Hikaru Utada - Japanese Singer

Hikaru Utada (Utada Hikaru) or Hikki as she is known to her fans, is an arranger, singer-songwriter and record producer in Japan.
Her international claim to fame comes from her having two songs in the video game "Kingdom Hearts". "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary"
Utada's debut album First Love became the biggest selling album of all time in Japan with over 7.65 million copies sold.

Her single "Flavor of Life" reached number 2 in worldwide digital downloads with over 7.2 million downloads in 2007.
She was born in New York on January 19, 1983 to a Japanese couple, Teruzane and Junko Utada.
Both parents were in the entertainment field, with her father Teruzane a record producer and her mother Junko a singer.

Hikki has released albums in Japan, First Love, Distance, Deep River, Ultra Blue and Heart Station.
She has released two albums in America, Precious (as Cubic U) and Exodus. She is currently working on a third US album.
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories has a remix of Hikaru's single Hikari, or Simple and Clean at the beginning.

Utada Hikaru was Japanese magazine Oricon Style’s annual Favourite Artist for the second year in a row.
Hikaru Utada is now offically listed as an EMI artist, and with EMI now pushing it's international business, you can expect to see more of Utada.

UPDATE: Hikaru will start her Utada: In The Flesh 2010 tour on January 15, 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The tour will mainly take place in the US, with the last show of the tour in London, England.
The tickets for the London show sold out in less than five hours.
Utada's Dirty Desire remixes were released on Amazon.com and the U.S. iTunes Store on December 21, 2009.
Here are the dates for the tour...

January 15, 2010 – Honolulu, Hawaii at the Pipeline Cafe / 8 p.m
January 21, 2010 -Seattle, Washington at Showbox
January 24, 2010 -San Francisco, California at the Fillmore
January 30, 2010 -Las Vegas, Nevada at the House Of Blues
February 02, 2010 -Chicago, Illinois at the House Of Blues
February 08, 2010 -New York City, New York at Irving Plaza
February 12, 2010 -London, U.K at l’O2 Academy Islington

Hikaru announced on her personal blog on August 9th, 2010 that starting in 2011 she would go on a hiatus that may last from two to five years.
But before that, she would go head on into her career and end 2010 with a bang.

On September 27, 2010, she released a new single, Hymne à l'amour (Ai no Anthem), a tie in with Pepsi NEX.
On November 24, 2010, Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 was released.
The same day, Utada the Best was released.

On December 8th and 9th, Hikaru held the last two concerts before her hiatus, called WILD LIFE.
The first concert was simulcast in 64 theaters and streamed for free worldwide.

The DVD and Blu-ray release of Hikaru's Wild Life was initially set for release on April 6th, 2011, but because of the earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan, the DVD was released on April 20th, 2011 and the Blu-ray on May 8th.

Precious (1998 as Cubic U)
First Love (1999)
Distance (2001)
Deep River (2002)
Exodus (2004)
Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 (2004)
Ultra Blue (2006)
Heart Station (2008)
This Is the One (2009)
Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 (2010)
Utada the Best (2010)

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