idol Beginnings

Namie Amuro was born in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. She was raised solely by her mother, Emiko Taira, who had divorced her father when Amuro was four years old. ^[5] Taira worked as a nursery school employee and bar hostess to support her children. ^[6]

Amuro did not have ambitions to become a performer early in life. Instead she wanted to become a stewardess. However, at the age of twelve, Amuro was discovered while visiting a friend by Masayuki Makino who owned and operated a performing arts school.^[7] Amuro eventually joined Okinawa Actors School and after only two years of study, Makino placed her in an idol group called Super Monkey's along with five other girls. They made their major label debut in September 1992 on Toshiba-EMI. A year later, the group relocated to Tokyo which Amuro's mother was against.^[5]

The Super Monkey's were largely unsuccessful, shuffling in and out several members. They changed their group name to Namie Amuro with Super Monkeys in 1994 to reflect Amuro's individual rising popularity. Aside from group activities, she had bit parts in TV dramas and small films. The group reshuffled a final time in 1995 and released the single, "Try Me ~Watashi wo Shinjite~" produced by Max Matsuura. The single became their first and last top ten hit^[8] as a group. The other four members of the Super Monkey's continued to perform with Amuro as background dancers but formed their own group, MAX and debuted on the Avex Trax label. Amuro would release two more solo singles under Toshiba-EMI before making the move to Avex Trax herself in October 1995.

1995-1997: The Amura Boom

Amuro released the single, "Body Feels Exit" the same month she left her former label. It was the first single produced from her working relationship with producer, Tetsuya Komuro. Komuro had actually approached Amuro in 1993 after seeing a commercial her group had starred in.^[9] It was through her former producer, Matsuura, that Amuro was able to switch recording companies and begin working with Komuro. A second Komuro-produced single, "Chase the Chance" was released two months later. It would be her final single performed with her former group and become her first chart topping million selling single. She won the Golden Arrow Award 1995.^[10]

Throughout 1995 and 1996, Amuro accumulated three consecutive number-one million-selling singles including "Chase the Chance," "Don't wanna cry," and "You're My Sunshine". Following four successful singles, she released the groundbreaking Sweet 19 Blues (1996) album to massive success selling over 3,000,000, and appeared in two films on the big screen. By then Amuro's success had transcended her music into Japanese fashion culture. Her signature tanned skin, dyed hair, miniskirts and boots created a generation of imitators dubbed Amuraa by the media.^[11][12] Amuraa often romanized as Amurer or Amuler. Amuro is often accredited for the creation of Ganguro which is said to be an offspring of the Amura boom.^[13]

At the end of 1996, she was nominated for, and won the Grand Prix Award, the highest honor at the Japan Record Awards, (Japan's equivalent to the Grammy's Best Song Award.) for her hit "Don't wanna cry". She is the youngest artist to have won the award.^[14]

Amuro began 1997 with her career defining single, "Can You Celebrate?" Released in February, the single sold over 800,000 copies its first week.^[15] This single became the best selling single by a solo female artist in Japanese music history with sales of 2.29 million copies.^[16] After the release of another single "How to be a girl" and a second album, Concentration 20 Amuro toured Japan's four domes during the summer of that year. On August 3, 1997, Amuro achieved sales of 20 million copies in Japan.^[17]

In the fall, Amuro shocked Japan when she announced at a press conference that she was married to Masaharu Maruyama, known as Sam, and was three months pregnant. Sam was already a familiar name to the public as part of the popular group, TRF.^[18] At the end of the year she would win the Grand Prix Award again for "Can You Celebrate?" and make her final appearance on Kouhaku Uta Gassen (Kouhaku singing contest) before beginning her one year leave of absence .

1998-2001: Career Refocus

After giving birth to her son, whose name is Haruto, in 1998, Amuro returned to the music scene with the single "I Have Never Seen" (1998). She made her first televised appearance on Kouhaku Uta Gassen days later performing a tearful rendition of her hit "Can You Celebrate?" (1997). On the first week of the Oricon year, the new single debuted at the top position.

Amuro's following single, "Respect the Power of Love", was released on March 17, 1999; on the same day, news broke out that her mother had been slain in Okinawa. Upon hearing the news, Amuro canceled her promotional schedule and flew back to Okinawa in order to identify her mother's body.^[5] A week later, the single debuted at number two breaking a string of consecutive number one hits. A third comeback single, "Toi et Moi" was released in July of that year and was quickly followed by another single, "Something 'bout the Kiss." The latter single featured production by American Hip-hop/R&B producer Dallas Austin. Austin along with longtime producer, Tetsuya Komuro, would produce her first album since her hiatus Genius 2000 (2000) released in January of 2000. Upon release the album debuted at number one but came short of selling a million copies.

