HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UTADA! LISTEN TO THIS ARTIST, YOU'LL LIKE.

Japanese-American superstar, Utada, aka Hikaru Utada, is 29 today. You may not have discovered this gem of a singer, but millions of others outside the US have. She was born to Japanese parents here in NYC. Both her parents were in the music business in Japan. She wrote her first song at 11 and recorded her first English language album at 13. A producer from Toshiba/EMI heard her record and asked her if she would consider writing songs in Japanese. Boy, did that pay off! Her 1999 Japanese debut album, First Love, sold 9 million copies world wide. Utada decided to return to the US and attend Columbia University, but she only stayed briefly as the music scene was calling her back. She has gone on to have eight #1 albums in Japan and sold 38 million albums and singles in Japan alone. Her first English language album, post Japanese success, was released in the US in 2004, Exodus. The album went unnoticed (#160) for the most part, although two of it's singles hit the Billboard Club Play chart, including a #1 for Devil Inside. Her second English language album, Come Back to Me, fared better hitting #69 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and producing two Top 20 Club Play hits with Come Back to Me (#5)and Dirty Desire(#16). Meanwhile, back in Japan, Utada has racked up fifteen #1 songs. Whew. That's a lot to accomplish by 29. I worked in Japan at the exact time that Utada was blowing up there, and I was surprised to hear this very American, yet decidedly Japanese, sound coming out of Japanese radio. I have a special place in my heart for Utada. I loved her even before I understood what she was saying!! Here are a couple of my favorite Japanese singles, like the amazing Automatic, and English language singles, like the gorgeous Sanctuary from Kingdom Hearts, by Utada. Enjoy and love her.