Utada Hikaru is a Japanese-American singer-songwriter, arranger and producer. She has released album and songs such as Precious, First Love, Automatic, Time Will Tell, Movin’ On Without You, Distance among others.
Born Name
Hikaru Utada
Nick Name
Utada Hikaru, Hikki, Cubic U, Diva of the Heisei Period
Sun Sign
Capricorn
Born Place
New York City, New York, United States
Residence
Tokyo, Japan
Nationality
- Japanese (Jus Sanguinis)
- American (Jus Soli, Expatriate)
Education
Hikaru Utada attended the Seisen International School and the American School in Japan.
Occupation
Singer, Songwriter, Arranger, Producer
Family
- Father – Utada Teruzane (Record Producer)
- Mother – Keiko Fuji (Japanese Singer) (Deceased)
- Siblings – None
- Others – Saburo Fuji (Uncle)
Manager
Utada Hikaru is managed by –
- Toshiba-EMI Ltd (Recording Company), Tokyo, Japan
- Island/IDJMG/Universal (Recording Company), New York, USA
- U3 Music (Manager)
Genre
Pop, R&b, Rock, Alternative, Dance, Electronica, Synthpop, Experimental, J-Pop, R&B, Dance, Electronica
Instruments
Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer, Programming, Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer, Programming
Labels
- EMI Music Japan (Virgin, Foozay, Eastworld) (1997-2013)
- Universal Music Japan (EMI R, Virgin) (2013-Present)
- Universal Music (Island, Mercury, EMI) (2004–2010; 2013-Present)
- EMI Records
- Virgin Records
- Island Records
- Mercury Records
- Epic Records
Build
Slim
Height
5 ft 2¼ in or 158 cm
Weight
49 kg or 108 lbs
Boyfriend / Spouse
Utadu Hikaru has dated –
- Kazuaki Kiriya (2002-2007) – Utadu and Kazuaki, a photographer and film director were married but divorced due to lack of communication due to the nature of their jobs and personal changes.
- Francesco Calianno (2014-2018) – Utadu married Francesco Calianno, a bartender in 2014 but divorced in 2018. They have a son together.
Race / Ethnicity
Asian
She is of Japanese descent.
Hair Color
Black
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
Slim physique
Brand Endorsements
Utada Hikaru has endorsed NTT DoCoMo mobile phones.
Best Known For
- Releasing singles like Automatic, Time Will Tell, Movin’ On Without You, First Love, Addicted to You, Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro, Wait & See (Risk), Colors, For You, Time Limit, Can You Keep a Secret?, You Make Me Want to Be a Man, Traveling, Hikari, Sakura Drops, Letters, Goodbye Happiness among others
- Albums like First Love, Distance, Deep River, Exodus, Exodus 4, Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 and 2, Fantôme (French: ghost) among others
- TV and movie theme songs like Blow My Whistle for the movie Rush Hour 2, Hanataba o Kimi ni (Bouquet for You) for the TV show Toto Neechan in 2016, and Manatsu no Tōriame for a TV station’s news show NEWS ZERO, Prisoner of Love for the show Last friends, Anata from Destiny Kamakura Monogatari, Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro from Casshern, Beautiful World from Evangelion, Don’t Think Twice from Kingdom Hearts III, Simple and Clean from Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories among others
First Album
Utada Hikaru started her first solo project titled I’ll be Stronger in 1996 under the name stage name Cubic U and released it later on.
Utada released her English debut album, Precious in early 1998. She released her debut Japanese album, First Love at the age of 16 in 1999.
First TV Show
She made her TV show debut on Hero, a comedy, crime, drama series in 2001.
As a composer, she worked in the drama, romance series Majo no jouken in 1999.
Personal Trainer
Not much information exists about her personal fitness journey but we believe shooting the music videos and her slim physique must require a certain level of exercise and proper diet.
Utada Hikaru Favorite Things
- Movie Director – Hayao Miyazaki
- Musicians And Composers – Chick Corea, , Yutaka Ozaki, Nine Inch Nails, , , , Björk, , Béla Bartók, Mozart, Jeff Buckley, The Blue Nile, and Hibari Misora
- Writers – Kenji Miyazawa, Kaiko Takeshi, Ryunosuke Nakagami Akutagawa, Yasunari Kawabata, Natsume Soseki, “Kusamakura” Yukio Mishima, Junichiro Tanizaki, Hermann Hesse, “Wildfire” Endo Shusaku, Roald Dahl, Oscar Wilde, Shel Silverstein, Edgar Allan Poe, Elie Wiesel, John Berendt, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and George Orwell
Source – , ,
Utada Hikaru Facts
- Her parents are Japanese but she was born in the United States.
