Hiroko Shimabukuro

Hiroko Shimabukuro (島袋 寛子 Shimabukuro Hiroko, 7 April 1984, Okinawa, Japan), best known mononymously as hiro, is a Japanese singer. She debuted as a member of the popular girl group Speed in 1996. In 1998, hiro released her first solo song "Mitsumete Itai" as a B-side to Speed's single "All My True Love". She made her official solo debut in 1999 with the single, "As Time Goes By", which sold 800,000 copies in Japan. In August 2004 hiro released an all-English jazz album with her band Coco d'Or.

Charting and sales

"Treasure" sold around 600,000 copies, and "Your Innocence" sold more than 200,000 copies. Her first album Brilliant charted in Japan at #4 for five weeks, selling 400,000 copies. Her second album Naked and True reached number 1, and she released a best singles album that charted in the top 10.

In August 2004 Hiro released an all-English jazz album under the name of Coco d'Or. Her single "Hikari no naka de" was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Devilman. A year later, she released another song, "Clover", tied to anime Black Jack, selling 20,000 copies. Her two CDs released in 2006 sold considerably less, "Hero" selling 7,000 copies and "Itsuka Futari de" 9,000.

Awards

She has won three consecutive awards in the Japan Record Awards for "Treasure" (2000), "Your innocence" (2001), and "Eternal Place" (2002).

Performances

She performed in the United States at Seattle's Sakura-Con in April 2004.^[1]

Discography

Albums

• Brilliant, 2001. #2, 7 weeks, 430,000 copies
• Naked and True, 2002. #2, 7 weeks, 236,000 copies
• 寛 シングル・コレクション, 2006. (Best singles album) #7, 6 weeks, 47,000 copies

Singles

• "As Times Goes By", 1999. #2, 13 weeks, 812,020 copies
• "Bright Daylight", 2000. #2, 10 weeks, 427,770 copies
• "Treasure", 2000. #2, 15 weeks, 602,390 copies
• "Your Innocence", 2001. #3, 9 weeks, 227,970 copies
• "Confession", 2001. #3, 9 weeks, 172,180 copies
• "Love You", 2002. #3, 5weeks, 103,750 copies
• "Eternal Place", 2002. #2, 7 weeks, 85,430 copies
• "Notice my mind", 2002. #8, 4 weeks, 37,600 copies
• "Baby Don't Cry", 2003. #9, 6 weeks, 38,056 copies
• 愛が泣いてる (Ai ga naiteru), 2003. #12, 6 weeks, 29,546 copies
• 光の中で (Hikari no Naka de), 2004. #12, 7 weeks, 28,954 copies
• "Clover", 2005. #18, 5 weeks, 20,358 copies
• ヒーロー☆ ("Hero"), 2006. #40, 3 weeks, 7,000 copies
• いつか二人で ("I will take you"/Itsuka futari de), 2006 #18, 7 weeks, 20,000 copies

DVDs

• Brilliant, 2001
• Naked and True, 2003
• 寛 クリップ・コレクション, 2006

Photobook

• Hiroko Shimabukuro Days, 2002

Other

• 寛 スペシャル・ボックス, (hiro special box), 2006. #26, 2 weeks, 9,000 copies (Limited Release Edition)

Movies

• Andromedia, 1998, as Mai.^[2]
• Backdancers!, September 2006, as Yoshika.^[3]

References

External links

• hiro's Official Website
• hiro's Official Blog (in Japanese)
• http://hiroko.jp.net/ new official website