About Namie Amuro 2

2002-2003: Interim period

In 2002, Namie fully immersed herself into the Japanese R&B scene releasing music in the musical project, Suite Chic. Under the Suite Chic project she collaborated with several of Japan's popular hip hop and R&B artists. They released two singles, an original album and one remix album before ending the project in 2003.

Namie returned to solo activities on her own in 2003 with the single "shine more". The subsequent singles "Put 'Em Up" and "So Crazy" were produced by American R&B producers Dallas Austin and Full Force respectively. At the end of the year, she released her first original album in three years, Style.

2004-2005: Return to prominence

From November 29, 2003 to May 15, 2004 she performed throughout Asia on the Namie Amuro SO CRAZY tour featuring BEST singles 2003-2004, where she wrapped it up with 3 concerts in Seoul, South Korea and Taipei, Taiwan. She was the first major Japanese artist to hold a concert in South Korea after the normalization of cultural relations. Shortly following the tour, she released the ballad "ALL FOR YOU." The song peaked at #6, but sold double the amount of her last single. In late August, she went on a private fan club tour focusing on the songs from her latest album which were not performed on her current public tour. She also unveiled two new songs on the tour, "GIRL TALK" and "the SPEED STAR", which would be released the next month as a double a-side single. When it was released the song charted at #1 on the Oricon daily chart for three days. It was the first time any of her singles had placed #1 in 5 years. The song ultimately placed #2 for the week and repeated the sales success of her previous single.

At the end of the year, Amuro chose not to appear on Kōhaku Uta Gassen. Her decision to decline the offer surprised fans and critics, who felt she had earned her right to perform at the event that year. She had previously attended the coveted event nine years in a row. Following the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, Amuro participated as the only Japanese representative at MTV Asia Aid. She secretly donated approximately USD$90,000 to UNICEF for children who were affected by the disaster. In January, the singer surprised fans again when a new song popped up in a Suzuki Chevrolet commercial. The new song entitled "Queen of Hip-Pop" was assumed to be her next single until in April, she released the song "WANT ME, WANT ME." The song was a well-received hit at home debuting at #2 and charting with her highest debut sales peak in 3 years.

In May, Amuro had both professional and personal gains. Following a three year split from her former husband SAM, she took back full custody of their child, Haruto. They had previously agreed that SAM would be the child's sole guardian. At the end of the month, she performed at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan for the fourth consecutive year in a row and this year, clinched two awards. She took home the award for "Best R&B Video" as well as a special award for most impressive performance in Asia becoming the first artist to take home awards four years in a row at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan. She took home the "Inspiration Award Japan" in 2002, Best Collaboration in 2003, "Best R&B Video" for 2004, and 2005 as well as "Most Impressive Asian Artist" in 2005. Between these two events, she announced the release of her sixth original studio album, entitled Queen of Hip-Pop.

In collaboration with MGM Studios, Namie has licensed for the use of the Pink Panther character to be used in conjunction with the album. A female panther counterpart has been created in her image for the album as well. There seems to be no connection with the usage of the Pink Panther and the possible Japanese release of the American remake. Upon release, the album charted at #2. The album has since become her best selling album in 5 years, eclipsing the sales of her three previous albums. In September, Namie kicked off her 7th national public tour entitled Space of Hip-Pop.

Shortly after the start of her tour it was announced that she would contribute to the Japanese theaterical release of the American motion picture adaptation of Sin City. After viewing the movie, Namie made an offer to the Japanese distribution company to sing its theme song. The company felt that her image fit it and accepted her offer. When director Robert Rodriguez heard Namie's contribution to the film he asked to be a part of it. He can be heard speaking "Welcome to Sin City" in a distorted voice towards the end of the song. It was released as part of a double a-side single, "White Light / Violet Sauce" on November 16, 2005. The other a-side track, "White Light" is her first attempt at a Christmas ballad. Shortly after the single, she released FILMOGRAPHY 2001-2005 a compilation of twelve of her music videos from 2001 to 2005. In March 2006, Oricon published an article stating that Namie had sold approximately 15,423,000 singles domestically, making her the second highest selling female artist in terms of singles, the first being Ayumi Hamasaki.

2006-present: A new beginning

In early 2006, she recorded vocals for the track, "Do What U Gotta Do" by Zeebra. The song also featured contributions from AI and MUMMY-D. In February, her music video for "WoWa" was nominated for "Best Female Video" at Space Shower TV music video awards, but lost to YUKI's video for "Joy". In May, she released the double A-side single, "Can't Sleep, Can't Eat, I'm Sick / Ningyo". According to interviews with ViVi magazine and S Cawaii[citation needed], she spent the early summer in L.A. resting before her current tour. In August, she began her tour Namie Amuro Best Tour "Live Style 2006". On September 17, she performed to an audience of 12,000 at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Media coverage of the concert stated that in 2007 she hoped to tour not only Japan, but Asia and America as well. Amuro previously toured in Taiwan and South Korea during the Asian leg of her So Crazy tour in 2004. A part of Japanese people tended to forget her, but Namie still remained more popular than Ayumi Hamasaki and Kumi Koda for Japanese young women and she mentioned the 2007 new beginning.

