Utada Hikaru, who is also known as Hikaru Utada and the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American singer-songwriter and producer. Born in the United States to Japanese parents, record producer Utada Teruzane and enka singer Keiko Fuji, Utada began to write music and lyrics at an early age and often traveled to Tokyo as a result of her father's job. Eventually, a recording contract with Toshiba-EMI was signed and, under the stage name Cubic U, Utada released her English-language debut album Precious in early 1998, but it was a commercial failure. In the following year, heavily influenced by R&B and dance-pop, her Japanese-language debut First Love was released and became an instant success. Backed by the massive success of singles "Automatic", "Time Will Tell", and "Movin' On Without You", the album sold two million copies in its first week in Japan, topped the Oricon charts for six non-consecutive weeks and went on to sell six million more throughout the rest of 1999. First Love eventually became the country's best-selling album of all time.
Rockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City. The group's name is an amalgam of "rock" and "a cappella". Rockapella sings original vocal music and a cappella covers of pop and rock songs; and over time, their sound has evolved from high-energy pop and world music toward a more R&B-style sound. Rockapella famously found their biggest success in Japan throughout their career. They are best remembered for their role as a vocal house band and resident comedy troupe on the PBS children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, based on the classic computer game of the same name developed and published by Broderbund.
Liner notes are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.
Blue are an English boy band consisting of members Antony Costa, Duncan James, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe. The group originally formed in 2000 and has released three studio albums, All Rise (2001), One Love (2002) and Guilty (2003) that all peaked at number one in the United Kingdom alongside releasing 16 singles, over a four-year period. The group also worked alongside artists such as Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Lil' Kim. In late 2004, the group announced a hiatus and released their first compilation album, Best of Blue, on 15 November 2004.
Charles Scott Leonard IV is an American singer and a member of the cappella group Rockapella, the former house band on the PBS children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
Jeffrey Thomas Thacher is an American musician, best known as a member of the vocal group Rockapella. A professional vocal percussionist and singer who emerged on the early contemporary a cappella scene in 1991, Jeff Thacher co-founded the Boston-based a cappella group Five O'Clock Shadow that year and went on to join Rockapella in 1993 as their full-time mouth-drummer. Thacher was a 1990 graduate of Berklee College Of Music's Music Production & Engineering program, and afterward spent several years in television & radio production when not performing
Live In Japan is the fifteenth overall, tenth North American, and second live concert album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It was recorded during the group's "Wa" (Peace) Tour on June 2–12, 2003 and was released a year later. Live In Japan is the final album founding member Elliott Kerman can be heard on, marking a key piece of Rockapella history as the group no longer contains any of its founding members. It is also the last album Kevin Wright can be heard on, since he left the group in December 2009.
In Concert is the twelfth overall album, seventh North American album, and first live concert album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It was recorded live on December 9, 2000 at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California. A corresponding DVD was also filmed as part of a PBS Special. The DVD contains a shortened version of Jeff Thacher's vocal percussion solo during "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" and does not include "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress."
Christmas is the eleventh overall, sixth North American, and third holiday album released by the a cappella group Rockapella. It was re-released on Shakariki Records in 2004. The album wasn't released in Japan until 2001 on Rentrak Records and has a different track list and different artwork.
Don't Tell Me You Do is the ninth overall and fourth North American studio album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is the first album released by the group on a North American record label. All but two of the tracks were recorded during the fall of 1997 and originally released on the independent album Rockapella. When Rockapella obtained their long-awaited North American record deal in 1998, the songs "Moments of You" and "Hold Out For Christmas" were added in the place of "Bed of Nails" and Don't Tell Me You Do was released in the spring of 1999. In 2004, when the album was re-released on Shakariki Records, the then rare 1997 studio recording of the song "Bed of Nails" from the original album, Rockapella, returned to the track list in the place of "Hold Out For Christmas", which can be found on the group's holiday album Christmas.
