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.
J-pop, natively also known simply as pops, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional Japanese music, but significantly in 1960s pop and rock music, such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys, which led to Japanese rock bands such as Happy End fusing rock with Japanese music in the early 1970s. J-pop was further defined by new wave groups in the late 1970s, particularly electronic synth-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra and pop rock band Southern All Stars.
Wands (ワンズ) were a Japanese rock band formed in 1991 as a three-member group. The band, throughout nine years of activity, had two vocalists, guitarists and keyboardists. Show Wesugi (vocalist), Hiroshi Shibasaki (guitarist), Kousuke Oshima (keyboardist) are the original member of the band. Shinya Kimura joined them after Oshima separate early. In 1997, Wesugi and Hiroshi left the band, so then Shinya reformed the band with Jiro Waku (vocalist) and Issei Sugimoto (guitarist). However, the group was officially disbanded in 2000. Wands belonged to the Being music agency.
MAX is a Japanese female vocal group. The name is an acronym for "Musical Active eXperience". The original members of MAX made their musical debut as members of the Super Monkey's along with lead vocalist Namie Amuro. They branched out on their own in 1995, becoming stars in their own right with selling several million albums and a string of consecutive top 20 singles from 1996 to 2000. Their lead singer, Mina, left the group in 2002 due to pregnancy and was replaced by Aki Maeda who assumed the stage name Aki. Aki left the group in August 2008 to pursue a solo career. Original member Mina returned to the group on October 28, 2008 ushering in the group's comeback after a two-year hiatus.
Aki Harada better known by her stage name, Sowelu, is a Japanese pop/R&B singer signed onto Avex Group's label Rhythm Zone.
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.
Crystal Kay Williams is a Japanese singer, songwriter, actress and radio host.
Super Junior , also known as SJ or SUJU, is a South Korean boy band formed on November 6, 2005, by producer Lee Soo-man of SM Entertainment, the group comprised a total of thirteen members at its peak. Super Junior originally debuted with twelve members, consisting of leader Leeteuk, Heechul, Hangeng, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, and Kibum. Kyuhyun joined the group later in 2006.
Jewel of Jewels is MAX's fifth original studio album released five years after their last album, Emotional History (2001). It is their first and last album recorded with Aki who left the group in 2008. It contains six of the seven singles released with Aki and was the group's first album to be released in dual formats.
Home is the first major-label album from Angela Aki. The album includes the songs from the singles released over the monthly period. In addition to the normal version of the album, a limited edition was also released. A special song entitled "Rain" from her previous mini album One is also featured. The album has charted at #2 on the Oricon Charts, selling well over 121,000 copies in its first week.
Ikimono-gakari (いきものがかり) is a Japanese pop rock band from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The group started in February 1999 with Hotaka Yamashita and Yoshiki Mizuno, and was joined by vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka in November of the same year. The group's name is a reference to ikimono-gakari (いきものがかり), a group of children who are responsible for looking after plants and animals in Japanese elementary schools.
"Tegami " is the eighth Japanese single by Angela Aki and was released on September 17, 2008. It was broadcast in a music program Minna no Uta in August 2008 with some re-runs. The song reached number three on the Oricon Weekly Charts, selling more than 200,000 copies. It was certified Million for downloads in 2016 by the RIAJ. The song is performed in the anime movie Colorful.
ANSWER, released on February 25, 2009 is Angela Aki's 3rd Japanese studio album. It sold 74,068 copies in its first week, peaking at Number 1 on the Oricon charts. It includes a re-recording of We're All Alone, a song that she had previously covered on One. This marks the second time Angela has re-recorded a song from that 2005 Indie album for inclusion on a major label release. It was released in two editions – the regular Cd edition, and a limited first-press only edition which includes a DVD.
Hideaki Tokunaga is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter and actor.
The discography of Japanese musician Angela Aki consists of seven studio albums, two compilation albums, one extended play, thirteen singles and five video albums. Her debut album, These Words, was released independently in the United States in early 2000, and was sung entirely in English. After returning to Japan in 2003, Aki followed this with a Japanese-language extended play One, released under Virgo Music in 2005.
Life is the fourth full studio album by Angela Aki released on September 8, 2010.
Tapestry of Songs: The Best of Angela Aki is a greatest hits album by Japanese singer-songwriter Angela Aki, released on March 5, 2014. The album compiles Aki's singles released from 2005, until her final single "Yume no Owari, Ai no Hajimari" in 2013 before her hiatus. The album was also released in a special two disc version, featuring additional songs Aki considered her favorites.
Love Classics is a compilation album by Japanese entertainer Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released on January 28, 2015, by Avex Trax.
Wands is the first mini studio album by Japanese rock band Wands. The album was released on June 17, 1992 under B-Gram Records label.