- Her ex-husband Kazuaki Kiriya was 15 years her senior. She got married at 19 years of age.
- Utada started writing music and lyrics at 10 years of age.
- She is an only child and does not have a problem being alone.
- Utada can sing, play piano, guitar, synthesizer and do programming.
- Her mother helped with her recordings. Her 1st band was called ‘U3’ or ‘Utada 3.’
- Utada’s mother, a popular Japanese singer, allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the 13th floor of a building in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
- Her 1st album Precious was released in 1998 under the name “Cubic U”, with Toshiba-EMI. It was an English album and was a commercial failure.
- Her Japenese debut album First Love sold more than 10,000 copies in Japan and Overseas.
- Her single Addicted to You sold 1 million in its 1st week; highest sales by a female solo artist, and stayed on top of the chart for 2 consecutive weeks.
- She had a benign tumor in her ovary but it was successfully removed.
- Utada likes to read.
- She is one of 100 wealthiest people in Japan.
- Some of her albums like Deep River and Precious are multi-platinum albums.
- She speaks fluent English and Japanese.
- Her song Hikari (Simple and Clean) is well known in the US.
- She does not enjoy fame.
- She kept her pregnancy a secret and only made the announcement after the birth of the baby.
- Utada is fond of making drinks herself.
- She makes orange juice every morning.
- Utada is obsessed with the cleanliness of her house.
- She does not like to go to the gym because she does not like to be around people she does not know.
- Her nickname ‘Cubic U’ is a mathematical reference to her being the 3rd Utada “power”.
- She moved to Tokyo in 1998 and continued recording under Toshiba-EMI.
- She has 9 studio albums, 3 compilation albums, 11 video albums, and 33 singles under her belt as of March 2019.
- Her compilation album Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 became the best-selling album of 2004 in Japan, the 1st compilation album to reach #1 in 26 years by a female artist and 1st compilation album to reach #1 in 6 years on the yearly charts, and the 34th best-selling album ever in the country.
- She is the only group or solo artist to reach #1, 4 times on the yearly charts.
- Utada moved back to New York in mid-2004 and started working with Island Def Jam Music Group.
- She moved back to Tokyo in 2005.
- Her digital single This Is Love got 1 million digital downloads.
- Her 4th album Ultra Blue was EMI’s 10th best-selling album and the highest-selling original studio album in 2006 by a Japanese female artist.
- Utada’s 5th album Heart Station was released in 2008 and became Japan’s best-selling digital-format album on the “iTunes 2008 yearly album charts” and highest-selling original studio album by a solo female artist on the “Oricon Yearly Chart.”
- Oricon’s annual readers poll voted Utada the “Number 1 Favorite Artist of 2008.”
- She has sung a duet Let It Snow with , a pop singer.
- On August 9, 2010, she announced that she would go on an indefinite hiatus of anywhere from 2-5 years due to fatigue.
- Her Fantôme (French: ghost) album released in 2016 stayed at the top of “Oricon Albums Chart” for 4 consecutive weeks, won “Album of the Year” at the Japan Record Awards and Oricon named it the third-best-selling physical record of the year.
- In 2017, it was announced that she would be moving to Sony Music Japan.
- She draws inspiration from , , and .
- She is conservative in her dressing avoiding cleavage, and bare legs.
- Utadu has a clothing line, a calendar and a self-drawn cartoon pet named ‘Chuichi.’
- She released an album, Hatsukoi in 2018.
- She advised her fans not to buy the album Utada the Best because her heart was not in the release and she did not want her fans to buy something she did not endorse. The album was produced by Universal Japan. She directed fans to the Utada Hikaru Single Collection vol. 2 which was released on the same day.
- All the theme songs for the “Kingdom Hearts” game series were sung by Utada.
- Visit her website @ www.utadahikaru.jp.
- Follow her on , , and .
Featured Image by Hikaru Utada / Instagram
Facts of Utada Hikaru
- full nameUtada Hikaru
- Date of Birth January 19, 1983
- Age 41 years 7 months
- Horoscope Capricorn
- Lucky Number 5
- Lucky Stone Topaz
- Lucky Color Brown
- Best Match for Marriage Scorpio, Virgo, Taurus
- weight49 kg
- height5 ft 2¼ in