Ayumi Hamasaki (also know as Ayu) is the most successful female artist in Japanese history with 37 out of 39 of her singles reaching the top 10 (the second best effort is 24) and 24 of those 39 reached the number one place. Her current single Born To Be Free is her 14th number one hit in a row. She is also the first artist to have 4 singles in the Japanese top 10 simultaneously and has also won the Record Taishou (Japanese music awards) 3 times in a row which no other female artist has done. Not bad for someone who was discovered singing karaoke during a failing modelling/acting career and decided to take up singing because she had nothing better to do.
Born on October the 2nd, 1978 in Fukuoka, her childhood was a troubled one. Her father left the family when she was two and she hasnt been seen since. With her short skirts, dyed hair and reputation for being a Yanqui (pronounced yankee) causing friction at school she decided to drop out and pursue a modelling and acting career in Tokyo. Under the pseudonym Kurumi Hamazaki she stared in B grade dramas and movies until she was discovered by Max Matsura (who is now her producer) while signing karaoke. After skipping singing lessons organised by Max in Tokyo Max then sent her to New York for lessons and encouraged her to write her own lyrics after being impressed by the contents of her letters.
As with the above achievements Ayu also hosted her own TV show Ayu Ready for a number of years hosting up to 75 episodes. Ayu Ready was produced by Fuji TV and was basically a chat show where Ayumi would sing songs with guests and eat food from their (the guests) favourite restaurants. They would actually get the chef in to cook the food in the studio. It also featured a segment called Ayu cookie time where the guest would open fortune cookies that had questions in them to answer, from what I can gather some were a little difficult or confronting.
Some people compare Ayu to Brittney Spears which I think is a bad comparison, I think a better comparison would be Madonna. Like Madonna, Ayu changes her style from album to album, some times even from single to single. Her music style ranges from slow ballads, to rock, to pop, to trance, eurobeat and house and has been said to have changed the course of Japanese pop music. For a first listening I would recommend the album I am. This album is one of her most diverse, the opening track being a rock number then seguing into a drum and bass instrumental leading into the trance hit Connected followed up with straight pop and a ballad. The single M was remixed by Ferry Corsten of System F fame and is one of the best trance remixes that has been done to date. Aside from her 7 albums Ayumi has released a number dance remix albums and acoustic orchestra mix albums, check the links for a complete discography.
For more information I recommend the following sites.
Divine Ayu: for all the latest new, lyrics, discography, albums scans, tv commercials. Should be your number one stop for all Ayu info.
Ayunite: The number one Ayu forum, exchange info, rumours, downloads and pics with like minded fans.
Ayumi-Hamasaki Org: Like the above Ayunite, equally as good.
Wikipedia has a great bio and review of each album and era in Ayu’s career, it’s very indepth, a must for fans.
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