BIOGRAPHY

Utada Hikaru was born in New York on the 19 January 1983 to Japanese parents with roots in the Japanese music industry. Her father, Teruzane Utada, was a record producer. Her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer, performing under the stage name "Keiko Fuji". Utada Hikaru made her first professional recording at the age of twelve. She did her recordings with her mother, releasing songs under a band named “U3” (also known as Utada 3) until 1996 when she started her first solo project, "I’ll be Stronger". It was released under the artist name "Cubic U," a mathematical reference to her being the third Utada 'power,' which was Hikaru’s pseudonym before becoming a superstar in Japan.

She released her debut album Precious, sung in English, on January 28, but it failed to be released in the United States due to restructuring issues at her then record label Capitol Records. It has sold 702,060 copies to date in Japan, making it a significant hit for an all-English album in that market. In late 1998 she signed a new contract with Toshiba-EMI, as Utada Hikaru, and released a phenomenally successful single, "Automatic / Time Will Tell”.  Over 2,063,000 units have sold cumulatively of its two versions, making it the 2nd most successful single by a solo female artist in Japanese music history, behind Namie Amuro’s "Can You Celebrate?", and the most successful debut single ever released in the country.

On February 17, 1999, "Movin' on without you," which was a tie-in with a popular Nissan Car television commercial, was released and would clear 1-million confirmed units, and became her second platinum single and first #1 single. This was soon followed by her much-anticipated official studio debut album which came out the following month, March 1999, titled First Love, which sold over five million copies from March to April 1999, placing Utada among the 100 wealthiest people in Japan. First Love was not only the fastest selling debut album in Japanese history, but also had the highest initial first-week and overall sales for a debut album, achieving multi-platinum status in its first week of release. A month after the album First Love was released, the song "First Love" was released as a single and sold 804,000 units.

Eight months after "First Love" was released, Utada then released her fourth Japanese-language single, "Addicted To You”. It broke the million mark in its first week, making it the fastest selling single of all time by a solo or female artist in Japan. It also hit #1 on the Oricon Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks (a personal first) and eventually sold 1,784,000 copies. It remains her most successful single of all time. On April 19, 2000, Utada "Wait & See ~Risk~", that reached #1 on the Oricon and sold 1,662,000 copies. A month later, she released a half single "Remix: Fly Me to the Moon" in English and Toshiba-EMI released an animated music video for the single version of Fly Me to the Moon. The single was a limited edition release of 20,000 units, but sold out rapidly while hitting a chart peak of #16 on the Oricon. The follow-up "For You / Time Limit", her second double A-sided single, was released in late June and proved much more successful by becoming her fourth #1 hit. It was her last single in 2000 and it eventually sold 888,650 units. In July-August 2000, Utada decided to go on her first major headlining tour entitled Bohemian Summer Circuit Live 2000.

In early 2001, Utada released what would be the final Distance era single, "Can You Keep a Secret?" on February 16, 2001. It brought her #1 hit count up to five, and became her fifth single to exceed a million units in sales, raking in an eventual 1.484 million units. A month later, she released her second album, "Distance", on March 28, 2001, after nearly a two year hiatus. It was awarded with the largest first-week sales for any album in Japanese music history, with over 3.02 million units sold. At the end of 2001, it became the most sold album for any J-music artist worldwide or in the residential industry, with 4.469 million copies sold in Japan alone. She had the #1 single and album of the year as well in Japan, for Distance and its last released single, "Can You Keep A Secret?".

After Distance, Utada quickly released the singles "Final Distance", "Traveling", "Hikari", and "Sakura Drops / Letters" for her 2002 follow-up album, Deep River. With the exception of "Final Distance" (#2 peak), they all became instant #1 smashes on the Oricon singles chart, selling a combined total of about 2.8 million physical units by the end of 2002. In June 2002, just over a year and a month after "Distance", the album was released. The Oricon count of the album was another amazing first-week sales debut for Utada, with 2.35 million sold for the week post its release day. Oricon reports that sales eventually surpassed 3.60 million, making her the only singer or group in Japanese music history to have three consecutive albums surpass the triple-platinum (3 million) sold mark.

On September 7, 2002 Utada married Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and film director who was fifteen years her senior. Kiriya had directed several of her music videos, including "Final Distance", "traveling", "Hikari", "Sakura Drops", "Deep River", "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", "Be My Last", "Passion", and "Keep Tryin'". Also, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" is the theme song of Kiriya's directorial debut, Casshern. They divorced in March 2007.

In 2003, Utada's promotional and personal life schedules got more active due to her marriage and an imposing agreement with Island Records in America to release a proper full-English debut album. New Japanese-language singles would therefore come few and far between, but Utada did release "COLORS" on January 29, 2003, which was her only single release for 2003. It became her longest charting single with a 45 week trajectory on the Oricon Singles chart, selling 881,000 copies, and was #3 on the Yearly Singles chart.

