Namie Amuro

Biography

Namie Amuro ( NAH-mee-AY; Japanese: 安室 奈美恵, romanized: Amuro Namie; born September 20, 1977) is a retired Japanese singer. She rose to prominence as a teen idol, and transitioned into a leading pop artist due to her versatility across music styles and visual presentation. Due to her career reinventions and longevity, she is known as an icon across Japan and Asia. She has been referred to as the "Queen of Japanese Pop", and her influence domestically has drawn comparisons to artists such as Janet Jackson and Madonna in Western pop culture. Born in Naha, Okinawa, Amuro debuted as the lead singer of the idol group Super Monkey's in 1992 when she was 14 years old. Despite early sales disappointments, Amuro's rising popularity helped to score a major hit with the 1995 Eurobeat single "Try Me (Watashi o Shinjite)". Signing to Avex Trax for her solo career, Amuro catapulted to fame with a string of number one singles including "Chase the Chance" and "Don't Wanna Cry". A close partnership with renowned producer Tetsuya Komuro resulted in a dance-pop sound with Western influences. Her first four releases, including Sweet 19 Blues (1996) and Concentration 20 (1997), each received multi-million certifications. Her 1997 single "Can You Celebrate?" remains as the best selling single by a solo female artist in Japanese music history. In the early 2000s, "Never End" became Amuro's last successful single before a decline in sales, and her music began evolving from pop to R&B as she reined in creative control of her career. This transition was marked by the Suite Chic project in 2002 and her sixth studio album Style (2003). Amuro's eighth studio album, Play (2007), with the hit single "Baby Don't Cry", began a period of commercial resurgence. Her comeback was solidified with the 2008 single "60s 70s 80s" and its parent release Best Fiction. She continued to experiment musically in the 2010s, dabbling in EDM and recording in English, beginning with her tenth studio album Uncontrolled (2012). It featured the million-certified single "Love Story". She later founded her own management company, Stella88, and record label, Dimension Point. Amuro finished her career with the 2017 greatest hits album Finally, which became the best selling album of the decade and made her the only artist to achieve a million-seller in each of their teens, 20s, 30s and 40s. She officially retired from the music industry on September 16, 2018. As it coincided with the closure of the Heisei era (1989–2019), she became labelled as the representative "Heisei diva" with many calling it the "end of an era", in both senses. Having sold more than 40 million records, Amuro is recognized as one of the best-selling artists in Japan by Oricon. She has received accolades from the Japan Record Awards, Japan Gold Disc Awards, MTV Video Music Awards Japan and the World Music Awards.

== Life and career ==

=== 1977–1995: Early life and career beginnings === Namie Amuro was born on September 20, 1977, at Okinawa Red Cross Hospital in Naha, Okinawa. She is one of four children of Emiko Taira. Through her mother, Amuro is a quarter Italian. Having divorced when Amuro was only 4 years old, Taira raised her children solely in Okinawa – she worked as a nursery school employee and a bar hostess to support her family. Although Amuro had no ambition to become a singer, she was discovered at age 12, while visiting a friend. One year later, Amuro was scouted by Masayuki Makino, the owner of Okinawa Actors School, and eventually she was enrolled there. In 1991, Makino placed her in an idol group named Super Monkey's, with four other girls: Anna Makino, Hisako Arakaki, Minako Ameku and Nanako Takushi. The sixth member, Rino Nakasone, joined the group one year later. On September 16, 1992, Super Monkey's released their debut single, "Koi no Cute Beat/Mr USA". However, Anna Makino left the group at the end of that year. In 1993, the remaining members of Super Monkey's moved to Tokyo. Super Monkey's did not gain much success and the group went through constant lineup changes. In 1994, the group changed their name to Namie Amuro with Super Monkey's to reflect Amuro's rising popularity as an upcoming actress and fashion model. Aside from group's musical activities, Amuro had bit parts in Japanese television series and small films. Super Monkey's experienced a large amount of success with their single "Try Me (Watashi o Shinjite)", produced by Italian eurobeat producer Dave Rodgers, and Japanese businessman Max Matsuura. Released on January 25, 1995, the song reached number eight on the Oricon Singles Chart, and stayed in the top 200 chart for 25 weeks. Despite the beginning success as a group, the other four members of the Super Monkey's formed their own sub-group, MAX, under the Japanese record label Avex Trax. As a result, Amuro released two more solo singles under Toshiba-EMI before moving to Avex Trax herself. After signing with Avex Trax in 1995, the corresponding record company Avex Group enlisted Japanese musician Tetsuya Komuro to work with Amuro on her then-upcoming album. Amuro made her solo debut with Avex, releasing the single "Body Feels Exit" on October 25, 1995. It became a huge success in Japan, peaking at number three on the Oricon Singles Chart and sold over 882,000 units in Japan. Amuro's second single with Komuro, "Chase the Chance", became her first number-one single on the Oricon Singles Chart and her first single to sell over 1 million units in Japan. For Amuro's success with those singles, she won the Golden Arrow Award in 1995.

