Childhood
Born on 2 October 1978,. Ayu lived in a single parent family, raised by her grandmother and mother. Sadly up till now, she still does not have any impression of her dad. Her mum was the sole breadwinner for the family and taught Ayu much values which she still holds as she grows up as a person. Though she herself commented that her mother frequently shows up late to fetch her back from school and she never eats the food prepared by her mother, she never blames her.  In fact, she respects her.  In an interview with Mtv Asia, she admitted her female role model was her mother.

"Not because I want to be exactly like this person but the person I feel is very great and very intelligent is my mother. And I admire her."

 Early career in showbiz

At the tender age of 7, she became Fukuoka central bank's model starting her modeling career.  She became so engrossed in modeling that her education in junior high school was neglected often by skipping classes.  She already learned how to make herself pretty, dying her hair, wearing mini skirts attracting her classmates attention who imitated her weardo. 

In 1991, at the age of 13, she used the name "Hamasaki Kurumi" to act in "Twins Teacher". Satou Aiko, Suzuki Kyoka, etc. also appeared in that drama. This made her interested in acting. Ayu was an artiste in "Sos model agency" at this period. After her graduation, she went to Tokyo alone and began her career as an actress. However, her acting career wasn't a smooth one.


In 1994, Ayu signed up with "Sun Music Production" - Adachi Yumi, Matsuda Seiko and Sakai Noriko once belonged to this company. Ayu was full of hopes that she would be as famous as her idol Miyazawa Rie in the entertainment industry. In this period, Ayu acted in around 7 dramas, and the most impressive one was "Miseinen" acting as a rich politician's daughter named Hitomi. She also appeared in TV Asahi "H.I.P. - Hot Information Press" which is a TV guide programme on popular places and restaurants in Japan. At times, she also performed in NHK "Idol On Stage". By then, she choosed to use her own name instead of her artist name. She also acted in 4 movies. Her debut movie is "SUMO MO MO MO" which is now available in VHS tape and VCD. Though she had acted about 4 movies, and tried to raise from supporting role to a leading role, her acting did not attract the general public. Like any other Japanese female artists, she did several swimsuit shots for magazines in order to gain her popularities in 1994.Her debut swimsuit photo album is "Terima Kashi" - released in April 1995. Indeed, Ayu gained some popularity after the debut photo album. However, she was sick of such assignment; putting on bikinis and making sexy seductive poses. Finally, Ayu made her decision which is different from the path for mainstream idol singer.

On 21 Sep 1995, she changed her image and released a Hip Hop single "NOTHING FROM NOTHING" under the artist name "AYUMI". She claimed to be the youngest Hip Hop rapper ever. During this period, EAST END X YURI was very popular and had brought in the J - Rap culture to the Jpop musical industry, Ayu made her first move to be a rapper - a path very different from the early stage of her singing career. And on 1 Dec 1995, she released her debut EP "NOTHING FROM NOTHING". Since then, she returned ass a B-class idol and disappeared in Jpop until 1996. She took up another role in a drama "Yamino Papuruai". 


In 1997, Ayu's showbiz career suffered a backdrop. There were rumors that she had some arguments with her management company which failed to raise up her popularity despite several attempts. Ayumi then chose to be an artist to express her true self and feelings, and took a trip to New York in the summer of 1997 to take vocal lessons. 

"Going to New York promised me nothing in terms of becoming professional. I just had to believe in myself,"  As a newbie and with little experience, Ayumi flew to New York full of anticipation and fear. In the end, Ayumi not only developed her skills as a vocalist, but also developed mentally by taking in fresh ideas unknown in Japan and by watching the self-confident behavior of New Yorkers.

"I was encouraged by the sight of young children living earnestly, and valuing themselves honestly without hesitation. In New York, I made many technical achievements, and moreover, I grew stronger at heart."  Now mature both as a vocalist and a person, Ayumi started writing lyrics as soon as she returned to Japan. Her style is to view her own and her friends' experiences objectively, and to write about them in her own honest words. Returning to Jpop after a long break in 1998, Ayu returned to the Jpop musical industry and used her original name "Hamasaki Ayumi". After signing up with avex trax, she released her debut single "poker face" on 8 April 1998. It was ranked at 20th place in Oricon chart and had sold about 43,150 copies in Japan. 

In "poker face," she writes about strength within sorrow.

"At first, the song was about a weaker girl. But you can cry anytime, and I wanted to smile at those sad, lonely moments. I rewrote the lyrics over and over, and finally finished the song the day before the vocal recording.

Starting with this debut single, Ayumi has written all the lyrics of the songs she releases. The lyrics don't include fake thoughts or even flights of imagination.

