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MINMI

Revision as of 22:37, 23 December 2009 by FoxxyFuyumi (talk | contribs)
MINMI promoting "Ashita Moshimo Kimi ga Inai..." (2009)

MINMI is a Japanese urban singer-songwriter whose music is heavily influenced by Jamaican music such as reggae and dancehall. She started performing in 1996 but didn't make her debut until 2003's "The Perfect Vision". She writes most of the lyrics for her songs as well as doing many of their arrangements. MINMI is perhaps currently best known for singing the main ending of Samurai Champloo, "Shiki no Uta" as well as the ending used in episode twelve, "Who's Theme". In the year 2008, after the release of her MINMI BEST 2002-2008 album, MINMI transfered from Victor Entertainment to Far Eastern Tribe Records of Universal Music Japan


Profile

Information

MINMI promoting "Miracle" (2003)

MINMI first started performing back in 1996, taking place in local ruba dub and hip hop shows throughout Osaka. Since her debut she has been working hard making her tracks, writing lyrics and music. It didn't take long for MINMI hype to pick up, and she was soon working with big artists like Red Spider and MIGHTY JAM ROCK.

MINMI signed to the Victor Entertainment record label and debuted in August of 2002 with the reggae styled single, "The Perfect Vision". The song became quite popular on radio stations like 20 FM. The single reached #4 on the Oricon charts; at the time it was the highest ranking debut single from a female artist since Utada Hikaru's "Automatic / Time Will Tell" (In 2006 ayaka's "I believe" reached #3).

In December of 2002 MINMI released her second single, "T.T.T.". Unlike her first single this one had a more conventional hip-hop sound to it. The single ranked low and sold less than her debut, but the single's fresh sound helped to grab the attention of the public, mainly that of teenage girls.

MINMI promoting "Ai no Mi" (2004)

Not long into 2003, MINMI released her debut album, "Miracle". The album ranked in at #2 on the Oricon charts. The album spent two months within the top 20, eventually selling 467,175 copies and becoming the #21 album of the year. She then started her LIVE TOUR 2003 "Miracle" on May 20th, 2003. The tickets for all shows sold out almost immediately, and all of the venues were full.

Her next single "Another World" was released in September of 2003 and followed up with her fourth single "Ai no Mi" in March of 2004. Both singles ranked in the bottom half of the top 20. The B-side from "Ai no Mi", "Shiki no Uta" was used as an ending theme to the anime Samurai Champloo and has become one of her most recognized songs.

"imagine", MINMI's second album was released on June 30th, 2004, which managed to reached the #3 position on the Oricon charts. Much like with her first album, MINMI launched her second tour, "MINMI Live Tour 2004 "imagine"" on September 10th, 2004. A concert DVD was later released on December 8th along with her fifth single, "Are yu ready". The single featured a mix of her usual hip-hop/reggae sound and a traditional Japanese instrument, the shamisen.

MINMI promoting "Summertime!!" (2005)

In the summer of 2005 MINMI released her sixth single, "Summertime!!". This time, the track used influences from Soca music. After the single's release she became very active with live events. MINMI set up a monthly reggae club event in Tokyo. She then went out on a tour and was featured artist in the annual Summer Sonic concert. In fall of 2005 she released "FRIENDS ~MINMI featuring works BEST~", a compilation album featuring two discs of tracks that she had been featured on.

In 2006 MINMI was invited to the Trinidad & Tobago's annual festival known as "Carnival". She performed there in front of 30,000 people, including artists Wyclef Jean of the Fugees. Her seventh single, "Nishiazabu Densetsu" was released in late February 2006 and was the lead-in single for her third studio album. "Natural" was released on March 29th, 2006 and reached #6 on the Oricon charts (ten spots higher than her "FRIENDS" compilation). MINMI once again launched a tour to support her new album, and on November 22nd, 2006 released a concert DVD "MINMI Natural Show Case 2006 In Zepp Tokyo". Before that, in the summer of 2006 MINMI released her eighth single, "I Love You Baby", which barely charted in the top 50.

MINMI moved her musical adventures overseas in 2007. She teamed up with Machel Montano and composed the track "Sha Na Na -Japanese Wine-". They entered the song into the International Soca Monarch competition where it reached the final round of the compition. Five months later she released the single in Japan. On 2007.11.21, MINMI will be releasing her love song concept album, "THE LOVE SONG COLLECTION 2006-2007".

Discography

MINMI promoting "I Love You Baby" (2006)
MINMI promoting "THE LOVE SONG COLLECTION 2006-2007" (2007)

Albums

Compilation Albums

Singles

Special Singles (Out of Japan)

DVDs

Compilation / Other

External links