Van Tomiko
Van Tomiko is the former vocalist for the band Do As Infinity, and is currently working on a solo project. Her former style of music with Do As Infinity was Pop-Rock, but since has turned to more of a Jazz-influenced style. Currently, she is continuing on with this solo project with her debut album FAREWELL released in March, and her debut single Flower, released in June.
Profile
- Real Name: Van Tomiko (伴 都美子)
- Birthday: 1979.01.09
- Birthplace: Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
- Blood Type: A
- Height: 163cm
- Nickname: Ban-chan
- Zodiac: Capricorn
- Favorite Artists: Cyndi Lauper, Sheryl Crow, The Corrs, Meja, Natelie Imbruglia
- Favorite Food: Mini tomatoes
- Favorite Beverages: Shochu, Wine, Oolong, Chuhai
- Favorite movie: Moulin Rouge!
- Favorite book: "Kamisama no Boat" by Ekuni Kaori
- She admires: Nicole Kidman, Jane Barkin
- Personal Treasure: Friends, Family
- Ideal date: watching a video at home
- Recent interest: Collecting mugs & mini tomatoes
Information
Van Tomiko is the former lead singer of the J-Rock group Do As Infinity. Van Tomiko was born on January 9, 1979 in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. One of her nicknames in early childhood used to be Tonko, but she has stated several times she doesn't like it very much now. After dropping out of high school, she became a singer at a local club. In May 1999 she auditioned for Dai Nagao and within two days recorded her first song with Do As Infinity.
She returned to high school and earned her diploma, while her studies in modeling at Tokyo Modeling School. She starred in six commercials for Kao's LAVENUS hair care.
After Do As Infinity disbanded in 2005, Van Tomiko started a solo career. Her debut solo album, FAREWELL, was released in March 2006. She already had recorded solo material, like "Hold Me..." (SLOW DANCE OST), "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (Cinderella OST Special Edition), and "farewell" (which promoted the album). Those songs were not singles, which means that no single cds were released by her prior to the album. FAREWELL album debuted on March 29, 2006. It reached #7 on first day sales in Oricon Ranking and #10 on first week sales. In June of 2006, she released her first single Flower. A few months later in September, she released the single Senkou. Her last single release, Yumeji was released in November of 2006. Then Van released a cover album Voice ~cover you with love~ in February of 2007. Since then she's acted in the movie Heat Island, and in the Japanese version of the Broadway musical [[wikipedia:Brooklyn_(musical) Brooklyn].
Discography
Albums
- [2006.03.29] FAREWELL
- [2007.03.28] VOICE ~cover you with love~ (Cover Album)
- [2008.03.05] VOICE 2 ~cover lovers rock~ (Cover Album)
- [2008.12.10] Van.
Singles
- [2006.06.07] Flower
- [2006.09.27] Senkou (閃光; Glint)
- [2006.11.29] Yumeji (夢路; Dreaming)
- [2008.06.18] Tokyo Hiyori (東京日和; Tokyo Weather)
Other
- [2002.01.23] VARIOUS ARTISTS FEATURING song+nation (#5 again)
- [2002.03.06] song+nation 2: trance (#7 again (tatsumaki remix))
- [2003.04.23] Cyber X feat. Tomiko Van - "Drive me nuts"
- [2003.07.16] Cyber X - "velfarre Cyber TRANCE 08 -BEST HIT TRANCE" (#13 Drive me nuts (Dub me nuts Cyber edit))
- [2003.07.30] Cyber X - "Cyber X #01" (#6 Drive me nuts)
- [2003.09.10] Cyber X - "Cyber TRANCE presents J-TRANCE" (#11 Drive me nuts (Cyber TRANCE mix))
- [2005.07.27] SLOW DANCE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (#15 Hold Me...)
- [2005.10.19] Cinderella Original Soundtrack Special Edition (#35 A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes)
- [2006.01.18] TRF - "Where to begin" (#2 TRUTH '94 -meets Tomiko Van-)
- [2006.02.15] TRF - "Lif-e-Motions" (#16 TRUTH '94 -meets Tomiko Van-)
- [2007.07.11] REIDEEN OST (#29 manacles (REIDEEN Edit ver.))