=== 1996–1998: Sweet 19 Blues, Concentration 20, pregnancy, marriage, breakthrough, 181920 and motherhood ===

After a brief hiatus, Amuro released two more singles in 1996: "Don't Wanna Cry" and "You're My Sunshine". Both singles were successful in Japan, bringing her second and third consecutive number one singles, and both sold over one million units there. Amuro achieved huge success after the release of her first solo studio album, Sweet 19 Blues (1996). Released on July 22, it reached number one on the Oricon Albums Chart in Japan, and has sold over 3.6 million units. She released the album's final single, the title track, on August 21, 1996; it achieved success by peaking at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, and shifted over 400,000 units in Japan. On November 27, 1996, she started work on her second solo studio album with Komuro, and released its lead single "A Walk in the Park". It gave Amuro her fourth number one single on the Oricon Singles Chart, and her fourth single to sell over one million units there. At the end of 1996, she was awarded the Grand Prix Award for her song "Don't Wanna Cry", the highest honor at the Japan Record Awards, making her the youngest artist to have won the award. On February 19, 1997, she released her single "Can You Celebrate?", which became her fifth number one single. The single became a huge success in Japan, eventually selling 2,750,000 units there, making it the best-selling single by a solo female artist in Japan. After releasing her sixth consecutive number one single "How to Be a Girl" on May 21, 1997, Amuro released her second album Concentration 20 in July of that year. It became her third number one album in Japan, and sold over 1.9 million units there. For additional promotion, she embarked her Concentration 20 Dome Tour in Japan, which achieved commercial success. By early August 1997, the total sales of Amuro's records reached 20 million units in Japan. During a press conference held on October 22, 1997, Amuro confirmed her marriage to Japanese musician and TRF band member Masaharu "Sam" Maruyama, and announced that she was three months pregnant with their first child. At the end of the year, she won the Grand Prix Award at the Japan Record Awards again for "Can You Celebrate?" and made her final appearance on the annual Japanese television music show 48th Kōhaku Uta Gassen before beginning her one-year hiatus from the music industry. She legally changed her name to Namie Maruyama, but continued to use her maiden name as her professional name. Amuro's first compilation album, 181920, was released on January 28, 1998, and covers twelve singles which were released prior to her hiatus. The total sales of the album were around 2 million units in Japan. Four months later, on May 19, Amuro gave birth to her son, Haruto Maruyama at Maruyama Memorial General Hospital. She returned to the music industry by releasing the single "I Have Never Seen" on December 23, 1998. It became her eighth number one single on Oricon, and sold over 650,000 units in Japan. She made her first televised appearance on 49th Kōhaku Uta Gassen days later, performing a tearful rendition of her single "Can You Celebrate?".

=== 1999–2001: Personal struggles, Genius 2000 and Break the Rules === Working on the album Genius 2000 with Komuro and American producer Dallas Austin, after releasing its first single "I Have Never Seen" in 1998, Amuro released its second single "Respect the Power of Love" on March 17, 1999. On the same day, news publications in Amuro's hometown, Okinawa, reported that her mother, Emiko Taira, had been murdered. According to staff editors at The Japan Times, Emiko and her second husband, Tatsunobu Taira, were hit by an axe, owned by Kenji Taira, Emiko's ex-husband's brother. While her second husband survived with moderate injuries, Emiko was taken to hospital, and pronounced dead after noon on March 17. Kenji was then found dead in his car, after consuming insecticide. Upon hearing the news, Amuro postponed all promotional activities and flew back to Okinawa in order to identify her mother's body. A week later, the single debuted at the number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, beaten by the single "Dango 3 Kyodai". A third single, "Toi et Moi", was used for the Japanese animation movie Pokémon: The Movie 2000. Both singles proved successful, selling over 400,000 and 200,000 units in that region, respectively. Amuro made her first single debut with Austin on "Something 'Bout the Kiss", released on September 1, 1999. It became a success in Japan, reaching number three on the Oricon Singles Chart and sold over 390,000 units there. In January 2000, Amuro released her fourth studio album Genius 2000; it reached number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, and shifted over 800,000 units there. That same month, Amuro confirmed her separation from husband Masaharu. For the first half of 2000, Amuro embarked on her Genius 2000 Tour throughout Japan. She then released the single "Never End", in July, confirming work on her fifth studio album with Komuro and Austin. The single was used as part of the G8 Summit taking place in Okinawa, Japan that year. It was commissioned by late Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi, who asked Tetsuya Komuro to write a song conveying "a vision of harmony and interaction in the world in the 21st century". Obuchi later asked Amuro to perform the single at the summit.

Amuro's fifth studio album Break the Rules was released on December 20, 2000, and is her final full-length produced album with Komuro. It became her first studio album to miss the top spot, peaking at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart. Amuro's sales started to decline from this release, as the album only shifted 335,000 units in Japan. To promote the studio album, Amuro toured Japan in March 2001, and finished in May that same year. In August, she released the single "Say the Word"; it was her first single that she contributed to songwriting. This was her first single to be released after departing with Komuro, until years later, and was released in part of her upcoming greatest hits album. Since then, she started to produce her own activities. However, in December she worked with Komuro for the last time on "Lovin' It", a single released as part of Avex's Song+Nation charity project. The single featured Japanese rapper Verbal from the music group M-Flo.

=== 2002–2004: Love Enhanced Single Collection, decline in sales and popularity, Suite Chic project and Style ===