Ayumi Hamasaki, born October 2, 1978 in Fukuoka, Japan, is an award-winning japanese singer. Commonly known simply as “Ayu”, Ayumi Hamasaki is one of the most popular and influential Japanese singers. Apart from being a singer, Ayumi is a songwriter, a model, an actress, and a composer. Ayumi started her music career in 1994 and released her first album “Nothing from Nothing” in 1995 but because the album was not successful, she was dropped by her record label. In 1998 she released her first album on her new record label, Avex Trax, “A Song for XX” with her first single “poker face”. She has sold more than 50 million records in Japan alone, with the releases of her 9 full-length studio albums, 1 mini-album, 4 compilation albums, 43 singles, and 17 remix albums, being the top selling solo and female artist and the 4th top selling Japanese artist in history. With the release of her 40th single “BLUE BIRD”, Hamasaki’s single sales have passed the 20 million mark, making her the first solo and female singer to reach that milestone.

With the release of her 42nd single “talkin’ 2 myself”, Ayumi currently has 17 consecutive #1 single and 29 #1 singles in the Japanese ORICON charts(starting from “Free & Easy”). In addition, she’s the first Japanese artist to have her first original 8 studio albums top the charts.

Ayumi released her ninth studio album, GUILTY on January 1, 2008. Not long after the release, Ayumi revealed that she had become completely deaf in her left ear, and that it is inoperable. It is believed that she suffers from tinnitus, and Ayumi has known about the condition of her left ear since 2007 after an examination. She also stated that she would continue on with her career for her fans, and was quoted saying “Nevertheless, I would like to continue as a singer. That’s why I would like to continue singing until I reach the limit with my remaining right ear”.

In addition to serving as background music for television advertisements, some of Hamasaki’s songs have been used as themes for video games and film productions such as television shows and motion pictures. “Depend on You” and its b-side “Two of Us” were used as the opening and ending theme, respectively, of the video game Thousand Arms, while the video game Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams used “Startin’” and “Rainy Day” as its opening and ending theme, respectively. The dorama My Little Chef featured “Voyage” as its theme, while the anime InuYasha featured “Dearest.” Finally, Hamasaki’s songs “Heaven”, “Secret”, and “fated” have been used as the themes for the movies Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, Confession of Pain, and Kaidan, respectively.

Official site: http://avexnet.or.jp/ayu/en/