Utada's debut album First Love became the Japan's biggest selling album of all time with over 7.65 million copies sold in Japan alone to date. The release of her later works only help her reign as one of Japan's top artist, with 3 of her Japanese studio albums being ranked in Top 10 best-selling albums ever in Japan (#1, #4, #8).he has had 12 #1 hits to date on the Oricon Singles chart, with two notable record achievements for a female solo or group artist: 5 of them being million-sellers and 4 placing in the Top 100 All-Time Best-selling Singles.
In addition, Utada has won the Nihon Golden Disk "Song of the Year" award for 14 of her singles since 2000 and has won the Golden Disc "Pop/Rock Album of the Year" award for all her 4 Japanese studio albums.In 2003, Utada was ranked the #24 Japanese pop artist in its survey of "Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists of All Time" by HMV, and #10 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time" in 2006.
In 2007, her single "Flavor of Life" reached #2 in worldwide digital download yearly single chart with over 7.2 million downloads, and she sold a total of 12 million digital ringtones and songs in that same year, making her the first artist ever to have that many digital sales in a year's time.
Biography
Early life and musical career beginnings
Hikaru Utada was born in New York City to Japanese parents with roots in the Japanese music industry. Her father, Teruzane Utada, was a record producer while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer, performing under the stage name "Keiko Fuji." Junko Utada’s mother, and Hikaru’s grandmother, was a blind shamisen player (ごぜ, or goze). Utada made her first professional recording at the age of twelve. She did her recordings with her mother, releasing songs under a band named “U3” (also known as Utada 3) until 1996 when she started her first solo project, "I'll be Stronger." The "Cookin' With Moses Vocal" from this project was called the "Cookin' With Gas Vocal" on the promotional release. "I’ll Be Stronger" was the first song Utada wrote. It was released under the artist name "Cubic U," a mathematical reference to her being the third Utada 'power,' which was Hikaru’s pseudonym before becoming a superstar in Japan. The song failed to release in the United States, and in 1997, she started her next project, though at first she was hesitant.
"Watching my parents, doing crazy things to continue working on music, um, I always thought 'I never want to be musician', it's crazy, and it's unstable... Just, it looked like a very hectic life, and I didn't really understand the passion for music that they had back then. But I ended up following my parents' footsteps and carry on the family business and I am a musician now as well and, now I understand the driving passion behind it, and that's okay," she said in an interview.
Cubic U released her debut single "Close to You," which was a cover of The Carpenters' song. She then released her debut album Precious, but it failed to be released in the United States due to restructuring issues at her then record label Capitol Records. In an MTV interview (on MTV's You Hear It First, October 2004), Utada explained: "Someone in Japan heard it—at a Japanese record company—and he said, 'Oh, can't you write in Japanese? You speak Japanese… And I said ok, why not? I'll try. Then I gave it a shot, and the Japanese album just really blew up in Japan."[1] She released Precious in Japan on January 28, 1998, and then later re-released it on March 31, 1999 to much better success. It has sold 702,060 copies to date in Japan, making it a significant hit for an all-English album in that market.
Hikaru Utada's name
Hikaru's name variations have been a source of some minor confusion in the past. Her legal name at birth is Utada Hikaru (宇多田光, Utada Hikaru). For her original U.S. debut album, she used the name Cubic U. However, she gained very little fame at this stage in her career. For her Japanese recordings, she has used the name Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル, Utada Hikaru), with her given name in katakana. Unlike most Japanese artists, she became well known in the English-speaking world under this surname-first name ordering, since her name has been romanized only in that order for the Japanese domestic market. In Japan, it was known that her nickname growing up in the U.S. was "Hikki." However, due to her immense popularity in Japan, she became better known under this nickname in Japan than in the United States. After her successes in Japan, she re-entered the U.S. market simply as Utada (sometimes Iwashita). On a few rare occasions, she has been credited in full on U.S. domestic albums as either "Hikaru Utada" or "Utada Hikaru." Her legal name in Japan was Hikaru Iwashita (岩下光, Iwashita Hikaru) due to her marriage to Kiriya Kazuaki (whose real name is Kazuhiro Iwashita). However, she does not use this name for most public purposes. Her legal name in the United States has not been clear, especially since the announcement of her divorce on March 2, 2007.
Personal life
On September 7, 2002 Utada married Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and film director who was fifteen years her senior. Kiriya had directed several of her music videos, including "Final Distance," "Traveling," "Hikari," "Sakura Drops," "Deep River," "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro," "Be My Last," "Passion," and "Keep Tryin." Also, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" is the theme song of Kiriya's directorial debut, Casshern.
On March 2, 2007, Hikaru Utada and her husband Kazuaki Kiriya were officially divorced, thus ending their four and a half year marriage. They announced the divorce on Utada's blog the following day. Both stated that many factors contributed to the divorce, including personal changes, different viewpoints on the future of their marriage, and, more importantly, lack of communication due to the nature of their jobs. Kiriya hoped that Utada's fans would continue to support her and that the divorce would not affect her reputation and sales. He stated that they could not "emotionally depend on each other" and wished for everybody to support Utada.
On March 9, 2008, roughly a year after her divorce, for an interview for SSTV V.I.P., Utada was asked another question regarding it. Utada stated that they were headed towards a direction in which she felt that she needed to be validated by her husband's opinion. She came to realize the only type of assurance she needed was herself and as a result of the divorce, she gained confidence. Also, Utada stated that she wishes to have children, giving her a brighter outlook on the future.
