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Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎 あゆみ, Hamasaki Ayumi, born October 2, 1978) is an award-winning J-pop singer. Also known as Ayu, Hamasaki is one of Japan's most popular pop singers and has been dubbed the "Empress of J-Pop". Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo to pursue a career in entertainment. Since her 1998 debut with the single poker face, she has sold more than 45 million records in Japan alone, with the releases of her eight full-length studio albums, one mini-album, four compilation albums, 42 singles, and numerous non-studio albums, making her the top-selling solo and female artist and the fourth best-selling Japanese artist in history. With the release of her 40th single, Blue Bird, Hamasaki's single sales exceeded 20 million, making her the first solo and female singer to reach that milestone.

With the release of her 39th single, Startin'/Born to Be..., in 2006, Hamasaki became the female solo artist with most number-one hits. With the release of her 2007 single Talkin' 2 Myself, Hamasaki has 29 number-one singles (30 when A Song Is Born is included) and 39 singles in the Top 10 of the Japanese Oricon charts. The release of Talkin' 2 Myself also gave Hamasaki 17 consecutive number-one singles (starting with Free & Easy). Hamasaki is also the first Japanese artist to have her first original eight studio albums top the Oricon charts.

Childhood and discovery

Hamasaki was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, raised by her mother and grandmother in a single-parent household, as her father had left the family when Hamasaki was three. Starting at age seven, Hamasaki modeled locally to earn money for the family.

At fourteen, Hamasaki occasionally went from Fukuoka to Tokyo for short periods of time to take on modeling and acting jobs, using the pseudonym Kurumi Hamazaki when she acted in low-budget dramas like Miseinen and b-movies. However, Hamasaki did not find much success with her talent agency, and after graduating from junior high school, she decided to go to senior high school in Tokyo.

Hamasaki was deemed too short to be a model and was eventually dropped by her talent agency. She wore short skirts, dyed her hair, fought with the teachers, and skipped school. This led to her decision to drop out of high school at the age of fifteen, around the same time her mother moved to Tokyo to start a new job. Hamasaki then moved into an apartment with her mother. She spent her days shopping and dancing at nightclubs.

Hamasaki's first professional musical endeavors were in the rap scene. On December 1, 1995, her first album, Nothing from Nothing, featuring Dohzi-T and DJ Bass, was released under the Nippon Columbia label. When the album failed to chart on the Oricon, Hamasaki's label dropped her.

Hamasaki was introduced to her future producer, Masato Matsuura in a disco club, the Avex-owned Velfarre. Matsuura asked her if she was interested in a singing career, but Hamasaki was suspicious of Matsuura and turned the offer down.Matsuura, however, persisted until the following year, when Hamasaki agreed and began taking vocal training.

Finding the instructors too rigid and the classes too dull, Hamasaki skipped most of her classes. When she confessed to Matsuura, he sent her to New York for training. While there, Hamasaki corresponded with Matsuura who, impressed with her writing, suggested she try writing her own lyrics.

Music Career

1998–1999: A Song for XX and Loveppears

In the April of 1998, Hamasaki's debut single under Avex, "poker face," was released. The single peaked at number twenty-two on the Oricon and sold 43,000 copies. Her second single, "You," performed better on the charts (peaking at number twenty), but it wasn't until Hamasaki's third single, "Trust," which peaked at number nine, was Hamasaki able to enter one of the top ten spots on the Oricon weekly chart. Like its predecessor, Hamasaki's fourth single, "For My Dear..." peaked at number nine on the Oricon. "Depend on You," Hamasaki's fifth single, peaked at number six on the Oricon and was used as the main theme of video game Thousand Arms. Hamasaki's debut album, A Song for XX, was released on January 1, 1999, topping the Oricon for five weeks and remaining on the charts for sixty-three weeks. It eventually went on to sell over a million copies.

Hamasaki earned her first number-one single with the release of her seventh single, "Love ~Destiny~," a song produced by Tsunku. Her eighth single, however, "To Be," released a month after its predecessor, was unable to match the success of "Love ~Destiny~," only peaking at number four on the Oricon. Hamasaki's ninth single, "Boys & Girls," however, not only claimed the number-one position on the Oricon weekly chart, but also became Hamasaki's first million-selling single. Also, with the release of "Boys & Girls," Hamasaki began to release her singles on 12 cm rather than 8 cm discs, following the trend of the music industry at that time. As the 12 cm discs were able to hold more data than the 8 cm discs, Hamasaki began releasing more remixes on her singles.

