Chihiro Onitsuka

Chihiro Onitsuka ( Jap. 鬼束ちひろ , Onitsuka Chihiro ; * the 30th October 1980 in Nango , Miyazaki Prefecture ) is a Japanese J-Pop - Singer-songwriter and pianist .

biography

Chihiro Onitsuka got enthusiastic about writing poetry from an early age. Influenced by Alanis Morissette and Jewel Kilcher's music, she made up her mind in high school to become both a singer and a songwriter. With around 70 original compositions in her pocket, after graduating from high school in the spring of 1999, she moved to Tokyo to begin her career.

In February 2000, Onitsuka's debut single Shine was released. The following single Gekkō was chosen as the theme song of a TV drama series and drew attention to it. Gekkō remained a long-term bestseller, and other releases followed: the fast- paced single Cage in November 2000 , followed by the fourth single Memai / Edge in February and the debut album Insomnia in March 2001, which hit the top in its first week Original Confidence Album Charts came on. After releasing the first DVD / Video Me And My Devil , a collection of her video clips, Onitsuka went on her first tour Chihiro Onitsuka Live Tour 2001 .

Infection / Little Beat Rifle , the first single since their debut album, was released in September. The release of the first live DVD / video Cradle On My Noise followed in November 2001. Onitsuka's lyrics and music were honored by the public when she received The Best Lyrics Award for Memai and the Rock Album Of The at the Japan Record Award (December 2001) Year Award for the album Insomnia at The Japan Gold Disc Award (March 2002).

In 2001 Onitsuka's music also came overseas. Innocence of their first album was as background music of the TV campaign for Applied Materials in Silicon Valley used. Her song Lawn was also used in the Luc Besson film Wasabi , with Jean Reno and Hirosue Ryoko in the lead roles.

In 2002, Onitsuka released her sixth single Ryuuseigun in February, followed by the second album This Armor on March 6, and a second live tour Chihiro Onitsuka Live Vibe 2002 .

In early September 2003, the artist recorded her October single Ii Hi Tabidachi, Nishi e, which is the cover of a 1978 song that was used as the theme for the Japanese railroad campaign Discover the West . She recorded this song before taking a hiatus due to a throat operation.

In early 2004, Toshiba EMI (now EMI Music Japan ) released a single box against Onitsuka's will. This annoyed her so much that she left Toshiba and signed an artist contract with Universal Music , where she was given much more freedom in her work. She released the single Sodatsu Zassō (育 つ 雑 草) which meant a big change from her folk-pop style to rock. Before its release, she held a concert in which she performed this song and a Nirvana cover. Since she hadn't announced a break at the time, her fans were amazed about the lack of new releases. She later stated that she was simply tired because of the enormous time pressure.

Onitsuka began her full comeback into the music industry in 2007 with a live performance on March 17th at AP BANG! Toky Kankyo Kaigi , Studio Coast, Tokyo and announced their plans to release a comeback album and go on a concert tour. Their first single was called Everyhome , which was released on May 30th. It reached number 9 on the Oricon Weekly Charts.

Although Onitsuka is now with another label, Toshia EMI still releases her music, to which she owns the rights, in the form of DVDs and collections of singles.

Chihiro Onitsuka's last single bokura barairo no hibi reached number 13 on the Oricon Top 100 Charts.

Discography

Singles

• Shine (February 9, 2000)
• Gekkō (August 9, 2000) ( moonlight )
• Cage (November 8, 2000)
• Memai / Edge (February 10, 2001) ( dizziness )
• Infection / Little Beat Rifle (September 7, 2001)
• Ryūseigun (February 6, 2002) ( meteor swarm )
• Sign (May 21, 2003)
• Beautiful Fighter (August 20, 2003)
• Ii Hi Tabidachi, Nishi e (October 29, 2003) ( On a fine day, I'm driving west )
• Watashi to Warutsu wo (November 27, 2003) ( Waltzer with me )
• Sodatsu Zassō (October 27, 2004) ( Growing Weeds )
• everyhome (May 30, 2007)
• Bokura Barairo no Hibi (September 19, 2007) ( Our rosy days )
• Hotaru (August 6, 2008) ( Fireflies )
• X / Last Melody (May 20, 2009)
• Kaerimichi wo Nakushite ( Jul 22, 2009) ( I lost my way home )
• Kagerō (September 2, 2009) ( Shimmering Air )
• Aoi Tori (April 6, 2011) ( Blue Bird )
• Itazura Pierrot (March 11, 2013) ( Vicious Clown )

Albums

• Insomnia (March 7, 2001)
• This Armor (March 6, 2002)
• Sugar High (December 11, 2002)
• The Ultimate Collection (December 1, 2004)
• Singles 2000-2003 (September 7, 2005)
• Las Vegas (October 31, 2007)
• Dorothy (October 28, 2009)
• One Of Pillars: Best Of Chihiro Onitsuka 2000-2010 (April 28, 2010)
• Ken to Kaede (April 20, 2011) ( sword and maple )
• Famous Microphone (May 30, 2012) ( Cover Album )

DVDs

• Me And My Devil (April 11, 2001)
• Cradle On My Noise Live: Live Insomnia Video Edition (November 7, 2001)
• Princess Believer (December 11, 2002)
• Ultimate Crash '02 Live At Budokan (May 21, 2003)
• The Complete Clips (December 1, 2004)
• Nine Dirts And Snow White Flickers (August 6, 2008)
• Hard Red Fantasia (June 30, 2010)
• Hotel Murdress Of Arizona My Gun (March 14, 2012)

Web links

• Official Website (in Japanese)
• Frozen Call The latest news about Chihiro Onitsuka
• Nippop profiles | Chihiro Onitsuka