Hitomi

Hitomi Furuya (古谷 仁美), known professionally as Hitomi (ヒトミ), is a Japanese singer-songwriter.

The first single to be released from the label was "Japanese Girl", her 28th single, which also marked a change in her style and looks, one that was much more modern dance-oriented and sexy, than any of her previous works.

In 1993, then 17 years old, Furuya was spotted by eminent Avex music producer Tetsuya Komuro at an audition.

Komuro signed her to Avex, put her through vocal training, and decided that she should use an all-lowercase 'Hitomi' as her stage name.

She began her career as teen model before making her singing debuting under the helm of Tetsuya Komuro in 1994, who produced Hitomi's earliest work in pop music.

Hitomi has striven for artistry over the course of her career, penning "forward-looking" lyrics and becoming known for her "unusual" fashion sense that accompanied a "supermodel allure".

The following year, in November 1994, she released her debut single, "Let's Play Winter", through Avex Trax, to which she wrote the lyrics.

Since then, Hitomi has been the lyricist for almost all of her songs.

While her first two singles, "Let's Play Winter" and "We Are "Lonely Girl"" were considerable failures, her third single "Candy Girl" was used as the theme for a Kodak CM, and secured a top 10 spot on the Japanese Oricon music chart.

Subsequent singles "By Myself" and "Busy Now" established Hitomi as one to watch in Japanese entertainment.

Hitomi's career enjoyed success from Komuro's direction, including his work on her chart-topping second album By Myself (1996), however, her desire for more artistic input led to their amicable split by 1998.

Her second album By Myself, released in 1996, became her first musical work to debut at number one on the Oricon charts; it sold more than 800,000 copies.

After three studio albums and twelve singles, Komuro and Hitomi went their separate ways in 1998, and in 1999 she released her first greatest hits album, entitled H, that peaked at number one on the Japanese charts and sold more than a 500 thousand copies.

Hitomi has amassed four number one albums throughout her career, including H (1999), Huma-rhythm (2002) and Self Portrait (2002), and has sold over 8.5 million records in Japan alone.

She has earned two Japan Record Awards for Excellent Work and a Japan Gold Disc accolade for Rock & Pop Album of the Year, and has performed at the prestigious Kōhaku Uta Gassen program twice.

Born Hitomi Furuya (古谷 仁美) in Tochigi, Japan, her family relocated to Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture when she was a child.

Consequently, she always identified herself as a girl from Kanagawa.

Hitomi was an enthusiastic athlete throughout her childhood, playing baseball, soccer, and basketball, as well as an avid reader of manga.

At age 16, she was spotted and approached by a scout from a modeling agency.

She signed a short modeling contract and began appearing in magazines while she was still in high school.

In 1999, her single "Kimi no Tonari" was used as the ending theme song for Atlus' PlayStation role-playing game Persona 2: Tsumi.

Her signature songs include "Candy Girl", "Love 2000" and "Samurai Drive".

She started working with other musicians and composers, and branched out into musical genres such as pop rock as evident on her fifth album Love Life (2000), a turning point which sustained her position in the industry.

In 2000, Hitomi gained much public attention after her single "Love 2000" was used as the image song of runner Naoko Takahashi, who became popular in Japan after winning the gold medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

This helped the song to get a lot of airplay, and become a commercial success.

She performed the song at the annual Kōhaku Uta Gassen.

Her Love Life album released around that same time also caught attention within the Japanese entertainment industry because of its cover, on which she appeared naked covering her breasts with her arms.

This album was a spiritual successor to her 2000 album Love Life, with Hitomi once again nude on the cover of it, but this time pregnant with her child.

In 2001, her song "I Am" was used as the second opening for the TV anime series InuYasha.

After a one-year and a half hiatus, in May 2004 Hitomi released a new studio album, Traveler.

The concert tour she subsequently embarked upon was a huge success, and she played to packed arenas at almost every stop.

Hitomi began incorporating electropop styles with her subsequent moves to Love Life Records in 2005 and independent label Maximum 10 in 2011.

As the 10th anniversary of her debut came in 2005, she opened her own record label, Love Life Records, which functioned as a subdivision of Avex.

In 2007, Hitomi obtained her first lead role in the movie Akumu Tantei, and also participated in her first musical: Waiting For The Sun: Tenkimachi.

On December 5, 2007 her singles compilation album Peace was released to celebrate her 13th anniversary.

She released a new digital single called "Fight for Your Run☆" in August 2008.

After a year on hiatus, she released a new single, "World! Wide! Love!", on May 20, 2009, and a month later she released her ninth studio album, Love Life 2.

Hitomi's last single in the Avex label, "Umarete Kurete Arigato/Smile World", was released on February 16, 2011.

This month she also inaugurated her own baby clothing brand called PomiPomi.

On March 28, 2011 it was announced that two new songs, "Special" and "Guru Maze Yeah!"