hitomi (singer)

hitomi (2009)

hitomi is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter known also for her fashionable and sexy public image. Originally a fashion model, she made her debut in 1994 with the single "Let's Play Winter" and since then has released over ten albums, with several going on to reach #1 position on the Oricon charts. hitomi's music is largely pop with strong influences from rock and more recently, dance music.

Profile

• Stage Name: hitomi
• Legal Name: Haneda Hitomi (羽田仁美)
• Maiden Name: Furuya Hitomi (古谷仁美)
• Birthdate: January 26, 1976 (1976-01-26)
• Birthplace: Tochigi, Japan
• Blood Type: B
• Height: 168 cm / 5'6"
• Idol: Madonna
• Favorite Musicians: Beck, Björk, Radiohead

Information

Music Debut and 1st Marriage

Following graduation from middle school, hitomi entered the entertainment industry as a model but after a chance meeting at a modeling audition with Komuro Tetsuya, one of Japan's most prolific producers of the 1990s, she was scouted to join the avex trax label. hitomi made her debut with the single "Let's Play Winter" in 1994, which unusually for most Komuro-produced starlets did not feature his lyrics but words penned by hitomi herself. Though the single failed to chart on the Oricon charts, hitomi persevered and continued to release material, her third single "CANDY GIRL" which featured a commercial tie in with Kodak, sold over 400,000 copies and established hitomi as an eminent singer-songwriter.

hitomi and Komuro amicably split in 1997 following the release of déjà-vu, the two did not collaborate again until the release of the Masato "Max" Matsuura and Komuro produced song+nation charity album in 2002 where hitomi is featured on track five, "My Planet". Once again unlike other Komuro-produced entertainers, hitomi's career has continued to go from strength to strength following her professional split with Komuro. She has appeared in the prestigious NHK Kouhaku Utagassen in the red team (the female side) line up twice, once in 2000 singing "LOVE 2000", and "SAMURAI DRIVE" in 2002.

In November 2002, hitomi announced on her blog that she had married 'U-san', a design company executive who was formerly involved in the entertainment industry as a member of hip-hop group GAS BOYS (active circa 1993-1996). The two had been friends in the 1990s but did not begin dating until they were reintroduced to each other earlier in the year. hitomi had earlier been linked with Dragon Ash singer Furuya Kenji. Following her marriage, hitomi largely went on hiatus for a year and a half (mid-2002 - early 2004), reportedly due to the discovery of ovarian cancer.

Return To Music, TRAVELER, and LOVE CONCENT

hitomi returned to the music industry in February 2004 with the release of "Hikari", her 26th single. This was quickly followed by another single "Kokoro no Tabibito / SPEED☆STAR"; an album, TRAVELER and her first national tour in over two years. The TRAVELER tour started on May 15, 2004 in Chiba and spanned 16 venues; to promote the tour, hitomi held a secret live in the departures lounge of Tokyo's Haneda Airport on May 2. The DVD of the tour was released on September 29, 2004, titled hitomi live tour 2004 TRAVELER.

In June 2005, to celebrate her tenth anniversary in the music industry, avex presented hitomi with her own exclusive label, LOVE LIFE RECORDS, which is to revolve around the theme of love. On June 1, hitomi released "Japanese girl", the first single released since the launch of LOVE LIFE RECORDS and featured a tie in with the safety razor manufacturer Gillette. Japanese girl charted strongly and came in at #18 on the Oricon charts. This was shortly followed by the release of "Love Angel" in August, which failed to perform as well as its predecessor, the release of "CRA"G"Y☆MAMA" in November rounded off hitomi's music releases in 2005.

hitomi released "GO MY WAY" on May 10, 2006, which was used as the ending theme for television dorama Bengoshi no Kuzu (弁護士のくず), the single performed relatively well and came in at #22 on the charts. Following this, hitomi's official website announced that she would be making her debut as an actress in Nightmare Detective (悪夢探偵; Akuma no Tantei), a horror/thriller film directed by Tsukamoto Shinya and share top billing with Matsuda Ryuhei. This venture was hitomi's second attempt at acting after a brief appearance in another domestic film, Life Is Journey in 2003.