Amuro spent the first half of 2000 touring in support of the Genius 2000 album. She began the second half with a single, "Never End", released in July. The single was used as part of the G8 Summit taking place in Okinawa, Japan that year. It was commissioned by late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi who asked producer Tetsuya Komuro to write a song conveying "a vision of harmony and interaction in the world in the 21st century".^[19] Obuchi later asked Amuro to perform the single at the summit.^[20] Amuro ended 2000 by releasing Break the Rules in December. The album was a commercial disappointment peaking at number two and selling just 334,520 copes, a sharp decline from her previous album. A double a-side single cut from the Break the Rules album, entitled "Think of Me / No More Tears" was released in January 2001. It charted in the lower half of the top ten. Amuro went on a national tour to support the album in March and ending in May.

In August, Amuro released the single "Say the Word". For the first time, she took an active role in the production of the song and wrote the lyrics herself. The single also unofficially marked an end to the working relationship between her and longtime producer Tetsuya Komuro. However, in December she worked with Komuro for the last time on a "Lovin' It", a single released as part of Avex's Song+Nation charity project. The charity single featured hip-hop artist VERBAL of the group m-flo who would later help her make a transition from pop to R&B.

2002-2004: Adaptation to R&B

In 2002, Namie fully immersed herself into the Japanese R&B scene releasing music in the musical project, Suite Chic. Under the Suite Chic project she collaborated with several of Japan's popular hip hop and R&B artists.^[21] They released two singles, an original album and one remix album before ending the project in 2003.

Namie returned to solo activities on her own in 2003 with the single "shine more". The subsequent singles "Put 'Em Up" and "So Crazy" were produced by American R&B producers Dallas Austin and Full Force respectively. At the end of the year, she released her first original album in three years, Style.

From November 29, 2003 to May 15, 2004 she performed throughout Asia on the Namie Amuro SO CRAZY tour featuring BEST singles 2003-2004, where she wrapped it up with 3 concerts in Seoul, South Korea and Taipei, Taiwan. She was the first major Japanese artist to hold a concert in South Korea after the normalization of cultural relations. Shortly following the tour, she released the ballad "All for You." The song peaked at #6, but sold double the amount of her last single. On October 14, 2004, she released the double a-side single "Girl Talk / The Speed Star". The single debuted at #1 on the Oricon daily chart.^[22] The single ultimately placed #2 for the week.^[23]

At the end of 2004, Amuro chose not to appear on Kōhaku Uta Gassen though she had earned her right to perform at the event that year.^[24] She had previously attended the coveted event nine years in a row. Amuro tended to regain popularity, but she did not want to obtrude herself on public anymore.^[3]

2005-2006: New beginning

MTV Asia Aid, Bangkok, Thailand 2005

Following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake disaster in Southeast Asia, Amuro participated as the only Japanese representative at MTV Asia Aid in February 2005.^[25][26][27] She secretly donated 10 million yen (approximately USD$90,000) to UNICEF for children who were affected by the disaster.^[28]

On April 6, 2005, she released the single "Want Me, Want Me". The song was a well-received hit at home debuting at #2 and charting with her highest debut sales peak in 3 years. In May 2005, following a three year split from her former husband SAM, she took back full custody of their child, Haruto. They had previously agreed that SAM would be the child's sole guardian.

On May 29, 2005, she performed at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan for the fourth consecutive year in a row and this year, clinched two awards; "Best R&B Video" and "Most Impressive Performing Asian Artist", becoming the first artist to take home awards four years in a row at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan.^[29] She took home the "Inspiration Award Japan" in 2002, Best Collaboration in 2003, "Best R&B Video" for 2004, and 2005 as well as "Most Impressive Performing Asian Artist" in 2005.^[30]

On July 13, 2005, she released her sixth original studio album, entitled Queen of Hip-Pop. In collaboration with MGM Studios, Namie has licensed for the use of the Pink Panther character to be used in conjunction with the album. A female panther counterpart has been created in her image for the album as well. There seems to be no connection with the usage of the Pink Panther and the possible Japanese release of the American remake. The album charted at #2. When the album was completed, Amuro said that she had not been able to sing the songs very well yet.^[31]

In September 2005, Amuro kicked off her 7th national public tour entitled Space of Hip-Pop. Shortly after the start of her tour it was announced that she would contribute to the Japanese theaterical release of the American motion picture adaptation of Sin City. After viewing the movie, Amuro made an offer to the Japanese distribution company to sing its theme song. The company felt that her image fit it and accepted her offer. When director Robert Rodriguez heard Namie's contribution to the film he asked to be a part of it. He can be heard speaking "Welcome to Sin City" in a distorted voice towards the end of the song. It was released as part of a double a-side single, "White Light / Violet Sauce" on November 16, 2005. The other a-side track, "White Light" is her first attempt at a Christmas ballad. Shortly after the single, she released FILMOGRAPHY 2001-2005 a compilation of twelve of her music videos from 2001 to 2005.

