Name: Ayumi Hamasaki
Birthday: 2nd October 1978
Star sign: Libra
Place of Birth: Fukuoka
Blood type: A
Height: 5'1" (156cm)
(B/W/H): 31/20.5/32 (80/53/82)
Weight: 88lbs (40Kg)
Producer: Max Matsuura
Record Label: Avex Trax
Interests: watching baseball and music.
Talents: Playing piano, flower arranging, drawing, ballet, can write with left and right hands.
Favorite Food: sashimi, Sweets, cake, chocolate, and kimichi.
About Music: I listened to rock (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple) through the influence of my older brother. Now I enjoy listening to black music like Babyface, En Vogue, etc.
Disliked Food: Pig leg.
Favorite Actors: Rie Miyazawa, and Nicolas Cage.
Favorite Authors: Natsuki Gin'iro, Mitsuwo Aida.
Admired Women: Keiko (Globe), Rie Miyazawa, Seiko Matsuda
Favorite Books: usually buy fashion magazines, etc. Modern-day translations of ancient Japanese poems (Manyoushuu) are especially interesting. Silver summer life works, Mitsuo Aida works, etc.
Favorite Singers: Keiko (Globe), Matsu Takako.
Favorite Movies: "The Bodyguard", "Betty Blue", and "Leaving Las Vegas"
Likes Collecting: Any white decorative things for the room.
People she respects: Someone that has a quality she doesn't.
People she dislikes: People who lie, and rude people.
|
|
Early life
Although Ayumi Hamasaki lived with her mother, she was primarily raised by her grandmother. Ayumi Hamasaki has vague recollections of her father as he left the family at around the time she was two, and she has not seen him since. She grew up in a very liberal household where she was expected to do what was right for her without her mother intervening in her affairs, since her mother was always out working to support the family.
In her youth, Ayumi Hamasaki started her modeling career as a model for a local bank. During high school, Ayumi Hamasaki was considered a delinquent because of her dyed hair and short shirts which were considered extremely unconventional in Japan at that time. Eventually she dropped out of high school and moved to Tokyo to pursue a fulltime modeling career, supported by her grandmother.
Idol career
Ayumi Hamasaki used the pseudonym Kurumi Hamazaki, acting in low budget dramas like Miseinen and b-movies like Sumo momo momo; however, Ayumi Hamasaki did not find success. Ayumi Hamasaki was too short to become a professional model. As a result, she spent her days wandering the streets of Tokyo, shopping, and dancing at clubs in the Shibuya district.
Take a look at the Japanese pop music charts almost any day of the year and you’re guaranteed to find at least one if not more Hamasaki Ayumi singles and/or albums in the Top 20. Ayumi Hamasaki’s one of a handful of young female superstars dominating the world of J-Pop with a string of smash hits. Fans snap up copies of every release as soon as it hits store shelves--from her debut single "Poker Face" to her most recent video release "Vogue Far away Seasons" everything she touches is gold.
Like other Japanese divas, Ayumi Hamasaki achieved success as an entertainer at a young age. Though still not 22 years old yet, she has already released 16 best-selling singles and 7 smash hit albums, as well as accompanying posters, photo albums, and videos. Capitalizing on the growing popularity of Japanese pop culture throughout Asia and around the world, Hamasaki has made her name a familiar one to non-Japanese as well. Though insisting that she was shy and insecure as a girl, Hamasaki loves the spotlight these days, appearing frequently on music programs like Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ to perform her latest hits and banter with the hosts and other performers. Every time she takes the stage sporting a new haircut and fashion style, the young girls and women in the audience shriek Kawaii! (cute!) as they take mental notes on how to spruce up their wardrobe with trademark Hamasaki items, like her cowboy hat.
Ayumi Hamasaki is often compared with Suzuki Ami, one of Japan’s other current pop darlings. Both women came to the forefront of the J-Pop scene at about the time, are roughly the same age, and sing the same type of songs. The Japanese media has made much of the similarities, hinting that there is a rivalry between the two women, but Hamasaki brushes aside such speculation, saying that the two of them are, in fact, friends.
Hamasaki’s star is still rising so we can expect to see more singles, albums, and videos from her in the years to come. We will even see her flex her acting muscles in future TV dramas and movies. Stay tuned as the best is yet to come!
As an artist
The first steps Ayumi Hamasaki gave on music was in the rap scene. On December 1, 1995 Hamasaki's first album along side with Dohzi-T, DJ Bass NOTHING FROM NOTHING was released. There's poor information about this era in Ayu's life but it is known that there was virtually no promotion for the album. After failing to chart in Oricon, her talent agency and record label, Nippon Columbia, dropped her. After this, Hamasaki supposedly met her future producer, Masato Matsuura in a karaoke bar (Ayumi Hamasaki met Matsuura in a music club/bar "Velfarre" owned by Avex Trax—big independent label that Matsuura worked for. He was impressed by Hamasaki's vocals, and when he asked her if she wanted to pursue a singing career, she said she agreed, "only because I had nothing to do". (She didn't say that at first. She first said "No way!" and was pretty suspicious of Matsuura, because of the age difference. Ayumi Hamasaki finally agreed to do vocal training because he kept pressing her and she indeed had "nothing better to do") Hamasaki was contracted to take vocal training in Tokyo but Ayumi Hamasaki stopped attending as she found it too rigid. She kept skipping the classes but didn't tell Matsuura about it. When he started calling her, she would switch off the phone, knowing that she'd be asked about the trainings. When he finally found out, for a more relaxed atmosphere Matsuura sent Hamasaki to New York, an event Ayumi Hamasaki would later say was exactly what she needed. Impressed by the writing style in her letters to him, Matsuura suggested that she try her hand at writing her own lyrics for her songs.
|