No new releases followed GO MY WAY until September when hitomi released her 32nd single "Ai no Kotoba" on September 13. The single performed quite poorly, most likely due to the fact that sales were largely cannibalised by the release of the album LOVE CONCENT less than two weeks later. Tour dates for the LOVE CONCENT tour were announced in October, with the tour spanning ten venues across the country. No official DVD footage has been release of the tour, though a 'special edit' was included in the bonus disc of the peace special box-set.

Debut As An Actress, 2nd Marriage and peace

hitomi spent 2007 focussing on her activities as an actress. Musically, her activities were limited to featuring on a single by Taiji All Stars, Tengoku no Uta feat.hitomi in January and the release of peace, a career-long compilation album, in December. Nightmare Detective was released nationally on January 13, 2007, and made an appearance at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. A sequel to the movie was announced but hitomi declined to reprise her role as detective Kirishima Keiko.

Following the premiere of Nightmare Detective, hitomi was relatively quiet until July when her official website announced that she would feature in an upcoming stage play. In August 2007, hitomi made her debut as a stage actress in Waiting for the Sun ~Tenki Machi~ (Waiting for the Sun～天気待ち～; Waiting for the Sun~Waiting on the Weather~) which ran from August 8 to September 2, 2007.

In a surprise announcement on November 3, 2007, five years to the day they married, hitomi revealed on her blog that she and her husband were divorcing, citing a 'difference in lifestyles'. The pair did not have any children.

Undeterred by the events in her personal life, the release of hitomi's career-long compilation album, "peace" was announced on November 16. peace was released on December 5, and featured all the singles released in hitomi's 13 year career in chronological order and included some album tracks; the compilation came in three formats: 3CD, 3CD+2DVD or 3CD+3DVD.

On March 15, 2008, hitomi made her first appearance on the small screen in the television dorama 24 Jikan Atatamemasu ka? Shippu Doto Konbini-den (24時間あたためますか？～疾風怒涛コンビニ伝～).

On July 11, 2008, hitomi announced on her official blog that she has married for a second time to stage actor Haneda Masayoshi (羽田昌義) on June 30, and was currently pregnant with their first child. hitomi and Haneda had worked together in the play Waiting for the Sun in August-September of the previous year, which led to the start of a serious relationship in January 2008. When they discovered hitomi was pregnant, the two decided to get married. There were no additional news announcements regarding hitomi's future activities at the time, though she remained scheduled to perform on August 30 in Tokyo at a-nation 2008.

Recent Activity

In an update to her official blog on July 23, hitomi made mention of two new songs - Fight for Your RUN☆ and Only One☆ but it was not until August 8 that hitomi's official website announced the release of her newest single, Fight for Your Run☆. The single, hitomi's first in over two years, has two editions with two different release dates: the limited edition of the single will go on sale on August 20, with the normal edition to follow a week later on August 27.

Discography

Studio Albums

• [1995.09.27] GO TO THE TOP
• [1996.09.11] by myself
• [1997.11.12] déjà-vu
• [1999.10.13] thermo plastic
• [2000.12.13] LOVE LIFE
• [2002.01.30] huma-rhythm
• [2004.05.12] TRAVELER
• [2006.09.27] LOVE CONCENT
• [2009.06.24] LOVE LIFE 2
• [2011.04.27] Spirit

Other Albums

• [1999.02.24] h (Best Album)
• [2002.09.04] SELF PORTRAIT (Best Album)
• [2003.10.16] HTM ~TIARTROP FLES~ (B-side Collection)
• [2007.12.05] peace (Single Collection)

