Namie Amuro Biography

Early life

Namie Amuro was born in Naha City, Okinawa, Japan. She is the daughter of Emiko Taira who is Japanese-Italian. Amuro is the last of three children Emiko had with her biological father before their divorce. Amuro's parents divorced when she was a toddler. Her father's identity is unknown.

Amuro got her start when she was discovered by Masayuki Makino, the president of Okinawa Actor's School, after coming along with a friend who was currently enrolled in the school. It was him who later at the age of 14 placed her in a group called Super Monkeys along with Minako Ameku, Nanako Takushi, Hisako Arakaki and Anna Makino. They left the school and made their major label debut with the double a-side single, "Koi no Cute Beat / Mr. USA" on September 15, 1992 on Toshiba-EMI.

1992-1994: Meager beginnings

Amuro started her career within the group, Super Monkey's, who throughout their time together suffered several setbacks. Although their debut single peaked within the top 30, subsequent singles failed to match its success. The group also went through several member changes. After their initial debut, Anna Makino, left the group. She would be replaced by Rino Nakasone who left the group without recording any material. In 1993, they changed their name from Super Monkey's to Super Monkey's 4 and released the single "Dancing Junk" and "Aishite Masukatto.

" The group later became regulars on music television program, Pop Jam, as part of the dancing and singing troupe PJG. Between the group, Amuro acted in television dramas and even starred in a children's program called Ponkikies dressed in a rabbit suit. The group changed its name again in 1994 to Namie Amuro with Super Monkey's and released the single, "Paradise Train." It did not chart. Hisako Arakaki left the group soon after the release of the single.

2002-2003: Interim period

In 2002, Namie fully immersed herself into the Japanese R&B scene releasing music in the musical project, SUITE CHIC. Under the SUITE CHIC project she collaborated with several of Japan's popular hip hop and R&B artists. They released two singles, an original album and one remix album before ending the project in 2003.

Namie returned to solo activities on her own in 2003 with the single shine more. The subsequent singles Put 'Em Up and SO CRAZY were produced by American R&B producers Dallas Austin and Full Force respectively. At the end of the year, she released her first original album in three years, STYLE.

2004-present: Return to prominence

From November 29, 2003 to May 15, 2004 she performed throughout Asia on the Namie Amuro SO CRAZY tour featuring BEST singles 2003-2004, where she wrapped it up with 3 concerts in Seoul, South Korea and Taipei, Taiwan. She was the first major Japanese artist to hold a concert in South Korea after the normalization of cultural relations. Shortly following the tour, she released the ballad "ALL FOR YOU." The song peaked at #6, but sold double the amount of her last single.

In late August, she went on a private fan club tour focusing on the songs from her latest album which were not performed on her current public tour. She also unveiled two new songs on the tour, "GIRL TALK" and "the SPEED STAR", which would be released the next month as a double a-side single. When it was released the song charted at #1 on the Oricon daily chart for three days. It was the first time any of her singles had placed #1 in 5 years. The song ultimately placed #2 for the week and repeated the sales success of her previous single.