Biography

Name: Amuro Namie (Last then first) 安室 奈美恵
Birthday: September 20th, 1977
Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Okinawa Prefecture, Naha City
Blood Type: O
Height: 158 CM (5'2'')
Weight: 40 kg (88 pounds)
Measurements: B 75 cm, W 58 cm, H 84 cm
Piercing: 3 on her right and left ear, 1 on her bellybutton
Family: Parents divorced, mother deceased, 2 sisters and 1 brother
Favorite Foods: Japanese noodles
Least Favorite Foods: Natrium Beans, Eel
Hobby: Internet Access (Chatrooms)
Favorite Animal: Dog
Favorite Season: Summer
Favorite Singer: Janet Jackson
Favorite Colors: Blue, Black, and White
Pet: Wan-chan (A miniature dachshund)

Biography:

Namie was born in Naha City, Okinawa on September 20th, 1977. Namie's parents divorced when she was only 3, leaving her mother to raise her and her brother and sisters alone.

At the age of 10, Namie discovered Yoshie Hayakasa, the first Okinawa Actors School student to become famous. Full of admiration for Yoshie, Namie decided to follow in Yoshie's footsteps and attended Okinawa Actors School. She walked for 2 hours every day to attend the school, because her family could not spare the money for public transportation.

At 15, Namie along with a group of classmates decided to form a group known as the SUPER MONKEY'S. Their first single "Koi no KYU-TO BI-TO / MISUTA- U.S.A." was a moderate hit debuting at #28 on the charts. The group then decided to relocate themselves from Okinawa to Tokyo, after all, their record label Toshiba EMI was located there.

Once in Tokyo, the group released 2 singles "DANCING JUNK" and "Aishite MASUKATTO," but the singles had little success. Once the 4th single, "PARADISE TRAIN," was released, the group changed its name to 'Namie Amuro with SUPER MONKEY'S.'

Once the 5th single, "TRY ME ~Watashi wo Shinjite~," was released, things began to change for the group. The 5th single was a big hit, and instantaneously made the top 10. Because of the song, the group was invited to attend the huge annual show Kouhaku Utagussen.

The 6th and 7th single, "Taiyou no SEASON" and "Stop the music," continued the success of the 5th single, debuting in the top 10 and top 5.

Namie officially went solo in the summer of 1995 after she signed a deal with Avex Trax and began working with the legendary Tetsuya Komuro. The remaining SUPER MONKEY'S were asked to make a new group: Musical Active eXperience a.k.a MAX.

In October of 1995, Namie released her debut solo single, "Body Feels EXIT," which was a huge success debuting at #3 on the charts. Before long, Namie was everywhere. Soon, thousands of fans began to imitate her style of miniskirts, platform boots, and dyed brown hair. They were known as 'Amura'.

From the winter of 1995 to the summer of 1996, Namie released 3 more singles, "Chase the Chance," "Don't wanna cry," and "You're my sunshine." Each of them debuted at #1 and individually sold over 1 million copies. Following the release of her singles, Namie released her first solo album, "SWEET 19 BLUES," which debuted at #1, sold over 3 million copies, and was the best selling Japanese album at the time.

The same year she starred in a movie called "That's CHEATING!" releasing a single "SWEET 19 BLUES" to go with the movie. Also, she became the 1st female solo artist to perform in Chiba Marine Stadium while touring that year.

Namie continued her success in 1997. Her single "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?" debuted at #1 selling over 800,000 in its first week, it sold over a total of 2.6 million copies, and is currently the #14 best selling single of all time in Japan. She soon released another album "Concentration 20" which debuted at #1, and she then went out on another tour, this time at the prestigious Four Domes.

On October of 1997, Namie appeared at a press conference, bringing  a huge shock to the media and her fans. With her once long hair now cut short, she announced her marriage to Masaharu Maruyama (SAM from TRF), and that she was 3 months pregnant. She told her fans that she would take a one year break, but promised to return. She ended the year by releasing another single, "Dreaming I was dreaming," and performed as the final performer on Kouhaku Utagassen. (Being the final performer is an honor only bestowed upon the greatest artists.)

