Namie Amuro ( å®‰å®¤å¥ˆç¾Žæµ ), born September 20, 1977, is a Japanese pop idol from Okinawa, Japan. She is one of the best-selling artists ever in Japan with total sales of approximately 30,000,000 singles and albums. She has released eight original albums, three best-of compilations and 34 singles, as of March 2009.
She initially debuted in 1992 as the lead singer of Super Monkeys, with fellow Okinawa Actors School classmates Max as back dancers. After the group disbanded, she eventually had her solo debut in 1995 on the Avex Trax label with the Tetsuya Komuro produced single "Body Feels EXIT", which was an instant hit. The following singles "Chase the Chance", "Don't wanna cry" and "You're my sunshine" all sold 1 million copies during a short period of time.
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In 1996, Namie released her debut solo album "SWEET 19 BLUES" which sold 3.8 millions of copies throughout Japan and broke sales records at the time. It is the 12th most selling album of all time in Japan. At the end of 1996 she won the Grand Prix Award, the highest honor at the Japan Record Awards, for "Don't wanna cry". She is the youngest artist to have won the award. Then followed the release of the chart topping singles release "SWEET 19 BLUES (single)", "a walk in the park", "How to be a girl" and "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?". The later became her best selling single and the 8th most selling single of all time in Japan.
In 1997, Namie shocked everyone when she announced that SAM (from the band TRF) and she were getting married and that she was pregnant. Namie took a break from the entertainment business and her son, Haruto, was born on May 19, 1998.
Her comeback started with the single "I HAVE NEVER SEEN" on December 23. Her mother was murdered on the day (March 17th, 1999) her single "RESPECT the POWER OF LOVE" was released, prompting one of her tattoos in her mother's memory.
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