generasia:Featured article for 2009 week 30

Shimatani Hitomi

Shimatani Hitomi (島谷ひとみ) is a Japanese pop singer signed to avex trax label. In 1997, she won the "1st The Japan Singer" audition and debuted as an enka singer in 1999 with the single Osaka no Onna. However from her second single Kaihouku, she changed her style of music to modern pop. In the year 2001, her third single papillon, a Japanese-language cover of the Janet Jackson's Doesn't Really Matter reached #14 on the Oricon charts and sold 216,000 copies, marking Shimatani first success in the music scene. Following papillon, Shimatani released her debut album PAPILLON in June 2001. Her career peaked in 2003 with the single Amairo no Kami no Otome which reached #4 on the Oricon charts and charted for 38 weeks, selling 374,912 copies, it is currently Shimatani's best selling single.

On July 29th, ten years after her major debut, Shimatani will release her 10th anniversary best album titled BEST & COVERS.