On May 19th, 1998 Namie gave birth to her son, who she named Haruto.

On December 31st, 1998, Namie finally returned, and sang "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?" on the Kouhaku Utagussen show, crying as she sang. She had released a new single "I HAVE NEVER SEEN" on December 23rd, and it debuted at #1. Unfortunately, as she released her single "RESPECT the POWER OF LOVE," her mother Emiko Taira was murdered in a hit and run attack. Also, the single became her first to not debut at #2 ending her streak of #1 hits.

Namie soon released the R&B track "SOMETHING 'BOUT THE KISS," which like "RESPECT the POWER OF LOVE" and "toi et moi," did not debut at #1. (The single would have reached #1 if the charts had combined the sales of the 8cm CD with the 12cm CD.)

In January of 2000, Namie released her 3rd original album "GENIUS 2000," which debuted at #1, but failed to sell over a million copies.

Namie then released a single during the summer titled "NEVER END," which was the theme song for the G-8 summit being held at Okinawa. The single debuted at #2. She performed the song in front of several world leaders, including Bill Clinton who was U.S. President at the time.

At the end of 2000, Namie released the album "break the rules," which only debuted at #2 selling at the time only 300,000 copies.

In 2001, Namie released the single "Say the word," which was her first song where she was actually the lyricist. The song also marked the end of Namie and Tetsuya Komuro's working relationship.

In the end of the 2001, Namie and other artists, such as BoA, Kumi Koda, Ayumi Hamasaki, ect., formed the SONG+NATION project. Three singles and 1 album was released. All the benefits were sent to the September 11th victims. Namie sang with VERBAL from m-flo. The single was called "lovin' it."

In 2002, Namie released another single that she wrote, "I WILL."

In July of 2002 Namie and SAM finally announced that they were in fact getting a divorce. It was a  friendly divorce, SAM got custody of Haruto and Namie helped to raise him since they live in the same apartment building.

Also in 2002, Namie released "Wishing On The Same Star," the Japanese version of a song sung by many other American artists and written by Diane Warren. The song was big turning point for Namie debuting at #2 on the charts.

In 2003, Namie made a come back with a big project called SUITE CHIC. SUITE CHIC was a collaboration of Hip Hop/Rap/R&B artists with Namie as the lead singer. Famous singers like ZEEBRA, DABO, and Michico were a part of the project.

After SUITE CHIC ended, Namie released 3 more singles in 2003: "shine more," "Put 'Em Up," and "SO CRAZY/Come." Come was the ending theme song for the Japanese TV show Inuyasha.

Finally, at the end of 2003, after 3 years, Namie released an original album titled "STYLE." The album is mostly Hip Hop/R&B songs with a ballad and a few pop songs in it.

She soon went on tour, and made history once again by being the first Japanese artist to perform in Soeul, South Korea. She also took home two MTV Video Music Awards for her video of "Put 'Em Up."

In 2004, Namie released the single "ALARM," which happened to be her first single to debut out of the top 10 only by a few hundred copies.

July 2004, Namie released the single "ALL FOR YOU" her first ballad since "Wishing On The Same Star." The single was also Namie's first song to be used for a drama since "I HAVE NEVER SEEN." The single was a big success for Namie, selling over 100,000 copies which was a 50% gain of sales from her "ALARM" single.

Then, in October 2004, Namie released the single "GIRL TALK/the SPEED STAR" which became her first single since "I HAVE NEVER SEEN," to debut at #1. This single showed that Namie's popularity is returning, and she might soon be called the R&B Queen.

In 2005, Namie was chosen to represent Japan at the MTV Asia Aid. There, she performed the song "GIRL TALK." Also, she gave 10,000,000 Yen to Unifec for the Tsunami disaster.

Finally, almost 6 months after releasing her last single "GIRL TALK/the SPEED STAR," Namie released her new single "WANT ME, WANT ME" on April 6th. For the first week, this single managed to rank at #2, barley beating an artist behind her. This was Namie's first consecutive #2 hits since 2000 with "LOVE 2000" and" PLEASE SMILE AGAIN." It was also her highest selling single since "lovin' it."