As of November 2007, Hamasaki's tenth single, "A," released in the August of 1999, is her best-selling single with more than 1.6 million copies sold.. On November 10, 1999, Hamasaki simultaneously released her second studio album, Loveppears, and her eleventh single, "appears." Loveppears topped the Oricon weekly charts and went on to sell over 2 million copies. Following the release of Loveppears, two recut singles from the album were released, "Kanariya" (which became the first recut single in Oricon history to hold the top position on the weekly charts), released in December, and "Fly High," released in February 2000.

2000-2001: Duty and I am...

In 2000, Hamasaki became a spokeswoman for Kosé, a Japanese cosmetics company. When she appeared in commercials to promote Kosé's lipsticks, a record 500,000 lipsticks were sold in only two days. Her single "Vogue," which was used as background music, also benefited from the commercial, selling over 700,000 copies. She also became a spokesperson for Tu-Ka, a now defunct mobile phone carrier, and promoted the company's cell phones.

From April to June 2000, Hamasaki released three singles, "Vogue," "Far Away," and "Seasons. In September, Hamasaki released her third full-length studio album, Duty. As with her previous studio albums, Duty topped the charts and went on to sell 3 million copies, making it her best-selling original studio album. On the same day, the limited pressing single, "Surreal" and her Ayumi Hamasaki Concert Tour 2000 A were released, both topping the charts in the singles and DVD charts respectively.

At the end of 2000, the single "M" was released and became Hamasaki's fourth million-selling single, selling over 1.3 million copies. "M" saw Hamasaki take more creative control of her music, as she started to compose some of her songs under the pseudonym "CREA." The following year, a controversy arose when the label forced Hamasaki to release "Never Ever" followed by her compilation album A Best. Its release date was changed to put her in direct competition with Utada Hikaru's second album, Distance. Though Distance topped the charts in the first week, A Best claimed the number-one position the following week.

Later in 2001, Hamasaki's second eurobeat remix album, Super Eurobeat presents Ayu-ro mix 2, became the second remix album in Japanese history to top the charts, following Misia's Little Tokyo. In December, her duet with Keiko of the band globe was released as a single for Avex's non-profit Song+Nation project, which raised money for the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. On January 1, 2002, her fourth album I am... was released, and like its predecessors Loveppears and Duty, it achieved triple-million status, with sales of 2.3 million copies.

2002-2003: Rainbow and Memorial Address

The release of "Free & Easy" in April marked a change in the format of Hamasaki's singles. The single only featured two remixes alongside the title track. Although Mai Kuraki's single "Feel Fine!" (released on the same day as "Free & Easy") topped the daily charts, "Free & Easy" claimed the top spot on the weekly charts. Hamasaki's fifth million-selling single, "H", was released in July of that year. Like her previous single "A," "H" had multiple a-sides; however, "H" did not contain any remixes. Her follow-up single "Voyage" had an extended music video to promote it — a short film titled Tsuki ni Shizumu . "Voyage" set a new record for Hamasaki, as it held the top spot on the Oricon chart for three weeks, making it Hamasaki's only song to hold the top position for so long.

Hamasaki's next studio album, Rainbow, was released on December 18, 2002. Though Rainbow broke the one-million mark in the first week, it was the first of Hamasaki's albums since A Song for XX that failed to sell at least two million units. The album featured more songs composed under the pseudonym "CREA," and became Hamasaki's first album released under Avex to incorporate English lyrics. The album had a promotional campaign in which the buyers of the more-expensive initial pressings could access a password-protected website that featured a part of the instrumental version of the title track "Rainbow," which did not appear on the album. Once accessed, fans could submit their own lyrics and suggestions for the song. "Rainbow" later appeared on her ballad compilation/remix album A Ballads, which was released on March 2003.

