Akina Nakamori

Akina Nakamori (born on July 13, 1965 in Kiyose, Tokyo) is one of Japan's best-selling artists. After putting her talents to the test on Japanese TV show Star Tanjō!, she stepped out in 1982 with her debut single, "Slow Motion", which went to Number 30 on Japan's Oricon chart. Her debut album, Prologue (Jomaku) landed that same year, followed hot on the heels by Variation (Hensoukyoku), with the latter giving Akina Nakamori her first Japanese chart-topper and marking the start of her impressive career. A prolific recording artist, she added another 12 full-length albums to her repertoire during the '80s, including 1985 Number 1 Bitter and Sweet, and 1988's Stock. After taking some time out from the public eye, she returned to music with a new single, "Dear Friend", in 1990 and had designs on releasing an album, Gaze, but was dropped from her label home of Warner Pioneer. She took her first steps towards acting in the early '90s, and signed a new record deal with MCA Records, releasing her 15th studio album Unbalance+Balance, in 1993. The '90s saw her maintain her career across a raft of albums, including 1999's will, celebrating her 20th anniversary as a musician in 2002. She continued to notch up Top 10 albums steadily throughout the '00s and 10s, also releasing a jazz covers album called Belie in 2016. Her 25th original studio album, Akina, emerged in 2017. On the 44th anniversary of her debut, she released her definitive full self-cover jazz album, Akina Note, on May 1, 2026.