Nivea B. Hamilton, better known by the mononym Nivea, is an American singer whose recordings reached the Billboard charts during the early 2000s. Nivea is known most for her Grammy-nominated hit "Don't Mess with My Man" as well as "Laundromat" and "Okay" featuring YoungbloodZ & Lil' Jon. She has released three studio albums: Nivea (2001), Complicated (2005), Animalistic (2006), and an independently released extended play Nivea: Undercover (2011).
Utada Hikaru, who has also gone by 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 début album Precious in early 1998, but was a commercial failure. In the following year, heavily influenced by R&B and dance-pop, her Japanese-language début 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.
Kulilay Amit, better known by her stage name A-Mei, is a Taiwanese Puyuma singer and record producer. In 1996, she made her singing debut and released her album, Sisters. Her albums, Truth (2001), Amit (2009), and Faces of Paranoia (2014), each won her a Golden Melody Award for Best Mandarin Female Singer, and made her one of the singers who won the category the most times. Having sold more than 50 million records, she has achieved success in Mandarin-speaking world, and she is often referred to as the "Queen of Mandopop".
Misia, commonly stylized as MISIA, is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Nagasaki, Misia moved to Fukuoka at the age of 14 to pursue a recording career. There, she continued her secondary education and briefly attended Seinan Gakuin University before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She was signed to BMG Japan in 1997, after auditioning for record producer Haruo Yoda.
Mika Nakashima is a Japanese singer and actress. Five of her studio albums, one of her mini-albums and one of her compilation albums have reached number one in Japan's Oricon album chart. She also embarked on an acting career, most notably as Nana Osaki in the live action film adaptations of Nana.
Kumiko Kōda, known professionally as Koda Kumi, is a Japanese singer from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs. After debuting with the single "Take Back" in December 2000, Koda gained fame in March 2003 when the songs from her seventh single, "Real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba", were used as themes for the video game Final Fantasy X-2. Her popularity grew with the release of her fourth studio album Secret (2005), her sixteenth single "Butterfly" (2005), and her first greatest hits album Best: First Things (2005), reaching the number-three, number-two, and number-one spots respectively.
Johntá Austin is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, vocalist and rapper, signed to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings. He is known for collaborating with producers Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri & The Production Team StarGate. He was awarded two Grammy Awards for his work on the songs "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey and "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige.
Yui, stylized as YUI or yui, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Born and raised in Fukuoka prefecture, she played live at various locations in her hometown before being noticed by Sony Music Japan when she was 17 years old, and released her debut single months later. Her singles, however, were only met with moderate success until the breakout "Good-bye Days", which charted for 44 weeks on Oricon and marked her as one of the Japanese music industry's rising stars.
Yuna Ito is an American-born former singer and actress who was active in Japan.
Nana Kitade is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to being the lead singer of the rock band The Teenage Kissers, she has success as a solo artist, model, actress, and fashion designer. Kitade is particularly known for her songs appearing in various anime, TV shows, doramas and movie opening and endings. Kitade was featured on the cover of the Gothic & Lolita Bible, as well as featured in Neo and Kera magazines. She has toured Asia, Europe, and North America.
Ayaka Iida, known mononymously as Ayaka, is a female Japanese singer, songwriter and record producer formerly signed to Warner Music Japan. Born in Osaka, she moved to Tokyo to pursue a singing career. She married actor Hiro Mizushima on February 22, 2009.
Cheryline Ernestine Lim, known by her stage name Che'Nelle, is a Malaysian Australian singer-songwriter signed to Universal Music Japan.
"Chu-Lip" is Ai Otsuka's 14th single under the avex trax label. It is also her first single released in 2007.
Shota Shimizu is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician from Yao, Osaka, Japan, who debuted in 2008. On June 1, 2008, Shimizu performed at Central Park in New York City, USA, during the annual Japan Day Festival. Shota Shimizu went to a local Christian school in Osaka where he learned how to sing gospel music. He became captivated with soul music, which is how his music career started. He was inspired by Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, and Ray Charles.
Himeka (ヒメカ) is a French Canadian singer active in Japan.
Emi Tawata, born on June 26, 1984 in Okinawa, is a Japanese singer. Her music is a mix of soul, R&B, jazz, blues and funk.
Nina Simone Vidal, is an American singer-songwriter and pianist known best by her stage name, Nina Vidal.
