Amuro Namie(安室 奈美恵) is a Japanese singer, dancer, and former child actor/singer,who was born in Naha, Okinawa on September 20, 1977. She was raised solely by her mother, Emiko Taira. Namie is one quarter Italian.
She did not have ambitions to become a performer early in life; she wanted to become a flight attendant. However, at the age of twelve, while visiting a friend, Amuro was discovered by Masayuki Makino, the owner of Okinawa Actors School, a performing arts school. Amuro eventually joined the school; after only two years of study, Makino placed her at the age of fourteen in an idol group called Super Monkey's with five other girls. They debuted in September 1992 on Toshiba-EMI. Though mostly unsuccessful, the group gained popularity during their final year together with the single "Try Me: Watashi o Shinjite" (1995). Aside from the group activities, she had bit parts in television dramas and small films. Amuro left Toshiba-EMI after releasing two more solo singles; she continued her music career as a solo singer with the then-small independent label Avex Trax. Under the guidance of producer Tetsuya Komuro, Amuro quickly became a commercial success, producing several million-selling records and starting several fashion trends.
Amuro's debut single under Avex, "Body Feels Exit", was released in October 1995 after she switched record labels. The single was the first produced from her working relationship with producer Tetsuya Komuro. A second Komuro-produced single, "Chase the Chance" was released two months later. It become her first number-one, million-selling single. She won the Golden Arrow Award 1995. In the first half of 1996, Amuro accumulated million-selling singles - "Don't Wanna Cry" and "You're My Sunshine". Her studio album Sweet 19 Blues, released on July 22, 1996, was a commercial success, selling over three million units. Amuro's popularity increased as well: she became a fashion icon, starting a trend called Amuraa characterized by tanned skin, dyed hair, miniskirts and boots. Her single "Can You Celebrate?" (1997) became Japan's best selling single by a solo female artist. However, in late 1997, Amuro put her career on hold to focus on her pregnancy and engagement.
She returned to music in 1998 after the birth of her son named Haruto with the number-one single, "I Have Never Seen", but faced slowly declining sales. 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 single featured hip-hop artist VERBAL of the group M-Flo. She unofficially severed ties with 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. In July 2002, Amuro was divorced from Maruyama. From December 2002, fully immersed into the Japanese R&B scene releasing music in the musical project Suite Chic, she collaborated with several of Japan's popular hip hop and R&B artists such as Verbal, Zeebra, Dabo and DJ Muro. They released two singles, an original album and one remix album before ending the project in 2003. She later said that after the project she had begun to do what she had wanted to do.
Amuro returned to solo activities on her own with the single "Shine More", released on March 6, 2003. The subsequent single "Put 'Em Up", released on July 16, 2003, was produced by Dallas Austin. On October 16, 2003, the double a-side single "So Crazy / Come" was released. "So Crazy" was written by American R&B producers Full Force. "Come", used for the Japanese anime InuYasha, was a re-arranged song from Sophie Monk. At the end of the year, she released her first original studio album in three years, Style. On April 6, 2005, she released the single "Want Me, Want Me". The song was a well-received hit at home debuting at the number-two position. In May 2005, following a three year split from her former husband Sam, it was reported that she would take back full custody of their child, Haruto. In August, it was reported that she officially did that. On May 29 of that year, she performed at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan for the fourth consecutive year in a row. She received two awards, "Best R&B Video" and "Most Impressive Performing Asian Artist", making the first artist to receive awards four years in a row at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan. 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.
On July 13, 2005, she released her sixth original studio album, Queen of Hip-Pop. In collaboration with MGM Studios, Amuro used the Pink Panther character in the album; a female panther counterpart was created for the album as well. When the album was completed, Amuro said that she had not been able to sing the songs very well yet. Also, after the production of the album, she became a selfdubbed "Queen of Hip-Pop". Her 7th studio album, Play, was released on June 27, 2007. The album includes 12 songs, 4 of which are single tracks. The album was said to reflect Amuro's new style, and featured a rock number, and a chic slow song. One of her new songs, "Top Secret" was used as the theme song of the drama series Prison Break Season 2 in Japan. Play took the number-one spot on the Oricon Weekly Chart Rankings, becoming her first number-one album in more than 7 years, with her last number-one occurring in 2000 with her album, Genius 2000. It is also her fourth studio album to reach the number-one position. Play spent two consecutive weeks at the number-one position. From August 18, 2007, to February 27, 2008, she performed her concert tour in Japan Namie Amuro Play Tour 2007-2008 which consisted initially of 53 performances but was increased by 12 performances to 65 performances, making this her biggest tour in terms of number of performances by far.
On July 30, 2008, Amuro released her third greatest hits album Best Fiction. 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" was 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. Best Fiction sold 681,000 copies on the first week and debuted at the number-one position on the oricon weekly charts. 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. Best Fiction eventually spent six consecutive weeks at the number-one position, becoming the first album to do so in more than 14 years since the Dreams Come True's 1993 album Magic. Best Fiction became the second best-selling album behind Exile's Exile Love on the Oricon 2008 yearly album charts. In addition, it became the second best selling digital-format album by Japanese artists behind Hikaru Utada's Heart Station on the iTunes yearly album charts in Japan. Best Fiction won the award for "the best album of the year" at the 50th Japan Record Awards.
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 fourteen consecutive years. She also continues to successfully combat social stigma as a divorced, working, single mother.
Discography:
1995: Dance Tracks Vol.1
1996: Sweet 19 Blues
1997: Concentration 20
2000: Genius 2000
2000: Break the Rules
2003: Style
2005: Queen of Hip-Pop
2007: Play
Compilation albums:1996: Original Tracks Vol.1, 1998: 181920, 2002: Love Enhanced Single Collection, 2008: Best Fiction
(Got this information from Wikipedia.com. So if some information is wrong I am sorry.)
Amuro Namie is my all time favorite Japansese singer. I got into her later than she debute, but she is still one of my favorite singers in any country. Some songs that I love of hers are Wishing on the same star; So Crazy; Hello; Can't sleep, Can't eat, I'm sick; Baby Don't Cry; and Rock Steady and many more. My favorite albums from her are Style and Play. If a person would like to try her out ,the album to get is her compilation album called BEST FICTION.
