, is a female
J-popis an abbreviation for Japanese pop, but is also a loosely defined musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s, and has its roots in 1960s music such as The Beatles. It refers to Japanese popular music, and was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese music...
singer signed to the
Avex Traxis the holding company for a group of entertainment-related subsidiaries based in Japan. The origin of the word Avex comes from the English words Audio Visual Expert....
label.
Shimatani started her career as an
Enkais a Japanese popular music genre. Although considered to resemble traditional music stylistically, modern enka is a relatively recent musical form which arose in the context of such postwar expressions of modern Japanese nonmaterial nationalism as Nihonjinron, while adopting a more traditional...
singer with the release of her debut single in 1999, but later decided to get into the
danceThis article is about dance music in general. You may also be looking for electronic dance music or dance-pop.Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
/
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
style for her music. Shimatani's music has also appeared in video games and also
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
series.
Hitomi Shimatani's childhood dream, like many others, was to become a famous singer. At the age of seventeen, when she was still in high school, Shimatani decided to pursue this goal and attended "The Japan Audition 1997" hosted by the music label
avex traxis the holding company for a group of entertainment-related subsidiaries based in Japan. The origin of the word Avex comes from the English words Audio Visual Expert....
.
, is a female
J-popis an abbreviation for Japanese pop, but is also a loosely defined musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s, and has its roots in 1960s music such as The Beatles. It refers to Japanese popular music, and was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese music...
singer signed to the
Avex Traxis the holding company for a group of entertainment-related subsidiaries based in Japan. The origin of the word Avex comes from the English words Audio Visual Expert....
label.
Shimatani started her career as an
Enkais a Japanese popular music genre. Although considered to resemble traditional music stylistically, modern enka is a relatively recent musical form which arose in the context of such postwar expressions of modern Japanese nonmaterial nationalism as Nihonjinron, while adopting a more traditional...
singer with the release of her debut single in 1999, but later decided to get into the
danceThis article is about dance music in general. You may also be looking for electronic dance music or dance-pop.Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
/
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
style for her music. Shimatani's music has also appeared in video games and also
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
series.
Early life
Hitomi Shimatani's childhood dream, like many others, was to become a famous singer. At the age of seventeen, when she was still in high school, Shimatani decided to pursue this goal and attended "The Japan Audition 1997" hosted by the music label
avex traxis the holding company for a group of entertainment-related subsidiaries based in Japan. The origin of the word Avex comes from the English words Audio Visual Expert....
. Hitomi was chosen out of around 200,000 other girls who participated and received a recording contract with avex. However, before starting her music career, she wished to finish high school -- to which avex agreed, but with the stipulation that Shimatani attend vocal lessons at the same time. She agreed. She also liked playing tennis when she was young.
As an Enka singer
After having finished school and feeling ready to her first step as a young singer, in 1999 Hitomi released her first single called , an
enkais a Japanese popular music genre. Although considered to resemble traditional music stylistically, modern enka is a relatively recent musical form which arose in the context of such postwar expressions of modern Japanese nonmaterial nationalism as Nihonjinron, while adopting a more traditional...
song. Although the single received much critical acclaim and even won some awards, it sold rather poorly, causing either Shimatani, avex, or both to decide that "Ōsaka no onna" was to be both the beginning and the end of Shimatani's enka career. She started to record more songs and in 2000 she released her second single, , which was drastically different, stylistically, than her previous with its extremely
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
leanings.
Before she started her pop career, a single titled "涙くんさよなら" (Namida-kun Sayonara) was released under the name Blue-eye Land.
As a pop singer
Mainstream success didn't come until the release of Shimatani's third single, entitled , a Japanese version of
Janet JacksonJanet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Born in Gary, Indiana, and raised in Encino, Los Angeles, California, she is the youngest child of the Jackson family of musicians...
's song "
Doesn't Really Matter"Doesn't Really Matter" is a song recorded by American R&B-pop singer Janet Jackson for the soundtrack to the 2000 film Nutty Professor II: The Klumps...
". The single became a hit, eventually selling over 200,000 copies, and vaulted Shimatani into the spotlight. Since then, Shimatani has often been compared with the top artists on avex trax. She has released six studio albums, one "best-of" compilation, a special concept album entitled "crossover", a winter mini-album, a cover album, an overall total of twenty-seven singles and 8 DVD's containing videos and live performances.