Amuro's next single, "Baby Don't Cry", was released on January 24, 2007. It was used as the theme song of a Japanese Drama Himitsu no Hanazono. "Baby Don't Cry" debuted at #3 and had the highest first week sales for Amuro in over 5 years. "Baby Don't Cry" has since become Amuro's highest selling single in almost 6 years since the release of "Say the Word". Amuro's 32nd single, "Funky Town", was released on April 4, 2007. The song is produced by Michico and T.Kura. She was also featured on M-flo's newest album, Cosmicolor, in a song titled "Luvotomy".

Her latest album, Play, was released on June 27, 2007. The album includes 12 songs, 4 of which are single tracks. The album is said to reflect Amuro's new style, and featured a rock number, and a chic slow song. One of her new songs, "Top Secret" is used as the theme song of the drama series Prison Break 2 in Japan. On June 27, Amuro took the #1 spot on the Oricon Daily Chart Rankings with an indicator number double her competition. The album is also her first #1 in over 7 years, with her last #1 occurring in 2000 with her album, GENIUS 2000. It is also her fourth studio album to reach #1. Play spent 2 consecutive weeks at the #1 position.

From August 18, 2007, to February 27, 2008, she performed her concert tour in Japan 'PLAY Tour 2007-2008' which consisted initially of 53 performances but as of August 18, 2007 was increased by 12 performances to 65 performances, making this her biggest tour in terms of number of performances by far.

Namie Amuro's first single of 2008, released on March 12, was an image song for the new Vidal Sassoon marketing campaign Fashion x Music x VS. The title of her new single is confirmed to be "60s 70s 80s", and contains three songs - "New Look", "Rock Steady", and "What A Feeling" (with their associated PVs in the CD+DVD version), which is something new for Namie Amuro's single releases. These songs have a modern twist from the '60s, '70s, and '80s. 60s70s80s debuted at #2 on the Oricon Daily Single Chart with reported sales of 20,085. On the fourth day of release, 60s70s80s managed to reach the top spot. This is the first time Namie Amuro has reached the top spot since her 2004 hit single, 'Girl Talk / the SPEED STAR'. The single debuted at #2 on the weekly charts with over 114,000 copies sold and became Amuro's highest first week sales since 2000's "Never End". In the second week the single gained the #1 spot for that week, making it Namie's first #1 single after 9 years and 3 months since I Have Never Seen. The single has already sold 287,000 copies.

To this date, Namie Amuro has sold over 28 million records in Japan alone, excluding other areas of Asia.

2008 Accomplishments:

* First #1 single in 9 years, 60s 70s 80s.

* She has won the prize for "Best Female Video" for 'Hide & Seek' at Space Shower TV music video awards 08.

* In a Mother's Day poll conducted by Oricon asking "Which artist is your ideal mom?" Namie Amuro was voted #1 as ideal mother.

* She also has done a collaboration with DOUBLE on the song BLACK DIAMOND that will be released on the May 28.

* Also according to MTV Japan, it is confirmed that Namie will be attending MTV 'Video Music Awards 2008' as a guest celebrity. Her video 'Hide & Seek' is nominated for "Best R&B Video". The awards ceremony will be conducted at the Saitama Super Arena on May 30.

* She won 'Best R&B video' at the MTV Video Music Awards 2008.

* Oricon asked "Which female artist has a nice body?" Namie Amuro was ranked #1 across the board.

It has recently been announced that Namie Amuro will be releasing a new best album "BEST FICTION" on July 30, 2008. It will feature all her singles from 2002's Wishing on the Same Star to the recently released 60s 70s 80s. It will also feature 2 new songs. One called Sexy Girl will be the theme song for NHK drama「乙女のパンチ」airing on 6/19. The other called Do Me More will be the campaign song for Vidal Sassoon in July. She will also be starting a new tour called namie amuro Live tour 2008-2009. It will be once again an Arena stage tour similar to LIVE STYLE 2006 and will be used to promote her coming Best album. This means that she will perform all the single tracks from the best album on this tour including the new songs and 60s70s80s.

Also Namie will be attending Avex's Shareholder meeting on June 22 and a-nation '08 concerts starting from July 26 to August 31.

* The shareholders meeting used to be attended by avex management singers like Ayumi hamasaki and Koda Kumi, but it seems that this year, Ayumi Hamasaki was not present and instead, Namie Amuro was invited to perform on it for the first time in 8 years. As for a-nation '08, this is her first time attending the event and she will be appearing together with regular a-nation artists like Koda kumi, ELT, Ayumi Hamasaki, AAA, TRF etc.