HIKARU UTADA Biography
Utada Hikaru (aacaaa ''Utada Hikaru'', born January 19 1983), also known as "Hikki" to her Japanese fans, is a J-Pop music star. She has gone by Hikaru Utada (where surname comes last) once, in credits for a joint song with Foxy Brown, Blow My Whistle on the Rush Hour 2 movie soundtrack. In a interview, she explains: "I just figured it's a good way to separate my English and Japanese personas." However, ever since ''Exodus'' (2004), her first album in the States after her Cubic U era, and on singles from that album, she has gone by simply as "Utada," while the press mostly refers to her as Utada Hikaru. Utada Hikaru is one of the most popular and successful Asian artists today, given her personality, singing, songwriting, and producing ability, looks, lifestyle, and upbringing.
Biography
She was born in New York City, New York to Japanese parents who both had roots in the Japanese music industry: her father, Teruzane Utada, was a producer, while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer (she performed under the stage name "Keiko Fuji"). She made her first professional recording at the age of twelve, and recorded her first album, ''Precious'', in 1996 under the pseudonym Cubic U. The album led to her career overseas. In a recent MTV interview (MTV's ''You Hear It First'', October 2004), Utada said: "Someone in Japan heard it, at a Japanese record company, and he said, 'Oh, can't you write in Japanese? You speak Japanese.' And I didn't want to say no, so I had to try it."She is currently married to Kazuaki, a photographer and movie director. He directed several of her music videos, including "Final Distance", "Traveling", "Hikari", "Sakura Drops", "Deep River", "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", "You Make Me Want to Be a Man", "Be My Last", and "Passion". Also, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" was played during the credits of Kiriya's best-known film, ''Casshern''.
"Time Will Tell"
She moved to Tokyo later that year and attended The American School in Japan, while continuing to record on a new contract with Toshiba/EMI. She soon made her mark on Japanese music with her successful single "Automatic", soon followed by the album ''First Love'', which sold over five million copies in a month during March and April of 1999, and placed Utada among the 100 wealthiest people in Japan. She also broke the record of units sold on a single album in Japan; she still holds the record (in 2005).The album has sold more than ten million copies in Asia.
Music into the 2000s
Utada returned to New York in 2000 to attend Columbia University as a freshman, but took leave from it within the year. She continued to record, however, and her two subsequent albums, ''Distance'' (2001) and ''Deep River'' (2002), also went multi-platinum. In September 2002, shortly after the release of the latter, she announced her marriage to Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and director fifteen years her senior who directed her videos "Final Distance", "Traveling", "Hikari", and "Sakura Drops".The video for Utada's 2001 song "Can You Keep a Secret" received some attention as part of ''International Week'', which coincided with the 2001 EMAs, on the American channel MTV2. That video's airplay was likely Utada's first chance at exposure in the United States.So far she is best known in the western hemisphere for singing "Simple and Clean" , the theme to the video game "Kingdom Hearts" and its sequel "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories", which is an English version of her popular song "Hikari", combined with elements from another of her songs, "Uso Mitai na I Love You". She also performed a well-received duet with Foxy Brown, "Blow My Whistle", which was featured on the ''Rush Hour 2'' soundtrack. Her most successful singles include "Can You Keep a Secret?", "Addicted to You", and "First Love".
HIKARU UTADA lyrics and albums