In early 2006, she recorded vocals for the track, "Do What U Gotta Do" by Zeebra. The song also featured contributions from AI and MUMMY-D. In February, her music video for "WoWa" was nominated for "Best Female Video" at Space Shower TV music video awards, but lost to YUKI's video for "Joy". In May, she released the double A-side single, "Can't Sleep, Can't Eat, I'm Sick / Ningyo".

In August 2006, she began her tour Namie Amuro Best Tour "Live Style 2006". On September 17, she performed to an audience of 12,000 at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.^[32] She stated that she would do the performance greater than ever before in 2007.^[33]

2007-present: Successful comeback

Amuro's next single, "Baby Don't Cry", was released on January 24, 2007. It was used as the theme song of a Japanese Drama Himitsu no Hanazono. "Baby Don't Cry" achieved over a million digital download sales for ringtone according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan.^[34] Amuro's 32nd single, "Funky Town", was released on April 4, 2007. The song is produced by Michico and T.Kura. She was also featured on M-flo's newest album, Cosmicolor, in a song titled "Luvotomy".

Her 7th studio album, Play, was released on June 27, 2007. The album includes 12 songs, 4 of which are single tracks. The album is said to reflect Amuro's new style, and featured a rock number, and a chic slow song.^[35] One of her new songs, "Top Secret" is used as the theme song of the drama series Prison Break 2 in Japan. Play took the #1 spot on the Oricon Weekly Chart Rankings.^[36] The album is also her first #1 in over 7 years, with her last #1 occurring in 2000 with her album, Genius 2000. It is also her fourth studio album to reach #1. Play spent 2 consecutive weeks at the #1 position.

From August 18, 2007, to February 27, 2008, she performed her concert tour in Japan 'PLAY Tour 2007-2008'^[37] which consisted initially of 53 performances^[38] but was increased by 12 performances to 65 performances, making this her biggest tour in terms of number of performances by far.^[39]

Amuro's first single of 2008, released on March 12, was an image song for the new Vidal Sassoon marketing campaign Fashion x Music x VS. The title of her new single was confirmed to be "60s 70s 80s", and contained three songs - "New Look", "Rock Steady", and "What A Feeling" (with their associated PVs in the CD+DVD version), which is something new for her single releases. These songs have a modern twist from the '60s, '70s, and '80s. The single debuted at #2 on the weekly charts with over 114,000 copies sold and became Amuro's highest first week sales since 2000's "Never End". In the second week the single gained the #1 spot for that week, making it Namie's first #1 single after 9 years and 3 months since I Have Never Seen.^[40] The single has already sold 293,097 copies.

On March 25, 2008, Amuro has won the prize for "Best Female Video" for "Hide & Seek" at Space Shower TV music video awards 08.^[41] "Hide & Seek" also won the prize for "Best R&B Video" at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2008 which was conducted at the Saitama Super Arena on May 31.^[42]

In a Mother's Day poll conducted by Oricon asking "Which artist is your ideal mom?" Amuro was voted #1 as ideal mother.^[43] When Oricon also asked "Which female artist has a nice body?" Amuro was ranked #1 across the board.^[44]

In May 2008, Amuro also has done a collaboration with Double on the song "Black Diamond"^[45], which achieved 200,000 digital download sales for ringtone in 20 days.^[46] On July 26, about 25,000 people attended the a-nation '08 and saw her performance.^[47] This was the first time she was invited to perform on it in seven years.^[48]

Amuro released a new best album Best Fiction on July 30, 2008. It featured all her singles from 2002's "Wishing on the Same Star" to the recently released "60s 70s 80s". It also featured 2 new songs, "Sexy Girl" and "Do Me More". "Sexy Girl" is the theme song for NHK drama "Otome no Punch" that aired on June 19, and the other called "Do Me More" was the campaign song for Vidal Sassoon for July.^[49] Best Fiction sold 681,187 copies on the first week and debuted at #1 on the oricon weekly chart.^[50] The album also debuted at #1 on the United World Chart. The album remained at the #1 position in its second and third week, selling 258,000 and 158,000 copies respectively. Within its third week, Best Fiction outsold a million copies, and Amuro became the only artist who produced million-selling albums in the oricon chart for three decades of her teens, twenties, and thirties.^[51][52]

Amuro will also be starting a new tour called Namie Amuro BEST FICTION 2008-2009. It will be once again an Arena stage tour similar to LIVE STYLE 2006 and will be used to promote her coming Best album. This means that she will perform all the single tracks from the best album on this tour including the new songs and 60s70s80s.

