[Music | Ayumi Hamasaki]
 Introduction:
Ayumi Hamasaki or “Ayu” has been a trendsetting Jpop Star since her breakthrough
in 1999. Although she is now one of the most successful Japanese artists, she certainly didn’t have an
easy start.
Ayumi, born on October 2nd of 1974 in Fukuoka Japan, was abandonned by her father at a young
age, and was raised mainly by her mother and grandmother. In order to support her mother, Ayumi went into
modelling at the age of 7. By the time she was 14 Ayumi appeared on magazines, and even had small acting roles
in low budget movies and dramas. However, because of her height (she’s only 5’1”)
sbe had no future in professional modeling, and she had grown tired of acting already.
Ayu was subsequently fired by her agency and dropped out of school while still in the
10th grade. She spent her time shopping at fancy boutiques and her nights were spent dancing at famous
night clubs. While visiting the Velfarre nightclub in Roppongi, Ayumi was introduced to
Masato Matsuura, a producer for Avex. He invited Ayumi for a night of karaoke, and after that he insisted
that Ayumi take singing lessons. She was reluctant at first, but then gave in to Masata’s request
and took singing lessons because, as she said, she had nothing better to do anyways.
But Ayumi didn’t like the harsh treatment of the teachers, and told Masato that she
regularly skipped classes and wasn’t interested in continuing. Masato then sent her to New York
for three months, which drastically changed Ayu’s mind about singing. When she came back to
Japan, Masato asked her to write song lyrics, and at that point Ayumi had found her unique way of expression.
However, success didn’t come instantly. Ayu’s first single “Poker Face”
only made it to number 20th spot on the hit list, and her next four singles barely made it in the top ten.
Then everything changed when Love ~Destiny~ hit the stores, and Ayumi broke through at the number 1 spot on the charts.
Ever since then, her singles and albums have always been in the top three.
Ayu’s new album, My Story was released today
on December 15th! Get it now before you miss out on it. This new album has an amazing 17 songs, and includes
her already released singles CAROLS, Moments, GAME and Inspire.
Official Ayumi Hamasaki Site:
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