Namie Amuro

Japanese singer who was born on September 20th 1977 in Naha, Okinawa. Noted as "Queen of J-pop".

As a child she attended Okinawa Actor's School, a talent school, that trained young individuals in singing and dancing. She debuted in a girl group, Super Monkey's (who later regrouped to form MAX (5), at the age of 14 in 1992.

In 1995, she was picked up to be a solo artist under the wing of Japanese super producer, Tetsuya Komuro. She reigned as Japan's 'it' girl for the next few years until the announcement of her marriage and pregnancy in 1997. She took a year off and restarted her career in late 1998, unfortunately to declining popularity.

In 2002, Namie Amuro transformed herself from tired popstar to R&B diva starting with Suite Chic project. The project brought renewed interest in her and since then her star has been on the rise again.

She was the 1st Japanese female artist to top charts in three different decades; her teen years, 20's and 30's. No other Japanese female artist has been able to do that so far. (April 2001)