Mika Nakashima
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| Mika Nakashima 中島美嘉 |
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 Mika Nakashima Promo Picture for The "Yes" Album
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | 中島美嘉 (Nakashima Mika) | |
| Born | February 19, 1983 (age 24) | |
| Origin |  Kagoshima-Ken, Kyushu, Japan |
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| Genre(s) | J-Pop, Jazz, Blues | |
| Years active | 2001–present | |
| Label(s) | Sony Music Japan | |
| Website | Mika Nakashima (Japanese) | |
Mika Nakashima (中島美嘉 Nakashima Mika?, born February 19, 1983) is a Japanese singer, model, and actress from Japan.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life and debut
Born in Kagoshima Prefecture, on the island of Kyushu, Japan, Mika Nakashima was the youngest of three children. She dreamed of pursuing a singing career from a young age. She decided not to attend high school or college in order to pursue a music career.
She was chosen from among 3000 girls to be the heroine of the 2001 fall Fuji TV drama, Kizudarake no Love Song (Tainted Love Song). In November, she made her debut with Sony Music Associated Records, with the song "Stars", which was also the theme song of the drama. Her second single "Crescent Moon", an 80's themed song, was limited to 100,000 copies. It sold out the first day of its release. In March of 2002 she released her third single "One Survive" and her first video collection, "Film Lotus". This was followed in May by her 4th single "Helpless Rain", and in August, by her 5th single "Will", which went on to rack up sales of over 140,000. Both were top ten hits and sold over or near the key 100k mark, proving Nakashima's rising star appeal.
[edit] Rise to fame
Her first album True released in August 2002 was a #1 hit in the Oricon charts. In 3 weeks, True sold a million copies. Then as commemoration of one year since her debut, Nakashima released a Premium EP Resistance, which hit the charts #1 spot two weeks in a row. On December 18, a documentary video Kiseki: the document of a start was released. In 2002, the singer received the "New Artist of the Year" award at the Japan Gold Disc Awards and "Best New Artist of the Year" at the All Japan Request Awards 2002. She also won the "New Artist of the Year" award from the 44th Japan Record Awards.
Her most popular songs include Gundam Seed's ending song "Find the Way", "Sakurairo Maukoro", and "Yuki no Hana" which was covered by South Korean male singer Hyo-Shin Park and this covered song is inserted in popular Korean drama I'm Sorry, I Love You. It was also one of the most popular karaoke songs in Japan in 2004. In 2004 she sang the ending theme of the anime series based on the manga Hi no tori as aired on NHK.
[edit] Debut in the silver screen: Nana and The End
In 2005, Nakashima co-starred alongside Aoi Miyazaki in the live-action movie Nana, based on the manga of the same name, which was released September 10, 2005. She also sang one of the theme songs for the movie, which was released as a single under the name "Nana starring Mika Nakashima". The single, titled "Glamorous Sky" was written by the manga's author, Ai Yazawa and composed by L'Arc~en~Ciel frontman Hyde. It was Mika's first #1 single on Oricon charts. The single has sold over 423,000 copies making it the best-selling female single of the year and the tenth highest selling overall. The single continued selling well into the next year and sold 442,000 copies, which was about 25,000 copies less than her Nana co-star, Yuna Ito's "Endless Story". The single is featured in Konami's guitar/drum simulation game GuitarFreaks and Drummania V3.
Nakashima was nominated at the MTV Video Music Japan as "Best BuzzAsia from Japan" for "Amazing Grace '05", and the "Glamorous Sky" video was nominated as "Best Female Video" and "Best Video from a Film". She won the "Best Video from a Film" award.
Due to the success of Nana, a sequel was released in December, 2006, as well as new songs by Nakashima under the name Nana starring Mika Nakashima. The theme song to Nana 2 movie is "Hitoiro" (One Color), which is also written by Yazawa, while the music is composed by Glay's leader Takuro, who is also the author of the coupling song "Eyes For The Moon". Besides the single, Mika released the mini-album The End, featuring all her songs under the name Nana starring Mika Nakashima.
On December 18, 2006 Nakashima and Yui Ichikawa came to New York City for the International Premier of Nana 2 at the IFC Center.
[edit] YES era
Following the release of the Nana movie, Nakashima started another project. Beginning with the heavily gospel-influenced "Cry No More" and going into the New Orleans charity tribute. Later she teamed up with famed jazz pianist/musician Alan Toussaint and releasled another single All Hands Together. A month after Mika released another single "My Sugar Cat" following the same theme of "Cry No More" and "All Hands Together", her earlier 2006 singles. "My Sugar Cat" drop out of Top 50 a week after releaesed.
On February 21, 2007 Nakashima's 21st single "Mienai Hoshi" (見えない星) was released. The single is the theme song for japanese drama 「ハケンの品格」, to be aired starting Jan 10th 2007. The b-side track is "I LOVE YOU," a cover of the Ozaki Yutaka ballad. There will be a promotional video for both songs. On March 14, 2007 Mika's 5th studio album "Yes" was released. "Yes" which also is a one-word follow up like some of her previous titles such as "Love" and "True". There is also a release of a new single on the same day as the album. The single is called "Sunao na Mama."
[edit] Discography
- Further information: Mika Nakashima discography
| Year | Title | Type | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | True | Studio | 1 |
| 2003 | Resistance | EP | 1 |
| 2003 | Love | Studio | 1 |
| 2004 | Oborodzukiyo ~Inori | EP | 3 |
| 2005 | Music | Studio | 1 |
| 2005 | Best | Compilation | 1 |
| 2006 | The End | Studio | 2 |
| 2007 | Yes | Studio | 3 |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- (Japanese) Mika Nakashima Official Website
- (Japanese) Sony Music Online Japan: Mika Nakashima
- (Chinese) Mika Nakashima
- Mika Nakashima at IMDb
