Utada Hikaru

File:Utada Hikaru Profile.jpg

Utada Hikaru in 2006

Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル, pronounced oo'ta'da hee'kaa'rlu), born 19 January 1983, also known as Hikki (heek'kee) to her Japanese fans, is an American born, Japanese singer-songwriter. She is the best selling artist in Japan ever. Her ability to fluently speak both English and Japanese has helped her create an incredibly diverse fanbase.

Born in New York she's the daughter of Utada Teruzane and Utada Junko. Her father Teruzane is a producer and musician who now runs U3music, the family company, and is Hikaru's manager. Her mother Junko (a.k.a. Keiko Fuji) was a popular enka singer in the 1970's.

Biography

Hikaru began her musical career as part of family musical group U3 (a.k.a. Cubic U) on the album U*STAR, where she wrote lyrics of two songs at the age of just 10 years old. Her solo debut came in 1996 under the name of Cubic U, recording the Precious album.

Later in 1996 she moved to Tokyo and attended The American School in Japan while continuing to record on a new contract with Toshiba-EMI. She soon made her mark on Japanese music with her successful single Automatic and with her debut Japanese album First Love. First Love sold over five million copies in a month during March and April of 1999 and the album went on to become the best selling Japanese album ever. She quickly became a phenomenon in Japan and her propularity soon spread all over Asia.

Hikaru returned to New York in 2000 to attend Columbia University. She continued to record, however, and her two subsequent albums, Distance (2001) and Deep River (2002), also went multi-platinum. Shortly after the release of Deep River she announced her marriage to Kazuaki Kiriya (a.k.a. Kazuhiro Iwashita), a photographer and director who directed her videos for Final Distance, traveling, and Sakura DROPS. Hikaru's official name then changed Iwashita Hikaru (岩下 光) but in public she is still exclusively known by her maiden name.

On 5 October 2004, Hikaru released her North American debut album EXODUS under the name Utada. But her American debut as an Island Def Jam Music Group artist was met with indifference by the American market, perhaps due in part to poor promotion on her record label's part. Despite the failure in the international markets, this album topped the charts in Japan, though it sold less than her releases as Utada Hikaru. Hikaru has called Exodus her "experiment".

Still there's no denying that her ability to traverse both the English and Japanese languages with ease, her songwriting abilities and her unique voice, place her firmly in the hierarchy of Japanese superstars.

Discography

Albums

1. Precious [as Cubic U] (1996)
2. First Love (1999)
3. DISTANCE (2001)
4. Deep River (2003)
5. SINGLE COLLECTION VOL.1 (2004)
6. EXODUS [as Utada] (2004)
7. ULTRA BLUE (2006)
8. HEART STATION (2008)
9. This Is The One (2009)

Singles

File:Automatic - Time Will Tell (Single).jpg 1. Automatic/time will tell (1998)

File:Movin' On Without You (Single).jpg 2. Movin' on without you (1999)

File:First Love (Single).jpg 3. First Love (1999)

File:Addicted To You (Single).jpg 4. Addicted To You (1999)

5. Wait & See ~RISK~ (2000)

File:For You - Time Limit (Single).jpg 6. For You/Time Limit (2000)

File:Can You Keep A Secret (Single).jpg 7. Can You Keep A Secret? (2001)

File:Final Distance (Single).jpg 8. FINAL DISTANCE (2001)

File:Traveling (Single).jpg 9. traveling (2001)

File:Hikari (Single).jpg 10. Hikari (2002)

File:Sakura Drops - Letters (Single).jpg 11. Sakura DROPS/Letters (2002)

File:Colors (Single).jpg 12. COLORS (2003)

File:Dareka no Negai Ga Kanau Koro.jpg 13. Dareka no negai ga kanau koro (2004)

14. Devil Inside [as Utada] (2004)

15. EXODUS '04 [as Utada] (2005)

File:Be My Last (Single).jpg 16. Be My Last (2005)

File:You Make Me Want To Be A Man (Single).jpg 17. YOU MAKE ME WANT TO BE A MAN [as Utada] (2005)

18. Passion (2005)

19. Keep Tryin' (2006)

Videography

1. UH1: Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol.1 (DVD|VHS; 1999)

File:BOHEMIAN SUMMER 2000.jpg 2. BOHEMIAN SUMMER 2000 (DVD|VHS; 2000)

3. UH2: UTADA HIKARU SINGLE CLIP COLLECTION VOL.2 (DVD|VHS; 2001)

4. UHU: UTADA HIKARU UNPLUGGED (DVD|VHS; 2001)

5. UH3: UTADA HIKARU SINGLE CLIP COLLECTION VOL.3 (DVD|VHS; 2002)

File:20 dai wa ikeike.jpg 6. UH Live Streaming - 20 dai wa ikeike! (DVD|VCD; 2003)

7. Utada Hikaru in Budokan 2004 ~Hikaru no 5~ (DVD; 2004)

Internal Links

• Official Forum Discussion Thread

External Links

• Official Toshiba-EMI Site
• Official Island Def Jam Music Group Site
• Utada-Online.net (Fan Site)