Aikawa Nanase

Aikawa Nanase (相川七瀬) is a Japanese rock musician. While she does have her fair share of soft songs (such as "~dandelion~" and "The Last Quarter") and fun songs ("Break Out!" and "Cosmic Love"), the majority of her song are rock songs. She has remained a constant source of quality rock with a slight pop edge. She releases her music under the mOtorod label, a division of avex trax.

Aikawa Nanase was born on February 16th 1975 in Osaka, Japan. Her parents divorced when she was young, which affected her significantly. When she was young she developed some social problems and turned into a troublemaker. It is rumored that she was in a girl gang in her young teenage years, and supposedly may have been its leader. Another story has it that she was severely bullied by classmates, giving rise to nightmares, and she skipped an entire year of school. Regardless, at the age of 15 Aikawa left all it all behind and dropped out of school.

It was around this time that she was discovered by well-known music producer Oda Tetsuro. Throughout her school years, Aikawa sang and participated in a few singing competitions, which routinely passed her over, though it brought her to the attention of Oda. She was signed to avex trax's rock sub-label mOtorod. He trained Nanase as a singer for five years before she released her first single, though the details of her life in those years are sketchy.

Aikawa made her debut in November 8th 1995 with the single, "Yume Miru Shoujo ja Irarenai". The single did quite well for a new single, reaching #12 on the Oricon chart. After a few more singles, Aikawa released her debut album, "Red". The album was an instant hit, jumping to the #1 spot on the Oricon. The album on to sell over two million copies in its first month. People then dubbed Aikawa, the brightest star in female rock. The album won her an invitation to perform at the biggest event of the year, Kohaku Uta Gassen which is a New Year's Eve singing contest. At the 11th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards, Aikawa's album was voted the Best Album of the Japanese Rock and Folk music, in the female vocalist category.

Aikawa promoting "FOXTROT" (2000)

Aikawa promoting "midnight blue" (2000)

Since then, Aikawa's released about an album each year, plus an average of three singles. Her second album, "ParaDOX" was released in July 1997. The album was also very successful, reacking #1 on the Oricon and selling over 1,800,000 copies. The album was released right before Aikawa's first concert tour Live Emotion '97, which consisted of twenty concert dates, that attracted a total of 65,000 fans (according to avex trax). Her album "ParaDOX" was voted Best Album of the Year, at the 12th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards.

In July 1998, Aikawa released her third album, "Crimson". After the album was released she once again went off on another concert tour, this time with over 40 concert dates. The next year Aikawa company released her first best-of album, "I.D.". The album reached #1, becoming her fourth consecutive album to number #1.

In 2001, she also released a mini-album, filled with uncharacteristically soft, though lovely, ballad-style music, recorded during her later months of pregnancy. (This album was produced by Hotei Tomoyasu).

Currently Aikawa Nanase is working on her new album. She has been updating bits of information on her site about the upcoming album, though her nor her company have released many details.

Personality

Nanase is an intensely private person. Very little is known about her personal life except for the bits and pieces she feels confident enough to announce. For instance, on 16 February, 2001, a great many of her male fans were heartbroken when she publicly announced that she had got married that very day. She published this, and the fact that she was already three-months pregnant, on her official website. Nothing else about her relationship was known until the birth of her son, on 6 September, 2001.

She is 'polite, but seldom enthusiastic' in interviews, but frequently leaves hand-written messages on her website. Very little else is known of her. This may also be due to the lack of Japanese to English translators in the Aikawa Nanase fanbase. Oddly enough, roughly half of the non-Japanese Nanase fans are Chinese.

On May 2nd, 2007, Aikawa Nanase announced that she is 6 months pregnant with her second baby, and on September 10th announced that her he had been born the day before. She mentioned that she intends to take it a bit slow and enjoy her new baby, while continuing on with the progression of her new album as well as attending concert dates and singing rehearsal.

Categories: Artists | Blood Type AB | J-Rock | 1975 Births | Osaka Artists