Ami Suzuki

Ami Suzuki (鈴木亜美) is a Japanese recording artist, DJ, and actress from Zama, Kanagawa, Japan.

Having been discovered at the talent TV show Asayan, she was one of the most popular female teen idols in the late 1990s.

Her debut single, "Love the Island", was released on 1 July 1998.

The song was used to promote Japanese tourism in the island of Guam, with Suzuki herself starring in the TV commercials.

The song was well promoted, with Ami appearing on covers of magazines like Young Jump and even traveling to Guam to promote the song live on the local version of the international music channel MTV.

The single became a hit, debuting at number five on the Oricon charts.

On 17 September 1998, her second single "Alone in My Room" was released.

This song was also used for Guam tourism campaigns, and also did well on the charts, debuting at number three on Oricon and selling even better than its predecessor.

In October 1998, Suzuki started her own radio show on Nippon Hōsō called ''Run!

Run!

Ami-Go!'', which topped the radio rankings in popularity.

She also signed a deal with the Japanese product Kissmark for advertisements and promotion all around Asia.

Sony then began promoting her third single, "All Night Long".

The dance song was featured constantly at the most famous discothèque of Japan at that time, Velfarre, and was a big hit.

It debuted at number 2 on the Oricon charts.

Later that year, Ami Suzuki won various awards including the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist.

In 1999, Suzuki released her first photo book, titled Ami-Go, which sold around 200,000 copies.

In March, her debut album SA was released, becoming one of the Top 10 best selling albums of 1999.

At the release of her seventh single "Be Together" (which was a cover of a song by TM Network), Ami competed with "rival" Ayumi Hamasaki for the first time for the top position in the charts.

Ayumi released her ninth single, "Boys & Girls", on the same day.

Ami went to the top position on the Oricon charts for the first time, leaving Ayumi second.

However, "Boys & Girls" would go on to become a number one single itself and eventually outsell "Be Together".

Her next single, titled "Our Days", also ranked number one in the charts later that year.

At the end of the year, Ami released her eighth and last single in 1999 entitled "Happy New Millennium", which debuted at number 2 and sold 364,000 copies, becoming Suzuki's second lowest single in 1999.

However, in 2000, Suzuki faced legal problems with her management company resulting in a controversial blacklisting from the entertainment industry.

In January 2000, Suzuki released "Don't Need to Say Good Bye" which debuted at number 5.

A week later, Suzuki released her second studio album, Infinity Eighteen Vol. 1, which sold 1,063,000 copies and debuted at number one.

Suzuki has said of this first period of her career that she was not free to do what she wanted and only followed what she was told, leaving her feeling "pretty disheartened and down, like there was no future.".

Suzuki had been writing lyrics from an early age and passing them to her manager and producers.

The first song to feature them, with the help of Mitsuko and Tetsuya Komuro, was her tenth Sony single, "Don't Need to Say Good Bye".

The lyrics were influenced by events occurring in her personal life at that time, specifically her upcoming high school graduation and she has said: "it was more important to me than sales and chart rankings to know that I had put my thoughts and feelings into what I was singing."

Suzuki attempted to resurrect her career under her own steam with two indie singles before signing to Avex Trax in 2005.

She released "Delightful", a dance song that reached No. 3 on the Japanese Oricon charts with a style similar to electronic club music, significantly different from her pop idol days.

Since her appearance in the 2006 film Rainbow Song, Suzuki has gradually made a name for herself in the acting field, starring in various movies, television series, and musicals.

While attending high school, Ami auditioned for Japanese talent show Asayan, which was searching for a young vocalist under the direct guidance of Tetsuya Komuro.

She initially preferred athletics to auditions and was reluctant to travel from her home in Kanagawa, but was convinced by a school friend.

The TV contest became very popular and the number of viewers watching it grew and grew as the series progressed; its popularity was such that soon it was aired in other Asian countries.

From 13,500 contestants, only five girls were chosen to be in the final round, and 15-year-old Suzuki won the competition supported by 802,157 phone calls from the audience.

She later explained her win as being down to her showing her natural-self, as opposed to rehearsing intensely like other contestants.

Sony Music signed her to the label, and producer Tetsuya Komuro sponsored her career producing all of her material, together with other members of the Komuro Family, such as Marc Panther, Cozy Cubo and Takahiro Maeda.