In July, Hamasaki's first single in nine months, "&," was released. Like the singles "H" and "A," "&" featured multiple a-sides, but "&" also included a b-side, "theme of a-nation '03." Hamasaki's next single, "Forgiveness," released on September 1, continued Hamasaki's string of number-one singles, netting sales of 220,000 units. After the release of the single "No Way to Say" in November, Hamasaki released her first mini-album, Memorial Address, which only contained three new songs. Memorial address, Hamasaki's first album to be available in CD-only or CD+DVD formats, also made her the only female solo artist to have a million-selling mini-album.

2004-2005: My Story and (miss)understood

In the spring of 2004, Hamasaki released "Moments" in both a CD-only and CD+DVD combination, something which she continues to do now. It was featured in her last Kose Visee commercial before her contract with the cosmetics company ended. In July that year, internal strife in her recording company, Avex Trax, occurred. A feud between Max Matsuura and Avex's then-president Tom Yoda, regarding Avex business practices, caused chaos and also sparked rumors that Hamasaki and other popular artists in Avex Trax including Hiro, Every Little Thing, Hitomi, and Do As Infinity might leave the record company and follow Max Matsuura. As a result, the stock prices for Avex Trax began to plunge; when Hamasaki sided with Matsuura, Yoda ended up resigning, effectively ending the feud.

In December 2004, she released her sixth studio album, My Story, which was certified million-status, selling over 574,000 copies in the first week, and netting sales of over 1,140,000 copies.

Hamasaki's thirty-fifth single, "Step you/Is this Love?," was released in April. It was a double a-side single featuring "Step You" (used in TV spots for Panasonic) and "Is This Love?" (for Morinaga chocolates). The single topped the daily, weekly, and monthly Oricon charts. It held the number-one spot on the weekly charts for two weeks running and went on to sell over 345,000 copies, becoming Hamasaki's highest-selling single in 2005 as well since her 2003 single "No Way to Say."

Her thirty-sixth single, "Fairyland," which was coupled with the song "Alterna," was released on August 3, 2005. It debuted at number-one on the Oricon charts. "Fairyland" was Hamasaki's first single to feature different cover art for the CD-only version and the CD+DVD version.

Hamasaki's thirty-seventh single, "Heaven," was released on September 14, 2005. The song was used as the theme song of the movie Shinobi: Heart Under Blade. The single had also included "Will," which Hamasaki co-composed under the pseudonym "CREA."

Hamasaki released her thirty-eighth single "Bold & Delicious/Pride," a cover of the Sweetbox songs by the same name, on November 30, 2005. The single had first-week sales of about 84,000, claiming the number-one spot on the Oricon charts. "Bold & Delicious" became Hamasaki's twenty-fifth number-one single, tying her with Seiko Matsuda for the most number-one singles by a solo female artist.

Hamasaki's seventh studio album, (miss)understood, was officially released on January 1, 2006. It debuted with sales of about 650,000 copies, reaching the number-one spot on the World Global Charts, a first-time feat for her.

2006-present: Secret and A Best 2

Hamasaki's thirty-ninth single, "Startin' / Born To Be...", was released on March 8, 2006. The single debuted at the top of the Oricon chart with sales of 116,000, becoming Hamasaki's twenty-sixth number-one single and thus breaking the record of most number-one singles in Japan for a solo (female) artist, previously held by Seiko Matsuda.

She then embarked on the "Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2006 —(miss)understood—," which spanned three months with its first stop in Saitama on March 11, 2006 and made its last stop at Yoyogi on June 11, 2006. With thirty concerts, it was her largest tour to date. The last concert of the tour was recorded and released on DVD in November. It entered both the music-DVD and general-DVD charts at the top position.

Hamasaki released her fortieth single "Blue Bird" on June 21, 2006. "Blue Bird" claimed the number-one position on the daily Oricon chart. Just one day after the release of "Blue Bird," Oricon confirmed the single had outsold its competition already, securing the weekly number-one spot for Hamasaki's fifteenth consecutive and twenty-seventh total number-one single. selling 160,572 copies in its first five days.

