Utada Hikaru

Hikaru Utada (宇多田 ヒカル) (born January 19, 1983), known by her stage name Utada in America and Europe, is a Japanese/Americansinger, song writer, arranger, and producer. Since the release of her debut album First Love, which went on to become the best-selling album in Oricon history, Utada has had three of her Japanese studio albums in the list of Top 10 best-selling albums ever in Japan (number 1, 4, 8) and six of her albums (including one English-language and one compilation) charting within the 275 Best-Selling Japanese albums list.

Hikaru Utada was born in Manhattan as the only child of Teruzane Utada, a Japanese record producer, and his wife Junko Utada, an enka singer, performing under the stage name "Keiko Fuji".She did her recordings with her mother, releasing songs under a band named “U3” (also known as Utada 3)until 1996 when she started her first solo project, "I'll be Stronger." The "Cookin' With Moses Vocal" from this project was called the "Cookin' With Gas Vocal" on the promotional release."I'll Be Stronger" was the first song Utada wrote. It was released under the artist name "Cubic U", a mathematical reference to her being the third Utada 'power', which was Hikaru's pseudonym before becoming a superstar in Japan. The song was not released in the United States, and in 1997, she started her next project, though at first she was hesitant. Cubic U released her debut single "Close to You", which was a cover of The Carpenters' song. She then released her debut album Precious.

On August 9, 2010, Utada announced on her personal blog that beginning in 2011, she would go on an indefinite hiatus, citing fatigue since her debut 12 years previously. She also stated a need for rest, to study new things and learn more about the world, as well as see to some personal matters. She said the hiatus would last anywhere from two to five years.Before her hiatus began, she said that she would go "full throttle" on her artistic activities, and soon after her site was updated, and a new compilation album, Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 was announced, with a release date of November 24, 2010. This new album would include all her Japanese singles from Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro to Prisoner of Love on disc one, as well as an extra EP, featuring five new tracks.Later it was announced a DVD containing the promotional video for Goodbye Happiness would be included in all first-press edition pre-orders.

On 8 November 2010, EMI Music announced on their website that they had made a "new global recording" deal with Utada, also stating that all her work (English and Japanese) will be released under one name: "Hikaru Utada".From November 24th, first-week sales for Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 was 231,000 units according to Oricon album daily charting. Although replacing Heart Station as her lowest first week sales of any Utada Hikaru album to date, this release marked Utada's 7th consecutive #1 album (5 original and two best-ofs) since her debut, surpassing Kinki Kids' previous record of six and making her the artist with the most successive consecutive #1 albums in Oricon chart and Japanese music history (the latter according to her label EMI) since premiering.