Mari Iijima
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Mari Iijima (飯島真理 Iijima Mari?) (born 18 May 1963) is a Japanese singer and actress who has released various top 10 albums in Japan. She is also known by her nickname, Marin.
Iijima was born in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, Japan, and is fluent in both Japanese and English. She was nominated for the 2000 Los Angeles Music Awards' Best Pop Artist for her first English album "No Limit". She has released several independent albums (in English) in the United States, including her most recent, "Uncompomising Innocence."
She is best known, though, for her portrayal of Lynn Minmay in the classic Japanese anime The Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Recently, Mari reprised her role as Minmay in ADV Films' English-language release of Macross, becoming one of the few Japanese voice actors to ever participate in an English dub. In interviews and commentaries available on ADV's Macross DVDs, Iijima has stated that she was for some time disillusioned with her association with Minmay and had felt that it hampered her career as a singer, but she has since come to accept the Minmay character as a part of her.
Iijima eventually moved to Los Angeles, California and married James Studer on 30 September 1989. They had two children before divorcing on 7 February 2001.
She released her newest Independent American release, Uncompromising Innocence, on November 5th, 2006. It quickly sold out at CD Baby.
Now in 2007 Mari has new remastered CDs out in Japan (Rose and blanche) and plans to make a new CD for the U.S. in the future.
Mari was one of the January finalist in the Song of the Year Web Awards for her song 'Swim'. The judging is done by Norah Jones, Shelia E. and other famous individuals in the music world. Mari Iijima will have her song sent around to major record labels, famous agents, and management companies.
She has upcoming live shows in Japan in the Osaka and Tokyo regions in April and May of this year, plus an exclusive solo concert in Japan next year.
[edit] Discography
- ROSE (1983)
- blanche {1984)
- Midori (1984)
- KIMONO STEREO (1985)
- Coquettish Blue (1987)
- Miss Lemon (1988)
- My Heart in Red (1989)
- It's a love thing (1990)
- Believe (1991)
- Different Worlds (1993)
- Love Season (1994)
- Sonic Boom (1995)
- Good Medicine (1996)
- Europe (1997)
- Rain & Shine (1998)
- No Limit (1999)
- Right Now (2001)
- Silent Love (2003)
- Wonderful People (2004)
- Uncompomising Innocence (2006)
[edit] Filmography
- The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982) - Lynn Minmay
- The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (English dub) (2006) - Lynn Minmay