Singles

• [1994.11.28] Let's Play Winter
• [1995.02.22] WE ARE "LONELY GIRL"
• [1995.04.21] CANDY GIRL
• [1995.07.26] GO TO THE TOP
• [1996.02.28] SEXY
• [1996.05.22] In the future
• [1996.08.08] by myself
• [1997.04.09] BUSY NOW
• [1997.06.11] problem
• [1997.10.01] PRETTY EYES
• [1998.04.22] Sora (空; Sky)
• [1998.12.02] Progress
• [1999.01.27] Someday
• [1999.06.16] Kimi no Tonari (君のとなり; Near You)
• [1999.08.04] there is...
• [1999.10.06] Taion (体温; Temperature)
• [2000.06.28] LOVE 2000
• [2000.09.20] MARIA
• [2000.11.08] Kimi ni Kiss (キミにKISS; A Kiss to You)
• [2001.04.18] INNER CHILD
• [2001.08.22] IS IT YOU?
• [2001.10.24] I am / innocence
• [2002.01.09] SAMURAI DRIVE
• [2002.02.14] Understanding
• [2002.08.21] flow / BLADE RUNNER
• [2004.02.11] Hikari (ヒカリ; Light)
• [2004.04.28] Kokoro no Tabibito / SPEED☆STAR (心の旅人 / SPEED☆STAR; Traveller Heart)
• [2005.06.01] Japanese girl
• [2005.08.24] Love Angel
• [2005.11.23] CRA"G"Y☆MAMA
• [2006.05.10] GO MY WAY
• [2006.09.13] Ai no Kotoba (アイノコトバ; Words of Love)
• [2009.05.20] WORLD! WIDE! LOVE!
• [2011.02.16] Umarete Kurete no Arigatou / Smile World (生まれてくれてありがとう / Smile World; Thank You for Being Born)

Digital Single

• [2008.08.20] Fight for Your Run☆
• [2010.07.28] Love me♥ Love body☆

Collaborations / Other Compilations

• [1998.11.26] avex 10th Anniversary Presents avex THE ALBUM (#10 LOVE DA LOVE-my favorite thing- / hitomi, YOU THE ROCK & TSUTCHIE from SHAKKAZOMBIE)
• [2002.01.23] VARIOUS ARTISTS FEATURING song+nation (#5 My Planet)
• [2002.03.06] song+nation2 Trance (Disc 2 - #2 My Planet (tatsumaki remix))
• [2002.03.27] atami - DOPPLER (#5 Elephant Love feat.hitomi)
• [2007.01.31] Taiji All Stars - Tengoku no Uta feat.hitomi (天国の歌; Heaven's Song)
• [2007.02.21] Taiji All Stars - FEMME FATALE (#5 Tengoku no Uta feat.hitomi)

DVDs

• [2000.03.29] nine clips
• [2001.03.07] nine clips 2
• [2001.08.22] LIVE TOUR 2001 LOVE LIFE
• [2002.03.13] Plus (nine clips + nine clips 2) (プラス)
• [2002.09.04] hitomi LIVE TOUR 2002 huma-rhythm
• [2002.12.04] frozen in time
• [2004.09.29] hitomi live tour 2004 TRAVELER
• [2005.06.01] hitomi 2005 10TH ANNIVERSARY LIVE THANK YOU
• [2005.11.23] "hitomi Japanese girl collection 2005 ~LOVE MUSIC,LOVE FASHION~"
• [2006.03.29] hitomi LIVE TOUR 2005 "Love Angel"
• [2007.12.05] BEST COMPLETE BOX
• [2007.12.05] BEST CLIP DVD

Photobooks

• [2000.12.30] LOVE LIFE
• [2002.11.06] SELF PORTRAIT
• [2005.05.31] Love Life Style
• [2009.06.24] LOVE LIFE 2

Filmography

Movies

• [2003.06.21] Life Is Journey
• [2007.01.13] Nightmare Detective

External Links

• Official Website
• hitomi @ LJ : A hitomi Livejournal Community