Popular Japanese Singer Ayumi Hamasaki

Ayumi Hamasaki (Hamasaki Ayumi, born October 2, 1978) is a Japanese singer originally from Fukuoka. In her homeland she is commonly called by her nickname Ayu, a nickname her mother used to call her when she was small.

From 2001 to 2004, she was by far the most successful J-Pop singer in terms of sales and popularity. She has an aversion to singing in the English language (which is rare among Japanese singers), and writes her own lyrics. She is one of Japan's most prolific recording artists, having released 24 albums and 34 singles as of September 2004. Recently she started to write some of her own music with the pen name 'CREA' named after one of her beloved dogs, her single 'M' was the first time she has ever done music and lyrics altogether.

At one point, four of Hamasaki's albums were among Japan's top ten best-sellers. She is also the only individual to win the Japan Recording Award three years in a row, in 2001 (for "Dearest"), 2002 (for "Voyage"), and 2003 (for "No way to say").

Before her musical debut in 1998 with the single "Poker Face," Hamasaki was a "talent", a kind of Japanese idol who appears in photo-books, TV commercials and so on. Even though her major label debut was in 1998, she released one album and one single in 1995 featuring her song Nothing from Nothing.

Her record label Avex Trax is also the creator of the popular Eurobeat style of Japanese dance music and commisioned a series of remix albums called ayu-mi-x featuring DJ's from around the world.