Utada Hikaru

Name: Japan: Utada Hikaru
Japanese name: 宇多田 ヒカル, うただ ひかる
Chinese name: 宇多田光
Korean name: 우타다 히카루
Also known as: Hikki
Birthdate: 1983-January-19
Current age: 27
Birthplace: New York City (Manhattan), New York, USA
Profession: Singer, songwriter and producer
Height: 158cm
Weight: 45kg
Star sign: Capricorn
Blood type: A
Talent Agency: Toshiba EMI (Japan), Island Def Jam (USA), Mercury (UK)

Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル) is one of Japan's most successful artists of all time, and has sold over an estimated 40,000,000 records. She is bilingual as she was raised in both New York and Tokyo. Utada Hikaru is also known in the west under her English language project name 'Utada'. Utada also sang the Kingdom Hearts themes, Hikari / Simple and Clean and the theme songs for Kingdom Hearts II, Passion and Sanctuary. Originally, Utada's music had a heavy R&B style to it, but now her music has progressed to a more pop / experimental tone. Her R&B sound was what brought her so much attention with her first release in Japan, Automatic / time will tell, as there were no other artists with her distinct style. Utada was originally married to director Kiriya Kazuaki, who directed the movie CASSHERN, however in March 2007 the couple split. Currently in Japan she has album sales totaling 24 million copies, singles sales of 15.1 million copies and VHS/DVD sales estimated 3 million copies sold.

The show also runs specials from time to time, along with a yearly 3+ hour (now 4) live performance bonanza around Christmas time called MUSIC STATION SUPER LIVE.

The show also features Ward E. Sexton as the english announcer voice for introducing the guests and announcing the CD Single Hit Ranking (usually every week) and CD Album Hit Ranking (usually every month). Sexton is known for providing voice over to the Resident Evil (called Bio Hazard in Japan) video game series.

HEY! HEY! HEY! MUSIC CHAMP is a music variety show hosted by comedy duo Down Town which consists of Matsumoto Hitoshi and Hamada Masatoshi. It's a very popular show with comical hosts who like to pick on their guests. It usually has live performances from pop musicians, chat segments and other fun and games. It airs Mondays at 8:00pm on the Fuji Television Network.

TV Performances
[2008.02.18] HEY! HEY! HEY! (Heart Station)
[2008.02.22] Music Station (Heart Station)

HEART STATION Stay Gold is Utada Hikaru's 20th Japanese-language single and fifth Double A-side single. Stay Gold is the 2007 ASIENCE CM song and is a lighthearted, piano-driven midtempo who's title was stinted from the Stevie Wonder song of the same name. The song was first announced in late September and was released as a download at Chaku-Uta and other places on December 12, 2007. Stay Gold already surpassed 150,000 downloads in its first week. Stay Gold also became the fourth most downloaded Chaku-Uta ringtone for the month of December of 2007 according to RIAJ. The first track, HEART STATION, was only recently announced as of December 7, 2007. It has been described as "Pop, blossoming with a sharpened sense of expression," with the "STATION" being a lyrical reference to frequencies of the heart(Can You Hear Me?/I Can Hear You). Stay Gold debuted on Japan's radio stations on Monday, January 7th, 2008. Stay Gold topped the FM radio daily charts after only one day. On January 21st, 2008, fans and the public got their first listen to HEART STATION, which was released as a Chaku-Uta clip and released to Japanese radio simultaneously. HEART STATION is the 2008 Recochoku Download service CM song, debuting at #4 on the Chaku-Uta charts. First Pressing of the physical single includes an original HEART STATION sticker.
MUSIC STATION is a popular weekly music variety show that has been on the air since 1993. It airs Fridays at 8pm on TV Asahi and usually has 5-8 J-Pop artists and groups as guests on each show. The two hosts (タモリ Tamori and Do Mariko) chat with each artist for a couple minutes before they hit the stage and perform their latest song.