Amuro Namie

Amuro Namie (安室奈美恵) is a Japanese "Hip-Pop" (Hip-Hop / Pop) artist from Okinawa. She debuted in a eurobeat group called the SUPER MONKEYS comprised of her and her classmates from the Okinawa Actors' School in 1992 with the single Koi no Cute Beat / Mister U.S.A.. Amuro became the leader of the group, and found success after their cover of TRY ME ~Watashi wo Shinjite~, which peaked at #8. In 1996 Amuro switched to avex and debuted with the single Body Feels EXIT, with her first avex album selling over 3.3 million copies. Her biggest single, the ballad CAN YOU CELEBRATE?, was the top single of 1997. After marriage and personal tragedy, Amuro continued to adopt a more R&B/hip-hop based style of music. She has sold over 27,322,155 copies in Japan alone.



Profile
Name: Amuro Namie (安室奈美恵)
Birthday: September 20, 1977
Birthplace: Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture
Blood Type: O
Family: Parents divorced, mother deceased, 2 sisters and 1 brother
Height: 158cm / 5'2"
Weight: 40kg / 88 lbs
Measurements: B75 W58 H87
Ethnicity: 75% Japanese, 25% Italian
Tattoos: Two on her left arm, two on her right wrist



Information
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Early Life - SUPER MONKEYS

Amuro Namie comes from the island of Okinawa, below Japan. Her mother is half-Italian and she has three siblings. When Amuro was four her mother divorced her husband and brought up three children as a single mother. Amuro was influenced by Janet Jackson when she was young and wanted to dance and sing. To fulfill this dream, Amuro tried to enter the prestigious Okinawa Actors' School. However, she did not have enough money at the time to enter the school, so she made a request to the principal of the school, Makino Masayuki, who granted her a scholarship to attend. Amuro faced a commuted time of one and a half hours to get to school.



Amuro was made a part of an idol group alongside several of her classmates from the school and formed the group the SUPER MONKEYS. The group debuted in February 1992 under Toshiba EMI with the single Koi no Cute Beat / Mister U.S.A.. One member, Makino Anna, was even the principal's daughter. After Makino left, Amuro became the leader of the group; slowly growing in prominence. This is most illustrated by the group changing their name to Amuro Namie with SUPER MONKEYS. The group did not see real success until their cover of TRY ME ~Watashi wo Shinjite~, which peaked at #8. By the release of Taiyou no SEASON, the other members' roles were so small that Amuro was solely credited with the song and the other members acted as back-up singers for her.

Rise to Fame - Marriage

In 1995 Amuro and her bandmates switched labels from Toshiba EMI to Avex after meeting with Komuro Tetsuya and Max Matsuura. However, the SUPER MONKEYS were dissolved in favor of two acts: Amuro now has a solo project and the other members form a new group called MAX. Amuro debuted with the single Body Feels EXIT, followed two months later with her first #1 single, Chase the Chance.

Her further singles Don't wanna cry and You're my sunshine (both #1 singles) solidified her success, cumulating in her debut album under Avex, SWEET 19 BLUES, not only reaching #1 but going on to sell over 3.3 million copies. Due to Amuro's success and image, she soon became a fashion leader in Japan. Followers of her style were labeled as 'Amura' (a pun on her name). The stereotypical 'Amura' had long hair dyed brown, wore short mini-skirts, had thin eyebrows and wore "atsuzoko" thick-soled boots.

Amuro found the greatest success in her career in 1997 with the single CAN YOU CELEBRATE?. This ballad single was used as the drama Virgin Road's theme song, and became the #1 single of 1997 due to its massive popularity. Amuro's success during this pine period also resulted in a massive increase in interest for Okinawan artists.

On October 22, 1997, Amuro shocked fans and members of the press with the announcement that she had married label-mate SAM, a member of the Avex dance group TRF. Furthermore, she announced that she was three months pregnant and went on a one year hiatus to concentrate on her son. In the meantime two Amuro products were released: a re-issue of her CAN YOU CELEBRATE? single featuring a 'wedding' arrangement (which reached #1 again) and also her first best-of collection 181920. On May 19, 1998, her son, Haruto (温大), was born.


Return to Industry - Tragedy

Amuro returned to the music scene in December 1998 with the single I HAVE NEVER SEEN, used as the drama Yonige-ya Honpo's theme song, which reached #1 on the charts. Three months later, Amuro released a second single, a ballad RESPECT the POWER OF LOVE, on March 17,1999. However, tragedy struck when on the day of the single's release her mother Taira Emiko (平良恵美子) was brutally murdered by Amuro's step-uncle, Taira Kenji. According to press statements, Emiko was walking with her husband (second marriage - not Amuro'a father) when Taira Kenji repeatedly ran over the couple and also assaulted them with an axe. While Amuro's step-father survived the ordeal, Taira Kenji later committed suicide after the event.

After taking another break from the industry (Amuro later left a message to her fans in January 2000 stating that she had been seriously thinking of retiring, however was convinced not to by the kind words from her fans), Amuro returned with the singles toi et moi (Pokémon: The Movie 2000's ending theme song) and SOMETHING 'BOUT THE KISS. SOMETHING 'BOUT THE KISS was Amuro's first real step towards an R&B oriented career: the song was the first of hers to be produced by US producer Dallas Austin.