Her first singles compilation album Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.1 was released on March 31, 2004. It became the best-selling album of 2004 in Japan, making her the only solo or group artist to reach #1 four times on the yearly charts. It was also the first compilation album to reach #1 in six years on the yearly charts, The album would go on to sell over 2.575 million units in Japan. A month later, on April 21, she released her only Japanese single in 2004, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", which topped the singles chart for two consecutive weeks and sold 365,000 units by the year's end and was also the main theme song for Casshern, her now ex-husband's directorial debut. In mid-2004, Utada moved back to New York, and began work on a new recording contract with Island Def Jam Music Group. On October 5, 2004, she released her North American English-language debut album, Exodus, under the name "Utada”. It was released nearly a month earlier, on September 9 in Japan, with a special booklet and housed in a cardboard slipcase. Exodus became Utada's fourth consecutive release to debut at #1 and boast 500,000+ first-week sales. In spite of enlisting the help of Timbaland to produce and co-write some songs, her American debut as an Island Records artist was met with indifference by the American market, almost due to the fact that there was virtually no promotion on her record label's part, selling a minimal 30,000 units. "Easy Breezy" was released as the lead single in early August 2004, peaking at #9 Billboard Hot Dance/Club Airplay chart, followed up by "Devil Inside" a month and two weeks later. "Exodus '04" was released at the end of June 2005 and featured remixes from The Scumfrog, Richard Vission, JJ Flores and Peter Bailey. In the UK, Mercury added another 2 remixes.

A year after the international releases and promotion of Exodus, Utada moved back to Tokyo and returned to the Japanese music scene with the release of a single track single, "Be My Last”: the track was used as the main theme for the movie Spring Snow (春の雪 Haru no Yuki). Despite topping the Oricon charts, "Be My Last" did not meet commercial expectations, failing to sell over 30% of pre-ordered shipments. However, "Be My Last" became the second most downloaded song via PC of 2006 in Japan. In mid-December, she released another single "Passion", which was used as the theme song for the Japanese version of video game Kingdom Hearts II. The single reached #4 on the Oricon Top 200 singles charts, selling 112,000 copies total. In addition to "Passion," Utada composed an English version, "Sanctuary", that was used for overseas advertisement for Kingdom Hearts II, which used different lyrics and style of background vocals.

On February 22, 2006 Utada released as new single titled "Keep Tryin'". The single was used to promote LISMO! au LISTEN MOBILE SERVICE's. "Keep Tryin'" peaked at #2 on the Oricon charts, selling a mere 125,000 copies total. However, the digital sales were Utada's highest up to this point, approaching two-and-a-half million downloads, and spending the most weeks atop OnGen's digital charts for two and half months. "This Is Love", the opening track from Utada's than-upcoming Japanese studio album Ultra Blue became available for download on May 31, making it Utada's first digital sales-exclusive single and was used to promote Ultra Blue, which was released on June 14, 2006 physically and June 28 digitally. The album contained "Colors" her 2003 single and "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" her 2004 single. Ultra Blue sold 500,317 copies in the first week, easily topping the Oricon Daily, Weekly and Monthly charts, and gave Utada her sixth consecutive chart-topping album to sell in excess of 500,000 units for first-week sales, setting a new record. By July 13, barely a month post its release, her record label Toshiba EMI published a report confirming Ultra Blue had sold over one million copies worldwide and four million digital ringtones already. During the summer. Utada started the "Utada United 2006" nationwide 22-dates tour commenced June 30, 2006 and ended on September 12, 2006 after Utada's performances at Yoyogi. In September 2006, she released "Utada Hikaru Single Collection" Volume 4, which entered the Oricon Music DVD charts at #1, selling an approximate first-week estimate of 22,000 units. On November 22, 2006, Utada released an anticipated new single, "ぼくはくま ( Boku wa Kuma, lit. I'm a Bear)". The song tied with "Passion" as her lowest charting single, placing #4 in its first week.

In 2007, Utada's official site announced her 18th Japanese single "Flavor of Life," which was released February 28, 2007”. The ballad version of "Flavor Of Life" was featured as the insert song for the second season of the popular Japanese drama, Hana Yori Dango. It was a major comeback for Utada, garnering the largest overall success in her career with the most combined airplay, physical sales, and downloads. "Flavor of Life" was the most physically successful female single in the past three and a half years, with first week sales of 270,000+ units. In April 2007, "Flavor Of Life" became the highest-selling Japanese downloadable single of all time. Combining its digital downloads with physical CD sales, it sold well past 8,300,000 copies in total, marking the all-time combination sales record for a single in Japan. On April 20, 2007 a new song "Kiss & Cry" was announced and later featured in the 2007 "Freedom Cup Noodles CM", the same tie-in of her first Japanese digital 2006 single, "This is Love”. On June 31, "Kiss & Cry" became her second digital single to be released in Japan, and later her fourth double A-side single. "Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry” would be the theme song for Rebuild of Evangelion. "Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry" debuted August 29, 2007 and at #3 on the Weekly rankings with 93,518 copies sold and eventually cumulatively selling 225,996 copies, making it the #2 female single of 2007 in Japan behind her own "Flavor of Life”.