Shimatani often uses "exotic-sounding" titles for her songs, including such tracks as (which references the famous Greek myth), (Italian for "hawk"),
bella flor and
La Fiesta (in Spanish, "beautiful flower" and "the celebration", respectively). She has also been recognized by
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
and video game fans around the globe for songs like
Angelus, which was used as an opening theme for the
InuYasha, full title , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996 and concluded on June 18, 2008...
anime series,
Falco"Falco" is Hitomi Shimatani's 19th single under Avex Trax. It was released on August 10, 2005. The single reached #11 on the Oricon charts and sold 36,008 copies. "Falco" is an Italian word which means "hawk"...
as the 1st opening of
The Law of Uekiis a Japanese manga series by Tsubasa Fukuchi. It was first serialised in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 2002 and ended in 2004. Sixteen tankōbon volumes was compiled and published by Shogakukan. An anime adaptation was first broadcast on TV Tokyo on April 4 2005, ended with 51 episodes...
,
Taiyou No Hana Destiny for the anime series BlackJack 21, and
Garnet Moon, the main theme from the
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
video-game "Another Century's Episode". and are expected to appear in "Another Century's Episode 3 THE FINAL".
Although dance-pop/techno-pop and Latin-styled music were a staple of much of Shimatani's earlier career, she has recently been working extensively in a sound which many have termed "crossover" (named so after the album on which it first made an appearance) -- a blend of traditional pop sensibilities with heavy orchestral and classical-music infusion.
On March 7, 2007, Shimatani released her 6th studio album,
Prima RosaPRIMA ROSA is Japanese pop singer Hitomi Shimatani's sixth studio album. There is both a CD and CD+DVD format. "Prima Rosa" is in Italian and means "First Rose".-CD track listing:# Ramblin'# 君の声...
.
On December 5, 2007, Shimatani released her first cover album,
Otoko Uta ~cover song collection~Otoko Uta ~cover song collection~ is Japanese pop singer Hitomi Shimatani's first cover album. There is both a CD and CD+DVD format.-CD track listing:# # #...
.
After releasing her 27th single "泣きたいなら" in March 2008, Tokyograph announced that Shimatani's song titled "WAKE YOU UP" is to be the theme song of
K-tai Investigator 7is a 2008 Japanese television drama. It is a joint collaboration between WIZ and Production I.G. directed by Takashi Miike. It is described as a science fiction tokusatsu action drama...
, which started airing in early April 2008, while just a few days later the news about "Wrestling Asia Senshuken 2008" program came out, saying that Hitomi will be doing yet another song for it, "Marvelous" (the previous one was "Neva Eva" which was released back in 2007). In late April 2008, the new single was announced by both Neowing and CDJapan, "WAKE YOU UP/雨の日には 雨の中を 風の日には 風の中を/Marvelous" and it is said it will be a triple A-side, with all the songs having a promotional video.
On July 16, 2008, Hitomi released her seventh studio album,
FlareFlare is Japanese pop singer Hitomi Shimatani's seventh studio album. There is both a CD and CD+DVD format. -CD track listing:# Heavenly# Start...
. On March 4, 2009, she released her thirtieth single,
SMILES"SMILES" is the thirtieth single from Japanese pop singer, Hitomi Shimatani. It was released on March 4, 2009. The title track is the theme song for the Japanese movie, Parallel, starring Shimatani.- Track listing :# SMILES# Stay with me...
, which is being used as the theme song for the drama
Parallel, in which Shimatani herself stars.
As an Actress
Shimatani had a part in the Prince of Tennis Live-Action Film as the character of Sumire Ryuzaki. She plays a young and optimistic girl who is Nanjiro Echizen's classmate. She was also in the 11-episode drama
Boku dake no Madonna, sometimes shortened to , is a drama series that aired in Japan on Fuji TV in 2003. In English it is often called You are my only Madonna / ...and I Love Her.- Cast :* Takizawa Hideaki as Suzuki Kyouichi* Hasegawa Kyoko as Kataoka Surumi...
(
She is my only Madonna / ...and I love her). Though she wasn't actually in the movie, she did a cover of Vanessa Hudgens' song "When There Was Me And You", titled "Anata To Ita Toki", from the hit Disney film
High School MusicalHigh School Musical is an Emmy Award-winning American television film, and the first in the High School Musical film franchise. Upon its release on January 20, 2006, it became the most successful movie that Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced, with a television sequel High School Musical 2...
.
In 2007, she was chosen to play the lead role of
Anne ShirleyAnne Shirley is a fictional character introduced first in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Montgomery wrote in her journal that the idea for Anne's story came from relatives who, planning to adopt an orphaned boy, received a girl instead...
during the touring performance of
Anne of Green Gables in Japan.
External links