Amuro's sales had declined significantly since her peak in 1997, however she had a hit single in 2000 with NEVER END, which sold over 640,000 copies. In 2001, Amuro released her first song that featured direct input from herself: her song say the word was the first song to feature lyrics by Amuro herself.


SUITE CHIC - New Style

In late 2001 Amuro started working as part of a collaborative R&B project called SUITE CHIC in which she was the vocalist. After releasing a special single written for her fans, I WILL, Amuro's second best-of collection LOVE ENHANCED♥ single collection was released.

On July 10, news came that Amuro had divorced her husband who had received parental rights over their son. However, later in 2005 Amuro received these rights back from him.

2002 saw two more activities from Amuro: the release of Wishing On The Same Star (film Inochi's theme song and written by hit-producer Diane Warren) and her debut SUITE CHIC release, GOOD LIFE / Just Say So. This single did not chart anywhere near where Amuro had charted for the last eight years (only peaking at #35)

From November 29th 2003 to May 15th 2004 Amuro performed throughout Asia on the Namie Amuro SO CRAZY tour. She was the first major Japanese artist to hold a concert in South Korea after the normalization of cultural relations. Shortly following the tour, she released the ballad "ALL FOR YOU". The song peaked at #6, but sold double the amount of her last single. "GIRL TALK/ the SPEED STAR", was announced as Amuro's 27th single. When it was released the song charted at #1 on the Oricon daily chart for three days. It was the first time any of her singles had placed #1 in 5 years. The song ultimately placed #2 for the week and repeated the sales success of her previous single.

In January 2005 a new song entitled "Queen of Hip-Pop" was assumed to be her next single until in April, she released "WANT ME, WANT ME". The song was mix-received, but still a hit, debuting at #2 and charting with her highest debut sales peak in 3 years.

In May 2005 Amuro took back custody of her only child, Haruto, and also became the first person to win an award for four years in-a-row on MTV Video Music Awards Japan. On that year Amuro won two awards - Best R&B Video and a special award. Around the time of these events, Amuro announced the release of her sixth studio album, "Queen of Hip-Pop". Upon release, the album charted at #2. The album became her best selling album in 5 years. In September, Namie kicked off her 7th national public tour entitled Space of Hip-Pop.

In late 2005 Amuro made an offer to the Japanese distribution company to sing the theme song for the Japanese release of Sin City. The company felt that her image fit it and accepted her offer. When director Robert Rodriguez heard Namie's contribution to the film he asked to be a part of it. He can be heard speaking "Welcome to Sin City" in a distorted voice towards the end of the song.


Return to Prominence

On May 17th 2006, CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK / Ningyo was released as Amuro's 30th single. After the single a tour was announced, "Live Style 2006". The tour lasted from 13th August 2006 until 23rd November 2006. In this tour Amuro performed many her b-side singles for the first time. Live Style 2006 wasn't promoting an album instead it was a mark for her 15 year career.

Amuro's next single, "Baby Don't Cry", was released on January 24th, 2007. It was used as the theme song of a Japanese Drama Himitsu no Hanazono. The single featured the b-side "Nobody", a song which was at first supposed to be featured on the single "White Light", released in November of the previous year. "Nobody" is described as a follow-up to "White Light", both lyrically and musically. "Baby Don't Cry" debuted at #3 and had the highest first week sales for Amuro in over 5 years. 3 months later a new single "FUNKY TOWN" was released. Despite debuting at #3, the single failed to live up to the sucess of Amuro's previous single.

In summer 2007 Amuro lended vocals to an m-flo song called "Luvotomy" as part of their "loves" project and was featured on their 3rd "loves" album "COSMICOLOR". The song was later used to promote m-flo's remix album of "COSMICOLOR". Soon after the m-flo collaboration, Amuro's 7th studio album was announced, entitled PLAY and set for release on June 27th 2007. The song, "Hide & Seek" was used to promote the album. Upon its release, "PLAY" debuted at #1, and stayed at the top spot for two weeks on the Oricon Charts. When its first week was over, "PLAY" became Namie's first weekly number one album since her 2000 album "Genius 2000". In it's first week, the album sold 250,619 copies - Amuro's highest first week sales since Genius 2000 and also peaked at #4 on the United World Chart.

On March 12th, the first triple A-Side single by Amuro was released, entitled 60s 70s 80s. The whole single was used in a campaign for Vidal Sassoon's latest shampoo and conditioner products. In addition, each song represented a certain time period starting with the 1960's, then 1970's, and finally 1980's. In just two days, the single surpassed the first week sales of "Baby Don't Cry", her best selling single since "Say the Word" in 2001. This became Namie's first #1 on the Oricon Daily Chart since 2004's, "GIRL TALK / the SPEED STAR". The single debuted at #2 on the weekly charts with over 114,000 copies sold and became Amuro's highest first week sales since 2000's "NEVER END". In the second week the single gained the #1 spot for that week, making it Namie's first #1 single after 9 years and 3 months since I Have Never Seen.



Albums
[1996.07.22] SWEET 19 BLUES #1
[1997.07.24] Concentration 20 #1
[2000.01.26] GENIUS 2000 #1
[2000.12.20] break the rules #2
[2003.12.10] STYLE #4
[2005.07.13] Queen of Hip-Pop #2
[2007.06.27] PLAY #1