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Kuraki Mai

Kuraki Mai promoting unconditional L♡VE (2021)

Kuraki Mai (倉木麻衣) is a Japanese pop singer. She originally released songs with a more R&B feel, though later she switched to a mainstream pop sound. She had an unsuccessful US release under the name Mai-K. Kuraki Mai also has sung two duets with Singaporean superstar Sun Yan Zi.

Profile

Information

Kuraki Mai promoting "Secret of my heart" (2000)

Kuraki Mai (also known as Mai-K to her fans) had always wanted to be a singer ever since she saw a movie about Michael Jackson's life and watched Whitney Houston's concert videos. Around her second year in junior high school, she began making demo tapes, hoping that she would get a record deal.

Her chance to sing came when she was in junior high school when a member of staff from GIZA studio caught her fresh talent and immediately sent her to Cybersound Studio in Boston to record her US debut single, "Baby I Like" under the pseudonym Mai-K which eventually became her nickname. The studio staff were so impressed with her vocal abilities that they encouraged her to go back to Japan and record. She did so and released her Japanese debut single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow" on December 8 the same year. Love, Day After Tomorrow hit the top spot in the Oricon Chart, selling more than 1 million copies. Since her debut at sixteen, her singles and albums have never failed to reach top 10 positions on the charts.

Kuraki has worked with a some of GIZA's most talented composers such as Tokunaga Akihito from doa, songwriter Ohno Aika and guitarist for GARNET CROW, Okamoto Hitoshi. Kuraki has also collaborated with TAK MATSUMOTO (guitarist from B'z) in "Imitation Gold" and Singaporean singer, Sun Yan Zi (Stephanie Sun).

Despite Kuraki infrequent TV and magazine appearances, she has a very large fan base and was often compared to Utada Hikaru because of their similar R&B styles.

On March 21st 2005, Kuraki graduated from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto where she studied modern culture and society.

On June 2007, she left GIZA studio and transferred to NORTHERN MUSIC.

On February 13th, 2009, Kuraki made her first appearance as a guest on Music Station, to promote the album touch Me!.

Trivia

  • She owns a Border Collie dog named "Casper"
  • She holds the Oricon record for the most consecutive top 10 single hits for a female solo artist since her debut. As all of her singles have charted, this record is still growing.

Discography

Kuraki Mai promoting FAIRY TALE (2002)
Kuraki Mai promoting "Love, needing" (2005)
Kuraki Mai promoting "Ichibyou Goto ni Love for you" (2008)
Kuraki Mai promoting touch Me! (2009)
Kuraki promoting "Eien Yori Nagaku / Drive me crazy" (2010)
Kuraki Mai promoting "Koyoi wa Yume wo Misasete" (2018)
Kuraki Mai promoting Let's GOAL! ~Barairo no Jinsei~ (2019)

Studio Albums

Best Albums

Other Albums

Box

Singles

Digital Singles

Vinyls

Video Releases

Compilations / Other

Books

myself music

  • [2002.02.15] myself music

External Links