Namie Amuro

Namie Amuro (安室 奈美恵; 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 equivalent comparisons to artists such as Janet Jackson and Madonna in Western pop culture.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.