Nanase Aikawa
The cover for the album “Red” and the CD from the album.After she released her first single on 8 November 1995, she released three more singles, and then her first full album Red in 1996, which sold more than two million copies in its first month. That album won her an invitation to perform on Kōhaku Uta Gassen, a New Year’s Eve singing contest between male and female teams of popular singers sponsored by NHK (one of Japan’s television networks).
Since then, she has released about one album each year, plus an average of three mini- or maxi-singles. Her second album, Paradox, was released in July of 1997, selling 1.8 million copies, coinciding with her first concert tour Live Emotion ’97 (consisting of 20 concert dates, and attracting a total of 65,000 fans, according to Avex).
July of 1998 saw her third album Crimson, and another concert tour with over 40 concert dates. Her 1999 release, I.D. was a compilation album, but it debuted at number one on the rock chart, her fourth consecutive album to be released at the number one slot.
In 2001, she also released a ‘mini-album’ (sometime between a full album and a single) with only 7 tracks called the Last Quarter of uncharacteristically soft ballad-style music, recorded during her later months of pregnancy.
It wasn’t until 2003 that she released another album, despite being another compilation album, called ID: 2.
At the 11th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards, Nanase’s album Red was voted the Best Album (Japanese Rock and Folk music, female vocalist category). Her album Paradox was also voted Best Album of the Year at the 12th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards. of the
As of August of 2004, Nanase Aikawa has released six albums, plus two compilation albums and the mini-album, a total of 24 singles, and no less than three separate concerts and two music video collections on video and DVD.
In February of 2004, three years since her last original album and many singles, she released 7 Seven. An album devoted to feelings relating to music and color, with each song dedicated to a certain color. Since then she has released 4 more singles.
A year later, in February of 2005, she released The First Quarter mini-album. This album focused more on ballads and soft music than her well-known rock edge. To no surprise, in November of that same year, she released the highly anticipated R.U.O.K?! mini-album, with seven songs with a distinct rock sound. She also has a list of very famous heavy metal rock musicians and Visual Kei band members contributing to the album, as well as touring with her.
Official Website: http://www.nanase.jp/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nanase_aikawa
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nanase.aikawa.official
Blog: http://ameblo.jp/hikarinomi11
avex: http://avexnet.or.jp/rockstarsteady/
Nanase Aikawa