Hamasaki released her eighth studio album, Secret on November 29, 2006. Originally, the album was planned to be released as her second mini-album with seven songs overall. October 2006, it was announced later on her official website that a change of plans would occur, and that Secret would be a full-length album. Hamasaki worked overtime to complete the album to have a full album. The album was completed on November 8. Hamasaki also raised media attention for the music video of "Jewel," in which 100 million yen (almost $900,000 U.S. dollars) worth of diamonds, jewels, and Swarovski crystals were used. The video is one of the most expensive videos ever made. The album debuted at the top spot of the Oricon weekly chart with first-week sales of 386,280 copies, outselling the number-two album by 160,129 copies.

On February 28, 2007, Hamasaki released two compilation albums entitled A Best 2 -Black- and A Best 2 -White-. They were both released as Limited edition 1CD+2DVD-packages, as well as a normal edition 1CD package. A Best 2 -Black- includes a new song entitled "part of Me", which was featured in a Panasonic commercial. The backstage footage of her Best of Countdown Live 2006–2007 A is included on the DVD for the Black edition, as well the promotional videos or clips for the songs included. The white edition of A Best 2 features live footage of her CDL 2006–2007, and promotional clips for the respective songs on the album.

From March to the end of June, Hamasaki held an Asia tour, Tour of Secret, visiting not only Japan, but also Taiwan, Shanghai and Hong Kong. According to her official fanclub Teamayu, the Japanese version of the tour will promote her album Secret, while the ones held in the respective countries will feature older songs.

The concert was already highly anticipated, since it was her first time holding a live performance outside of Japan. As a result, tickets for the Taiwan concert sold out in less than two hours. Similarly, tickets sold out in less than three hours for her Hong Kong concert and less than six hours for her Shanghai concert.

On the release day of A Best 2, the -Black- version reached the top position on the Oricon Charts while the -White- version reached number two. By the 2nd day, both versions switched positions as -White- claimed the top position while the -Black- got the number-two position. A Best 2 first-day sales totaled about 170,000 copies.

The first-week sales figures of A Best 2 (-Black and -White together) gained a total of 950,000 copies. -White- version sales totaled to 475,284 and -Black- version sales totaled to 470,057, while holding the first and second positions of the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart. Also, both of the CDs held the top positions of the United World Charts. Both albums reached the number three and number four positions on the Oricon Yearly Albums Chart.

In addition to being the first female artist in 36 years to hold the top two positions on the Oricon album charts, Hamasaki is the only artist ever to hold the top two positions on the United World Charts with her albums.

On May 16, 2007 it was announced Ayumi Hamasaki's new single would be used in a commercial for "Zespri Gold Kiwi". The following day, it was announced on Tower Records in Japan that the new single would be called glitter/fated, and would be released July 18, 2007. "fated" was used as the theme for the movie "Kaidan" . The single also contains the track "Secret," the title track from Hamasaki's album of the same name.

On May 30, Hamasaki flew to Hong Kong to shoot a short movie for "glitter/fated," making "glitter/fated" one of Hamasaki's only two singles without a regular PV (the other one being 2003's "Voyage"). The film featured Hong Kong actor Shawn Yue as the leading male role, counterpart to Hamasaki. The film was originally supposed to be directed by Andrew Lau; however, he was going to be in America at that time, thus changing the plan. The promotional video of "glitter" was aired on MTV Japan on July 10, 2007, ending with a cliffhanger, tying into the second part of the short film, where "fated" was played. On July 14, fated was played on MON, finishing the story of "Distance Love".

On September 19, 2007, Hamasaki released her new single talkin' 2 myself. It debuted on the top position of the weekly charts with over 70,325 copies sold, making it Hamasaki's 17th consecutive number-one single and 29th number-one single in total.

Hamasaki celebrated her 29th birthday on October 2, 2007. A special online party also took place for her fans; the party was held on the online simulation Second life. Her party was held on Avex Island, a piece of "land" in the metaverse that is owned by Hamasaki's record label. Ayu's latest single was distributed at this event. Before this, a rumor was spread that a new song was distributed at this event, but there were no official reports given on this, and the rumor was proven false.

According to her official website, Hamasaki's ninth studio album GUILTY is set for release on January 1, 2008. It will be released in CD-only and CD+DVD formats with the same photobook for each format. Hamasaki released her first digital single, Together When..., on December 5, 2007.

