| Hikki's Biography |
| Utada Hikaru was born in Manhatten, New York on January 19th, 1983, to Utada Teruzane and Utada Junko (aka Keiko Fuji). Both of her parents had musical backgrounds, her father being a musician and now her producer and manager, and her mother was a famous enka singer in the 1970s. Hikaru inherited much of her talents from her parents, and took voice lessons as a child (apparently she plays the guitar and piano well too!). When she was still relatively young, she would accompany her parents to the music studios in New York and began to compose her first songs at the tender age of 10. Before she made it big in Japan, Hikaru already had some experince in the studio. She and her parents formed a group called U3 and recorded some minor albums (Japanese debut entitled "Star"), with Hikki on backing vocals. U3 eventually became cubic U and did more minor recordings in Europe and America. Hikaru later used this name, Cubic U, to make her first attempt at a US debut with the album "Precious" (1997) and released the single "Close to You". The album did not gain so much hype, though it did attract the praise of Lenny Kravitz. It was only in late 1998 that Hikaru's career blossomed. After being discovered at a talent show, she was signed onto Toshiba-Emi label. She released her Japanese album "First Love" along with her single "Automatic", and later followed with the hugely successful follow-up single, "First Love". This album sold 2 million copies just in the first two weeks (WOW! don't think Britney did that well in the context!) and changed the face of Jpop. The cd sold out weeks even before it's release in Japan (Rumours have it 1 out of every 4 Japanese person owns a copy of "First Love).The following release to this album was "Distance", which produced other successful singles like "Wait & See", "Can You Keep a Secret?", and "Addicted to You". It was during this phase of her career that she saw many changes in her life personally and musically. She began attending Columbia University. She also released a track "Blow My Whistle" with Foxy Brown for the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack. After a tragic incident that occurred at an elementary school in Japan where children were murdered, Hikaru remade a song on her last album to commemorate one of the students who was a fan of hers. The song was entitled "Final Distance" and the music video featured the talents of Kiriya Kazuaki. Following this she released "Traveling" which was to be featured on her next album. 2002 was to see many changes for the young Hikaru. In March 2002, she signed a contract with Island Def Jam Records (US label) to release her first English debut in the States. Hikaru also released two more singles to accompany her third album like "Hikari" (For Kingdom Hearts, an RPG game) and "Sakura Drops".She also put her post-secondary education on hold to focus on her musical career. In April, she fell ill and went into surgery to remove a benign tumour from one of her ovaries and struggled to recover. Nevertheless, she did and in June, her third album "Deep River" was released. There was also a great change in her personal life too. On September 6th, Hikaru (19) announced her marriage to her music video director, Kiriya Kazuaki (34) which shocked all her fans (including me!). Her latest release up to date is "Colors" which came out in January of 2003. She is currently working on her English debut album (rumours have it it'll be out early 2004). At 20 years old, Hikaru's musical career seems promising, though she intends to retire young. Her music has seen dramatic changes from R n B to a more mature influence and her song writing capabilities seem to get better with each new release. Where will her career lead her next? We'll just have to "Wait and See". |
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