Artistry and image

Early in her career, Amuro's music consisted of mostly dance-pop songs, typical of her then-producer Tetsuya Komuro.^[53] In later years, however, Amuro began incorporating elements of R&B and hip-hop; producer Dallas Austin as well as Amuro's involvement in Avex's Suite Chic project were pivotal in her musical evolution. By her albums Style and Queen of Hip-Pop, Amuro had moved away from dance music and focused mainly on hip-hop and R&B tunes.^[54]

At the height of her popularity, Amuro was known as a fashion leader in Japan; her style, which included mini-skirts and platform boots incited the "Amuraa" craze in Japan, in which girls across Japan copied aspects of Amuro's look, including her clothes, tanned skin, hair, and "pencil thin eyebrows".^[55] Also among the fads that Amuro popularized were body wire (nylon accessories that resemble tattoos), baggy socks, and skin-baring clothes.^[56][57][58] Amuro's "idol" status contributed to her prominence in the media in the mid-nineties; at one point, Amuro hosted her own television show in addition to promoting various products through commercials as well as appearing on a television show "almost every night".^[59][3]

Discography

Main article: Namie Amuro discography

Concerts and tours

• August 31, 1996 - September 1, 1996: Summer Presents '96 Amuro Namie with Super Monkey's (sic)
• March 23, 1997 - May 18, 1997: Namie Amuro tour 1997 a walk in the park
• July 26, 1997 - August 13, 1997: Mistio presents Namie Amuro Summer Stage '97 Concentration 20
• March 20, 2000 - May 7, 2000: Namie Amuro Tour "Genius 2000"
• March 18, 2001 - May 27, 2001: Namie Amuro tour 2001 Break the Rules
• October 17, 2001 - November 10, 2001: Namie Amuro tour "AmR" '01
• November 29, 2003 - May 15, 2004: Namie Amuro So Crazy tour featuring Best singles 2003-2004
• August 27, 2004 - September 20, 2004: Namie Amuro tour "fan space '04"
• September 1, 2005 - December 24, 2005: Space of Hip-Pop -namie amuro tour 2005-
• August 13, 2006 - November 23, 2006: Namie Amuro Best tour "Live Style 2006"
• August 18, 2007 - April 13, 2008: Namie Amuro Play tour 2007-2008
• October 25, 2008 - March 20, 2009: Namie Amuro BEST FICTION 2008-2009

Filmography

Drama

• Ichigo hakusho (TV Asahi, 1993)
• Toki o Kakeru Shojo (Fuji TV, 1994)
• Watashi, mikata desu (TBS, 1995)
• Station (NTV, 1995)
• 湘南リバプール学院 (Fuji TV, 1995)

Films

• That's Cunning! Shijo Saidan no Sakusen (1996)
• Gakko II: The Learning Circle (aka: A Class To Remember 2) (1996) (Cameo)

Drama Theme Songs

• "Chase The Chance" — theme song for The Chef (NTV, 1995)
• "Can You Celebrate?" — theme song for Virgin Road (Fuji TV, 1997)
• "I Have Never Seen" — theme song for Yonigeya Honpo (NTV, 1999)
• "All for You" — theme song for Kimi ga omoi de ni Naru Mae ni (Fuji TV, 2004)
• "Baby Don't Cry" — theme song for Himitsu no Hanazono (KTV, 2007)
• '"Sexy Girl" — theme song for Otome no Punch (NHK, 2008)

Commercial Endorsements

• "You're My Sunshine" - CM for "Sea Breeze" (1995)
• "Love 2000" (2000)
• "Please smile again" - Fran CM (2001)
• "think of me" - Fran CM (2001)
• "Say The Word " Kose "(2001)
• "shine more - CM for "Lucido L" (2003)
• "So Crazy - CM for "Lucido L" (2003)
• "ALARM" - CM for "Lucido L"(2004)
• "Girl Talk" - CM for "Lucido L"(2004)
• "The Speed Star - CM for "Lucido L"(2004)
• "WoWa - CM for "Lucido L"(2005)
• "Funky Town" - CM for "Lipton Limone Ice Tea"(2007)
• "Pink Key" CM for "Lipton Chiffon Milk Tea "(2007)
• "New Look" - CM for "Vidal Sassoon - 60's" (2008)
• "Rock Steady" - CM for "Vidal Sassoon - 70's" (2008)
• "What A Feeling" - CM for "Vidal Sassoon - 80's" (2008)
• "Do me more - CM for "Vidal Sassoon - NAMIE AMURO X SHOWGIRL" (2008)

References

See also

• List of J-pop artists
• SUITE CHIC

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Namie Amuro

• Namie Amuro Official Site
• Namie Amuro Official Management Site
• (Italian) Namie Amuro @ J-Music Italia
• Namie Amuro at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Namie Amuro at the Internet Movie Database