Mai Kuraki
Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAI : Mai Kuraki
, born October 28, 1982 in Funabashi, Chiba) is a Japanese pop singer.
Career
She was influenced at an early age by Whitney Houston's singing and Michael Jackson's dancing. In her second year of junior high school, she submitted a demo tape to the GIZA recording label and won a contract. She debuted in the United States in 1999 with the song "Baby I Like," recorded under the pseudonym Mai K. Her first Japanese single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow," was released later in the year. It became a big hit in Japan and sold about a million copies. Kuraki now holds the record of having all 23 of her singles in the top-ten since her debut according to the Oricon's female artists ranking record.Kuraki's career has been somewhat overshadowed by that of her slightly younger contemporary, Utada Hikaru. They are both categorized as R&B singers and both write their own lyrics. Although Kuraki is often viewed as a better dancer (and sometimes as a better singer) than Utada, Utada's earlier Japanese debut, Japanese-American background, songwriting abilities, bilingual singing abilities, and superior promotion by Toshiba-EMI have led many fans to view Kuraki as an inferior product. Despite this, Kuraki's album Delicious Way sold more than 4 million copies and became the best selling album in 2000 Japan,cementing her status with singers like Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru.Her second album, Perfect Crime, sold more than 2 million copies in 2001.
Her all-African-American tour band, Experience, is also somewhat profilic. They were featured in the music video for "Stand Up", and released one single featuring Kuraki Mai's vocals and a Michael Jackson tribute album.
Her English-language ventures, the single Baby I Like and the album Secret of My Heart were both major flops, even though they were the flagship releases of the GIZA USA label.
Year 2002 was a year of success for Kuraki Mai. January that year, "Winter Bells," the 10th opening theme for the popular anime Detective Conan, reached the top position of the Oricon charts. FT Shiseido chose "Feel fine!" as the theme song for its 100 year celebration campaign. The single release of the song briefly held the daily top spot against Ayumi Hamasaki's "Free & Easy", but lost out the weekly top spot.
In October 2003, she released a rock cover of a Momoe Yamaguchi, a 70's idol, song, "IMITATION GOLD" as part of Tak Matsumoto's HIT PARADE project, which claimed the top position on the Oricon charts, despite selling less than 50,000 copies on the first week. On New Year's Day of year 2004, Kuraki released her compilation/best album Wish You The Best and became the best selling album in the month of January plus the 7th best selling album for the year 2004 in Japan. Since the release of "Love,needing," she have been featuring more retro-sounding songs. In March 2005 she graduated from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. Recently, her 6th studio album "DIAMOND WAVE" is scheduled to be released on the 2 August 2006. This is the first time she is using her single title to be the same as the album and also the first time there are only three instead of four hit singles to be included in her album. Mai is currently also preparing for a Japan tour titled "DIAMOND WAVE TOUR 2006".
To date, Kuraki has recorded 7 studio albums (5 of which went to #1), 26 singles (3 of which went to #1), a compilation album, and 8 DVD/Videos. Till today, she continues to be one of Japan's biggest pop acts.
Discography
Singles
- Baby I Like (1999) - Failed to chart (USA Release)
- Love, Day After Tomorrow (8 December 1999) - #2
- Stay by my side (15 March 2000) - #1
- Secret of my heart (26 April 2000) - #2
- NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP (7 June 2000) - #2
- Simply Wonderful (27 September 2000) - #2
- Reach for the sky (28 November 2000) - #3
- tsumetai umi/Start in my life (7 February 2001) - #2
- Stand Up (18 April 2001) - #2
- always (6 June 2001) - #2
- Can't forget your love/PERFECT CRIME ~Single Edit~ (29 August 2001) - #2
- Winter Bells (17 January 2002) - #1
- Feel fine! (24 April 2002) - #2
- Like a star in the night (4 September 2002) - #2
- Make my day (4 December 2002) - #2
- Time after time ~hanamau machi de~ (5 March 2003) - #3
- Kiss (30 April 2003) - #3
- kaze no la la la (28 May 2003) - #3
- IMITATION GOLD (8 October 2003 as TAK MATSUMOTO featuring Kuraki Mai) - #1
- Ashita e Kakaru Hashi (19 May 2004) - #3
- Love,needing (19 January 2005) - #5
- DANCING (23 March 2005) - #5
- P.S. MY SUNSHINE (1 June 2005) - #8
- Growing of my heart (9 November 2005) - #7
- BEST OF HERO (8 February 2006) - #5
- Diamond Wave (21 June 2006) - #7
Albums
- delicious way (28 June 2000) - #1
- Perfect Crime (4 July 2001) - #1
- Secret of My Heart (2002) - #(USA Release)
- FAIRY TALE (23 October 2002) - #1
- If I Believe (9 July 2003) - #1'
- FUSE OF LOVE (24 August 2005) - #3
- DIAMOND WAVE (2 August 2006) -
Compilation albums
Videos
- FIRST CUT (8 November 2000 DVD/VHS)
- ''Mai Kuraki & Experience First Live 2001 in Zepp Osaka (VHS 19 September 2001)
- ''Mai Kuraki & Experience First Live Tour 2001 ETERNAL MOMENT (DVD/VHS 21 November 2001)
- Mai Kuraki "Loving You..." Tour 2002 Final 2.27 in YOKOHAMA ARENA (VHS 3 April 2002)
- Mai Kuraki "Loving You..." Tour 2002 Complete Edition (DVD 15 May 2002)
- My Reflection (DVD 17 January 2004)
- Mai Kuraki 5th Anniversary Edition Grow, Step by Step (DVD 5 January 2005)
- Mai Kuraki Live Tour 2005　LIKE A FUSE OF LIVE (DVD 22 February 2006)
External links
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