Misia’s 1998 debut marked the beginning of a shift toward a more soulful, R&B-influenced brand of J-pop, and since then she has established herself as one of the Japanese music scene’s biggest stars. Misia (real name: Misaki Ito ) was born on July 7, 1978, in Fukuoka, in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands. The Fukuoka music scene is usually associated with rock acts such as Sheena and the Rokkets,
Number Girl and Ringo Shina, but black music was Misia’s biggest influence. She was first exposed to soul and R&B by Frank Toddy Winfrey, an African-American who was Misia’s vocal coach from 1994 to 1997 at a music school she attended after graduating from high school. After being turned down by various record companies, Misia was scouted by Arista Japan in May 1997 and released her debut single, "Tsutsumi Komuyouni (Like Embracing You)” in February 1998. At that time Misia had just entered the department of commerce at Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, but she gave up school to move to Tokyo and work on her music career. An analog version of the single was released before the CD and became a hit on the club scene thanks to remixes by DJ Watarai and rap versions by Muro. "Tsutsumi Komuyouni” sold some 700,000 copies, catapulting Misia into J-pop stardom overnight – the Recording Industry Association of Japan named her new artist of the year for 1998. Her success paved the way for other R&B-influenced “diva” singers such as
Hikaru Utada, Sugar ...
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Misia’s 1998 debut marked the beginning of a shift toward a more soulful, R&B-influenced brand of J-pop, and since then she has established herself as one of the Japanese music scene’s biggest stars. Misia (real name: Misaki Ito ) was born on July 7, 1978, in Fukuoka, in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands. The Fukuoka music scene is usually associated with rock acts such as Sheena and the Rokkets,
Number Girl and Ringo Shina, but black music was Misia’s biggest influence. She was first exposed to soul and R&B by Frank Toddy Winfrey, an African-American who was Misia’s vocal coach from 1994 to 1997 at a music school she attended after graduating from high school. After being turned down by various record companies, Misia was scouted by Arista Japan in May 1997 and released her debut single, "Tsutsumi Komuyouni (Like Embracing You)” in February 1998. At that time Misia had just entered the department of commerce at Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, but she gave up school to move to Tokyo and work on her music career. An analog version of the single was released before the CD and became a hit on the club scene thanks to remixes by DJ Watarai and rap versions by Muro. "Tsutsumi Komuyouni” sold some 700,000 copies, catapulting Misia into J-pop stardom overnight – the Recording Industry Association of Japan named her new artist of the year for 1998. Her success paved the way for other R&B-influenced “diva” singers such as
Hikaru Utada, Sugar Soul and Yuki Koyanagi, who changed the J-pop template with technically accomplished soul- and R&B-influenced music. Misia is said to have a voice range spanning five octaves, as well as being able to vocalize sounds over 15,000 Hz---too high for the human ear but credited with giving her voice the stability and depth that fans rave about. Misia’s second single, "Hino Ataru Basho (A Place in the Sun),” was released in May 1998, while her first single was still on the charts. Her first album,
Mother Father Brother Sister, was released in June of that year. The album was a huge hit, selling over 3 million copies. Misia’s second album,
Love is the Message, was released on January 1, 2000. Like Utada, Misia has been careful to avoid media over-exposure, seldom appearing on TV, for example. In October 2001 she moved from BMG to Avex label Rhythmedia Tribe, and in 2004 she became the first female artist to complete a "five-dome tour" (Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka).
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