"I don't want to lose myself or lie to myself. I don't feel much stress about being myself. It's not difficult for me. It's just being natural.
Being true to yourself isn't something you strive for."

"I received the song's tape, I thought What difficult song! When I made a trial recording with the first lyrics (before rewriting), I hated it. But with the current lyrics, I could feel the song at once... and could sing it better than any other song I had tried. My voice came out naturally and the song became so much mine that I forgot I'd thought it was difficult."  Matsuura Max , Ayu's producer, commented that when he first read Ayu's lyrics, he was very touched, just like a thorn being poked into his heart. He added, "Many professionals might not able to write such lyrics. Those young girls who are raised in a proper family, may not able to write such lyrics....."

Brilliant vocal technique perfecting difficult songs. Talented lyrics of honest feeling. This is the style of Ayumi Hamasaki

 The Beginning of Ayu's Evolution

On 1998, she released "YOU" (10 June), "Trust" (5 Aug), "For My Dear..." (7 Oct) and "Depend on you" (9 Dec). All these singles ranked top 10 places in Oricon chart. And on 1 Jan 1999, she released her debut album "A Song for XX" and it was ranked at 1st place for four weeks. Regarded as the new Jpop queen after this success, her actions and talks become public's interest. Ayu also released a two part remix album "ayu-mi-x" and began the remix culture in Jpop musical industry. Soon, other singers followed her and released their own remix albums. In 1999 Ayu's singing career bloomed further with the releases of  "Whatever" (10 Feb), "LOVE ~Destiny~/LOVE ~since 1999~" (14 April), "To Be" (12 May),"Boys & Girls" (14 July), "A"(11 Aug), "Appears" {300,000 limited copies}(10 Nov) and "LOVEppears" (10 Nov). All of them sold like hot cakes, especially "A" which sold more than 1.5 million copies in Japan alone. She ranked in third, after Utada Hikaru and L'Arc-en-Ciel for best selling artist. Ayu also sets a very high standard for her album productions. Emphasizing on the pictures appearing on the covers of her albums and singles, she wants them to be daring and different. For example, in "LOVEppears" ,she appeared as a topless Eurasian using her long hair to cover her breasts, in "appears", like cover the for "LOVEppears", she appeared as a Negress, in "Whatever", she appeared as a cool angel, in "kanariya", she appeared as a lady of jewels, and in "Duty", she appeared as a wild sexy leopard. Matsuura Max: "If her album is printed with the title 'produced by ayumi hamasaki', that is nothing wrong. Her standard has actually reached the realm of a producer." 

 The Aftermath

Ayu's popularity inevitably like all Jpop stars, lead to people following her sense of fashion. In Japan, she is named as the successor of Namie Amuro, the out of favoured Jpop queen and become the new Trendy Leader for Japanese High School Gals. The teens culture is affected by Ayu. In Tokyo streets, you could see the young gals dressed like barbie dolls and wearing high heel shoes. And when she shot a three different versions of CM for Honda Giorno Crea, many young gals began to ride scooters to school. 

Ayu's fashion style also won her many "bizarre awards" in japan. She received the "Best Jeanist award" in 2001, the second year in a row that Ayumi's been honored for, her ability to fit in a pair of jeans better than most people.She was also awarded the "Nail Queen 2001" in one of the award categories at the Nail Expo 2001. While during the 14th Japan Best Dresser Eyes Awards, she was presented with the sunglasses award. 

In 2002, Ayu released a concept photo album "Book A".  Unlike the rest of Japanese female artistes who mostly took shots in sexy poses, Ayu designed an 8 different theme for the photo album. She also included her own notes during the shootings in "Book A". It really expressed Ayu's style and appeals to others that she is trendy.

Not long after Ayu was first unveiled as Kose promoter for its products, there was a round of heavy promotion by Kose, due to Ayu's charisma, the first 500,000 stocks were sold out within two days. Many shops have to put up posters to announce that they were run out of stock, thus many young gals were sad and frustrated. In order to please and not to disappoint them, new stocks were produced. Ayu has also been selected as official spokesperson for Panasonic, one of the "Official Worldwide Olympic Partners" for the upcoming 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Her song will be used with Panasonic's commercials and sponsor spots during the broadcasts from the games. This follows on the heels of Ayu being selected by Panasonic to promote their new Lumix line of digital cameras a few weeks back.

 Recognition

For all of Ayu's success, she has to win awards for her work. In fact she has won over 20 awards in the year 2001 alone. Some bizzare like "Best jeanist" while others considered to be the most coveted like "best artist for the 43rd annual Nihon Record Taishou". In 2002, she was even awarded "The Most Influential Japanese Artist In Asia".

 

 

Credits: Ayunamieforever.com

Edited by: TSY (Ayu's Wonderland)