Lucky Seven is the second and sixth studio album released in North America and Japan, respectively, by the a cappella group Rockapella. As the name suggests, it is the seventh overall studio album by the group. While the Japanese version was awaiting release in the fall of 1996 on ForLife Records, the group independently released it in the United States beginning that summer to be sold at concerts and via mail order. The Japanese version, titled Lucky Seven: Memories and Dreams, has different artwork, a different track order, and three more songs than the US version. This album is also the last album with Rockapella's founding member Sean Altman before his departure from the group.
Next Level is the tenth studio album by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released through Avex Trax on March 25, 2009 in five physical formats, and for digital consumption. The album was solely produced by Avex Trax owner Max Matsuura, whereas the album's content was written by Hamasaki herself. Additionally, it marks a return for several composers that helped construct her previous records, including Dai Nagao, CMJK, Kazuhiro Hara, HΛL, amongst others. Stylistically, Next Level is a departure from her previous albums, focusing on electronic music with elements of rock and dance.
Kana Nishino is a Japanese singer and songwriter signed with SME Records' Newcome Inc. She debuted on February 20, 2008, with the single "I". CNN said that she was the favorite singer of teenage girls in Shibuya, Tokyo, signalling Sony's jump on the bandwagon effect started by Avex. She has sold 6 million copies in Japan.
Best A Cappella is the third Japan-only compilation album of songs by the a cappella group Rockapella. When the group changed their Japanese record label to Rentrack Records and released two of their American albums and an additional compilation album in Japan, ForLife Records sought to capitalize on the renewed publicity and released this album of previous recordings. It is seen as an unaffiliated release since Rockapella no longer had a contract with ForLife Records at the time of its release, and therefore do not receive royalties for its purchases.
Best Fest is a compilation album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is first of three Japan-only compilation albums of the group's recordings, featuring a mix of tracks from previous Japanese albums, as well as two new songs that were not previously available. It was marketed as a "greatest hits" album; a "hit" in Japan is a song that has been used in a Japanese television commercial, of which Rockapella had many. As an incentive to get fans to buy it, the album includes two previously unreleased songs, "Tornado Man" and "Always You", and separate track versions of the "Logo" songs, the different versions of the "Rockapella jingle" the group does at the beginning of each of their first five CDs.
The Tenors are a vocal group consisting of Victor Micallef, Fraser Walters, and Clifton Murray. They perform operatic pop music that is a mixture of classical and pop, featuring songs such as "The Prayer" and Panis angelicus from the former genre, and Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah from the latter.
Bang is the sixteenth overall and eleventh North American album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is the first studio album the group has released since 2002, and marks the first recording appearance of members John K. Brown and Steven Dorian, who had joined the group in 2004 and 2010. The album consists entirely of original music, making it the second all-original album released by the group, preceded only by their 1994 Japanese release Vocobeat, and is also the first Rockapella album to have at least one song written by each of the five members. The album contains a special bonus fourteenth track: a cover of Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk."
I'm Taking Off is the second solo album released by Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter. The album was initially released on his own record label, Kaotic INC. The album sold over 20,000 copies during first week in Japan alone.
Pentatonix is an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, consisting of vocalists Scott Hoying (baritone), Mitch Grassi (tenor), Kirstin Maldonado (mezzo-soprano), Kevin Olusola, and Matt Sallee (bass). Characterized by their pop-style arrangements with vocal harmonies, basslines, riffing, percussion, and beatboxing, they produce cover versions of modern pop works or Christmas songs, sometimes in the form of medleys, along with original material. Pentatonix formed in 2011 and subsequently won the third season of NBC's The Sing-Off, receiving $200,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music. When Sony's Epic Records dropped the group after The Sing-Off, the group formed its YouTube channel, distributing its music through Madison Gate Records, a label owned by Sony Pictures. Their YouTube channel currently has over 18 million subscribers and 4 billion views. The group's video tribute to Daft Punk had received over 341 million views as of December 26, 2020.
Motown & More is the eighteenth overall and thirteenth North American album released by the a cappella group Rockapella. Just like the live show it accompanies, the album consists of covers of classic Motown covers. This marked the final album that members John K. Brown, George Baldi III, and Steven Dorian can be heard on as they all left the band in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively.