Cultural impact

Fashion

Hamasaki has been considered the fashion leader amongst Japanese females, especially amongst Japanese high-school girls, ever since reaching superstar status. Regularly appearing in leading Japanese fashion magazines such as ViVi, Cawaii and Popteen, she became a trend-setter. Her influence in Japanese fashion has seen her win an unprecedented three consecutive "Nail Queen" awards and five "Best Jeanist" awards, and was inducted into the respective Halls of Fame for her achievements..

In Oricon's 2006 spring and summer polls, she was named the most fashionable female artist. She has appeared on the cover of Vogue twice, once modeling for an entire spread featuring Bulgari, and the other for popular designers Dolce & Gabbana. She was recently featured in a spread for Dior jewelry and luxury items. Hamasaki is also often seen with designer goods from major fashion houses from all over the world such as Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen, Juicy Couture, and Christian Louboutin.

Music videos

Besides her CD releases and tours, Hamasaki has also become known for her expensive music videos. Often making videos for album tracks as well as singles, these promotional videos have become selling points in themselves, now packaged along with her albums and singles.

The promotional videos of three songs, "fairyland", "my name's WOMEN," and "JEWEL" are among the most expensive music videos ever made, making Hamasaki the only non-American to hold such a distinction.

Ayumi Hamasaki x Hello Kitty

See Ayumi Hamasaki x Hello Kitty.

Personal life

On April 1, 2007, it was rumored that Hamasaki and her boyfriend of five years and ten months, Nagase Tomoya of TOKIO, were engaged. The wedding was to take place as early as October; however, with their hectic schedules, it was expected not to occur until December. However, on July 13, 2007, Hamasaki and Nagase broke up. Although various rumors have circulated among Japanese media speculating the cause of the split, Hamasaki has yet to confirm a reason.

Discography

Studio Albums

Compilation Albums

Awards and records

References

1. http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/ayumi_hamasaki/
2. http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/43071
3. According to Oricon Style, Hamasaki is the first solo act in Japan to exceed 20 million single sales in history.
4. http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/061206_03.html
5. http://www.tv.com/ayumi-hamasaki/person/168006/summary.html
6. http://homepage2.nifty.com/morimasa/rockin.html
7. ^ http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/ayumi_hamasaki/cover3.html
8. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0357354/
9. http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/ayumi_hamasaki/cover3.html
10. http://yummycelebrities.com/2006/08/16/ayumi-hamasaki/
11. http://wiki.theppn.org/A
12. TIMEasia.com: Japan – Empress of Pop (Page 2)
13. http://www.ampedasia.com/babes/Ayumi-Hamasaki/
14. http://www1.coralnet.or.jp/isikuro/datab/cds2002.gif
15. http://top40-charts.com/pedia.php?title=Max_Matsuura
16. http://www.mediatraffic.de/albums-week03-2006.htm (miss)understood Charting Position (Worldwide)
17. http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/25664/ Reference to total number 1 singles and consecutive number 1 singles
18. ^ http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~dhmighty/
19. http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ayu/news/070101.html
20. http://www.ettoday.com/2007/02/13/340-2054709.htm
21. http://61.129.65.8:82/gate/big5/enjoy.eastday.com/e/20070209/u1a2619858.html
22. http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/dailynews14.html
23. http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2007/03/06/03.html
24. "fated" の検索結果 - @TOWER.JP Search beta
25. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=AVCD-31274 CDJapan:18 May 2007
26. http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ayu/jp/news/071105.html
27. ^ http://www.tv.com/ayumi-hamasaki/person/168006/biography.html
28. http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/music/features/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=3917826&imageindex=7
29. http://www.106.com.mk/najskapite_spotovi.htm
30. http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070428-00000004-gen-ent
31. http://www.japannewsreview.com/entertainment/celebrities/20070714page_id=676
32. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/face/archive/news/2007/20070720p2g00m0dm014000c.html

External links

• Ayumi Hamasaki's official website
• TeamAyu (official website)
• Ayumi Hamasaki at HMV.co.jp

Template:Persondata

• 1978 births
• Avex Trax artists
• Japanese female singers
• Japanese pop singers
• Living people
• People from Fukuoka, Fukuoka
• Japanese singer-songwriters
• Ayumi Hamasaki
• Dancers