1. Namie Amuro rose to prominence as a teen idol, and transitioned into a leading pop artist due to her versatility across music styles and visual presentation.
63 Facts About Namie Amuro
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Namie Amuro has been referred to as the "Queen of Japanese Pop", and her influence domestically has drawn equivalent comparisons to artists such as Janet Jackson and Madonna in Western pop culture.
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Namie Amuro's comeback was solidified with the 2008 single "60s 70s 80s" and its parent release Best Fiction.
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Namie Amuro continued to experiment musically in the 2010s, dabbling in EDM and recording in English, beginning with her tenth studio album Uncontrolled.
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Namie Amuro later founded her own management company, Stella88, and record label, Dimension Point.
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Namie Amuro finished her career with the 2017 greatest hits album Finally, which became the best selling album of the decade and made her the only artist to achieve a million-seller in each of their teens, 20s, 30s and 40s.
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Namie Amuro officially retired from the music industry on September 16,2018.
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Namie Amuro has received accolades from the Japan Record Awards, Japan Gold Disc Awards, MTV Video Music Awards Japan and the World Music Awards.
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Namie Amuro was born on September 20,1977, at Okinawa Red Cross Hospital in Naha, Okinawa.
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Namie Amuro is one of four children of Emiko Taira.
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One year later, Namie Amuro was scouted by Masayuki Makino, the owner of Okinawa Actors School, and eventually she was enrolled there.
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Namie Amuro made her solo debut with Avex, releasing the single "Body Feels Exit" on October 25,1995.
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Namie Amuro achieved huge success after the release of her first solo studio album, Sweet 19 Blues.
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Namie Amuro released the album's final single, the title track, on August 21,1996; it achieved success by peaking at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, and shifted over 400,000 units in Japan.
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Namie Amuro legally changed her name to Namie Maruyama, but continued to use her maiden name as her professional name.
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Namie Amuro returned to the music industry by releasing the single "I Have Never Seen" on December 23,1998.
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Namie Amuro made her first single debut with Austin on "Something 'Bout the Kiss", released on September 1,1999.
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In January 2000, Namie Amuro released her fourth studio album Genius 2000; it reached number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, and shifted over 800,000 units there.
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That same month, Namie Amuro confirmed her separation from husband Masaharu.
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Obuchi later asked Namie Amuro to perform the single at the summit.
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Namie Amuro's sales started to decline from this release, as the album only shifted 335,000 units in Japan.
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Namie Amuro released her second compilation album, Love Enhanced Single Collection, on March 13,2002.
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In July 2002, Amuro divorced Maruyama, and legally changed her name back to Namie Amuro, having cited irreconcilable differences.
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In December 2002, Namie Amuro was part of the musical project Suite Chic, involving several Japanese artists like Verbal, Zeebra, Dabo and DJ Muro.
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Namie Amuro extended the concert tour, marked as a promotional appearance, in Taiwan, and South Korea.
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Namie Amuro decided not to appear on 55th Kohaku Uta Gassen, although she had been invited to perform at the event.
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Namie Amuro had previously attended the event nine years in a row.
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Namie Amuro released her seventh studio album Queen of Hip-Pop in July 2005.
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In collaboration with MGM Studios, Namie Amuro was granted permission to use Pink Panther in the album.
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In September 2005, Namie Amuro embarked on her Space of Hip-Hop concert tour in Japan.
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Namie Amuro collaborated with Japanese recording artists Zeebra, Ai, and Mummy-D on Zeebra's album, The New Beginning, released in February 2006, in a song called "Do What U Gotta Do".
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Namie Amuro released the third single from her upcoming eight studio album, "Baby Don't Cry" on January 24,2007; it was used as the theme song for the Japanese television series Himitsu no Hanazono.
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Namie Amuro then released the fourth and final single, "Funky Town", on April 4,2007.
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Namie Amuro was featured on Japanese group, M-Flo's album, Cosmicolor, in a song titled "Luvotomy".
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Originally consisting of 53 performances, it increased by 12 performances to 65 performances, making this Namie Amuro's longest spanning tour.
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In early 2008, Namie Amuro confirmed that she would promote Japanese hair company Vidal Sassoon through their new marketing campaign Fashion x Music x VS, with a new single.
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On July 26, Namie Amuro participated at the 2008 A-nation music concert; an estimated 25,000 people attended her performance.
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Namie Amuro was invited again to the 59th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, but she declined.
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On January 20,2009, Namie Amuro begun working on her ninth studio album, and featured a new track entitled "Dr " through a Vidal Sassoon commercial.
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Namie Amuro collaborated with Japanese music group Ravex on a song for their album Trax, entitled "Rock U".
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On May 18,2010, Namie Amuro won the Best Asian Artist award at World Music Awards in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
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Namie Amuro returned to sole-digital releases with her single "Contrail", which was used as the theme song for the Tokyo Broadcasting System series Flying Public Relations Office, and sold over 250,000 digital copies in Japan.
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On July 10,2013, Namie Amuro released her 11th studio and second bilingual album Feel.
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In support of the album, Namie Amuro conducted her FEEL Tour 2013, spanning between August 16 and December 23,2013.
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On June 4,2014, Namie Amuro released Ballada, her first conceptual greatest hits compilation.
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In support of the album, Namie Amuro conducted her second nationwide tour Live Style 2014, spanning between August 22 and December 23,2014.
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In November 2014, Namie Amuro released her first stand-alone single titled "Brighter Day", which featured a total of three different tracks and instrumentals.
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That same month, Namie Amuro collaborated with Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai on a song titled "I'm Not Yours", which was released as a track on Tsai's album Play.
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On June 10,2015, Namie Amuro released her 12th studio and third bilingual album Genic.
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On May 18,2016, Namie Amuro released her third independent maxi-single "Mint", which was used as the theme song of Fuji TV series Bokuno Yabai Tsuma.
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The tour initially scheduled 88 dates, but due to a higher demand and further promotional activities with singles and the unreleased track "Christmas Wish", Namie Amuro added 13 dates.
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On May 31,2017, Namie Amuro released her single "Just You and I", which sold over 100,000 digital units according to RIAJ.
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In support of the album, Namie Amuro conducted Final Tour 2018 ~Finally~ as her farewell tour, spanning between February 17 and June 3,2018.
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On May 23,2018, Namie Amuro was awarded "Okinawa's National Honor Award" at Okinawa Prefecture Government Office in Naha.
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Namie Amuro officially retired from the entertainment industry on September 16,2018.
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On June 16,2019, Namie Amuro released her entire music collection onto the iTunes store, through her label Dimension Point.
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Namie Amuro's records published by her own label were released through Apple Music, Apple's streaming service, on the same day.
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Namie Amuro carried this sound on with Style, another record produced by Austin, and eventually onto Queen of Hip-Pop.
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In 2007, Namie Amuro released Play, which was highlighted as one of her key re-inventions of her entire career.
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Ever since her debut, Namie Amuro has been classified as one of Japan's most prominent and successful singers.
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Additionally, Namie Amuro was ranked the 12th best-selling digital artist according to Japanese digital site Recochoku.
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Namie Amuro is one of the only female solo artists to achieve the most accumulations of million-certified physical singles, with a total of five.
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Anthropologist Hiroshi Aoyagi said in 2003 that Namie Amuro changed the stereotypical idol culture.