Pop/R&B singer Thelma Aoyama, often romanized from katakana to Teruma Aoyama, was born in 1987 in Nara, Japan. Her love for music started early, and at the tender age of three she became a huge fan Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation. She also enjoyed singing herself, and at ten became involved gospel music. Thelma moved from Osaka to Torrance, California as a sixth grader, and lived there for five years. In 2003 her family moved to Tokyo, and she began attending the American School in...

Pop/R&B singer Thelma Aoyama, often romanized from katakana to Teruma Aoyama, was born in 1987 in Nara, Japan. Her love for music started early, and at the tender age of three she became a huge fan Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation. She also enjoyed singing herself, and at ten became involved gospel music. Thelma moved from Osaka to Torrance, California as a sixth grader, and lived there for five years. In 2003 her family moved to Tokyo, and she began attending the American School in Japan. The ¾ Japanese, ¼ Trinidadian signed with Universal Japan in January of 2006, in the midst of her senior year at ASIJ. Before releasing her own solo single, Aoyama collaborated with artists such as Sphere of Influence, DS455 and DOHZI-T. In September of 2007, she released her debut solo single "One Way" just before beginning her sophomore year at Sophia University (also known as Jochi Daigaku). Her debut single charted, but sold only moderately well. It was followed however with a substantial hit “Koko Ni Iruyo” (roughly “I’ll Be Here”) a collaboration with bilingual Japanese artist SoulJa, who had also grown up partly in the United States. It was officially billed as SoulJa featuring Thelma Aoyama. “Koko Ni Iruyo” is a love song from a man to his long-distance girlfriend, telling her that he'll wait for her. As a follow-up, in January 2008, Thelma released “Soba Ni Iru Ne”, an answer song to “Koko Ni Iruyo”,  in which the girl assures her boyfriend afar that she is waiting for him also, this time with billing as Thelma Aoyama featuring SoulJa. . The song was used in a TV ad for NTT Docomo, and her music video had her frequently checking her Docomo phone for text messages from her boyfriend. The massive exposure for the song helped it go all the way to #1 on the Oricon charts, and it remained on the charts for months after that.  It also became a top download and ringtone. “My Dear Friend”, the b-side from “Soba Ni Iru Ne”  was picked up and used as the ending theme of the animated TV show Shion No Ou, and as the opening theme for the TV show Ryuuha-R. Suddenly the tiny 20 year old with the powerful voice had gone from nearly unknown to one of the hottest artists to appear in 2008.  Given her mixed heritage and style of music, Thelma is often compared to Crystal Kay, and to other singers with a pop R&B sound such as Utada Hikaru and Jamosa. There seems however to be little rivalry. Thelma’s friendly, warm, upbeat character has helped make her widely popular. Her debut album, Diary was released in March 2008, sold in the hundreds of thousands, climbing to #3 in Oricon’s album chart. In June of 2008 Thelma performed at Tokyo Dome, for a “motivational event” for athletes going to the Beijing Olympics. There she sang her hits, plus a new song “Nando Mo”, which was released in July as a single, and has become yet another hit.