In May of 2005, news appeared that Namie, after handing custody of Haruto to SAM back in 2002, had in fact taken custody back of Haruto. The transfer of custody was mutual and did not have to be taken to the domestic affairs court.

Also, on May 29, 2005 Namie won 2 awards at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2005; one for BEST R&B Video for her song "GIRL TALK," and another special award for "Most Impressive Performing Artist." She was also the first person to win an award 4 years in a row at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Between those events, Namie announced the release of her sixth original studio album "Queen of Hip-Pop." In collaboration with MGM Studios, Namie licensed for the Pink Panther character to be used with the album, and had a female panther created for her album as well. (There seems to be no connection with the usage of the Pink Panther and the upcoming Japanese release of the American remake.) To prepare for her upcoming album, Namie started a promotional frenzy with several magazine appearances, a secret live event, and a new music video for the song "WoWa."

For the album's first week on the charts, it managed to get #2, only losing to another album by a few hundred copies. This album was her best selling album since "GENIUS 2000," and sold 50,000 more copies than "break the rules" and "LOVE ENHANCED" and more than doubled the sales of what "STYLE" sold in their debut weeks.

On August 22, 2005, a family court in Japan official gave Namie custody of her son, Haruto.

September of 2005 came around, and news surfaced that Namie was singing the theme song for the Japanese version of the movie "Sin City". This was her first song to appear in an American-made movie. The song was titled "Violet Sauce". Later on the full title of the single was revealed as "White Light / Violet Sauce," the song White Light being Namie's first Christmas song. For its first week on the charts, the single placed #7 and eventually sold over 70,000 copies, which was very good considering that it only came in one format. Also, on December 24, 2006, Namie performed her last concert of her "Space of Hip-Pop" tour.

The year of 2006 started off fairly slow, the only new thing Namie did was appear in a collaboration with ZEEBRA, AI, and Mummy-D to make a song "Do What U Gotta Do." Soon, in February, Namie's official site announced that she would be releasing a new DVD with her 2005 tour on it, which was released on March 15, 2006.

In May of 2006, Namie released her 30th single "CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK / Ningyo", the latter being a cover to a popular song by NOKKO that appeared as the ending to a drama show that Namie herself appeared. The single overall sold nearly 80,000 copies, and debuted at #2 for its first week on the Oricon Charts.

After its release, Namie went on an arena tour during the summer. The tour, namie amuro BEST tour "Live Style 2006", lasted from August 13th to November 23rd. The last tour date, November 23rd, is most noted for the fact that it was Namie's first performance in Okinawa since 1995.

Then, after months of no news regarding a new release, news finally surfaced of a new single titled "Baby Don't Cry", which was released on January 24th, 2007. The single also contains the song "Nobody", which was supposed to be included on her 29th single "White Light / Violet Sauce", and is a sequel to "White Light", being similar musically, and slightly similar lyrically. "Baby Don't Cry" was an instant hit for Namie, and sold more copies than all her singles since "Say the word".

Her next single, "FUNKY TOWN", returned Amuro back to her R&B/Hip-Pop" style, along with the b-side "DARLING". Unlike her previous single, "FUNKY TOWN" failed to make a huge impact on the Oricon Charts, and sold just a little more than 50,000 copies.

Possibly the reason for "FUNKY TOWN" 's low sales, Namie announced the release of her 7th original studio album, "PLAY". For this album, Namie used the popular Japan MTV show "The World of Golden Eggs" as promotion. Upon its release, "PLAY" became an immediate success, taking first place, and remaining there for a solid two weeks. This was a huge feat for Amuro, whose last album to take the #1 spot on the Oricon Charts was "GENIUS 2000". Eventually, the album went on to sell more copies than her previous successful album "Queen of Hip-Pop", and still remains on the charts at this time.

Thanks to ~toi et moi~ and AMX for most of the information!