MAI PROFILE


Name: Kuraki Mai (Kuraki=last name, Mai=first name)
Birth Date: October 28, 1982
Birth Place: Tokyo, Japan
Blood Type: B
Horoscope: Scorpio
Hobbies: Drawing. Listening to Music
Whom she respects: Her Parents
Favorite Artists: Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Backstreet Boys
Favorite Colors: Black, White, Pink, Red, Orange
Favorite Music: Black Music
Favorite Food: Fruit, Pasta
Academic: Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto (graduated in spring of 2005)


Mai first started off her career back in 1999 at the age of 16, when she released her first US single, "Baby I Like" on October 18th, which was recorded at Boston's Cybersound Studio. Her talent quickly caught the eyes of GIZA (her current record company)

She was being called back to Japan to release her first Japanese single, "Love Day After Tomorrow" on Dec 8th the same year. After her debut single, Mai becomes very popular in Japan. Her sweet voice and cutie appearance quickly touches the heart of many Japanese. " Love Day After Tomorrow" was sold over 1.3 million copies. After her first hit single, she released three more singles within five months. Her second single "Stay by My Side" sucessfully reached at the number one spot on the Oricon Chart (Japanese billboard chart) on Mar 22, 2000. On June 28 that same year, she released her first Japanese album, "Delicious Way", which sold over 4 million copies. "Delicious Way" was the number one best selling album of the year 2000. Mai was the second best selling artists in year 2000 (right after Hamasaki Ayumi).

Although Mai is being seen as a R&B singer at first, she also tries some other kinds of music as well. (some variation of what we call traditionally R&B style)

After the success of her first album, she released her second album, "Perfect Crime" on July 4th 2001. In the album, Mai was trying to develop her own kind of style, which makes her unique in the highly competitive Japanese music industry. Her voice and lyrics (she wrote!!) are more mature than the one since her first album. Mai continued her success and was the top ten best selling artists in 2001.

After the big success in Japan, GIZA felt that Mai is ready for the conquest of the big market, the US. Mai's first US english album, "Secret of My Heart" was released on Jan 22, 2002. The album consists of the english version of some of the songs in her first album and it also includes the songs in her debut US single, "Baby I Like".

Mai's third album, "Fairy Tale" was released on October 23, 2002. Mai's voice sounds more and more steady. The tracks in the album matches well with the theme 'Fairy Tale.' Through Mai's lyrics, we can feel her last teenage thought and her emotions of becoming an adult. It let us feel the sincere side of Mai.

The album, "If I Believe..." released on July 9, 2003. It was the fourth consecutive times that Mai reached the number one selling spot on the Oricon chart. It was also the fourth consecutive times that Mai received the Japan Golden Disc Award with the release of this album


Perfect Mai-K