generasia:Featured article for 2021 week 16
Crystal Kay
Crystal Kay (クリスタル・ケイ) is a Japanese pop, urban, and R&B singer currently signed to the label Delicious Deli Records!, sub-label of Universal Music Japan. Born and raised in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan to an African-American father and a Korean mother, Kay started her music career at the age of six. At 12 she got a record deal, and then teamed up with Kanno Yoko to produce her debut single "Eternal Memories", under EPIC Records sub-label of Sony Music Entertainment. Like a number of Japanese artists, Kay can speak both English and Japanese, the former making a regular appearance in her songs, exhibiting a distinctly western influenced R&B sound.
After releasing her debut single, Kay gained fame for her third studio album, Almost Seventeen in 2002, which debuted at #2 on the Japanese Oricon charts. The album eventually sold over 400,000 copies and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. Kay, formerly signed to Epic Records for 12 years, suddenly transferred to Delicious Deli Records in 2011. As of July 2009, Crystal Kay has released ten albums. Her seventh studio album, All Yours became her first #1 release in her career when it debuted on top of the Oricon chart in June 2007. Kay has sold over two million records in Japan as of 2009.
Throughout her career, Kay has collaborated with m-flo and BoA, CHEMISTRY, as well as other well-known recording artists. She has also provided themes for the anime Hagane no Renkinjutsushi and Nodame Cantabile, as well as various dramas, films, events, and commercials.
Her first cover album, I SING, is released this week on April 21st.
