Olivia Lufkin

From Wiki.theppn

Jump to: navigation, search
Olivia Lufkin (2008)
Olivia Lufkin (2008)

OLIVIA (Olivia Lufkin) is a bilingual musician on the cutting edge sub-label of Avex. Olivia was born in Okinawa, but has lived in the US for roughly six years. She was scouted from the Okinawa Actors School and was asked to join a eurobeat band called D&D. She accepted, and debuted in 1996 with the single IN YOUR EYES. The band was semi-successful, and Olivia later decided to go solo.

Olivia's music style has changed from a quite poppy sound into an experimental rock one. She now writes and composes all of her material. Though Olivia was on a hiatus for around two years after the release of 2004's The Lost Lolli, Olivia returned in 2006 to sing the ending theme song to the Anime adaptation to Yazawa Ai's manga NANA, a little pain. Olivia has so far continued to make music for the anime.

Both of Olivia's siblings are musicians as well. Her brother, Jeff, is in a band and her sister Caroline is an electronica artist under the US indies label Temporary Records. Olivia even drew the CD art for Caroline's Murmurs album.

Contents

Profile

Olivia Lufkin (1999)
Olivia Lufkin (1999)

Information

Early Life

Olivia (center) in D&D (1997)
Olivia (center) in D&D (1997)
Olivia was born in 1979 in Okinawa. Because her father was a US Marine at the time, she moved around a lot. In 1982, Olivia moved to San Diego, California, then back to Okinawa. Later on Olivia moved back to the US (North Carolina) where she attended White Oak High School in Jacksonville. Even more, after two years Olivia moved back to Okinawa.

When Olivia was little, she listened to a lot of classical music that her parents played around her every morning, as well as watching musicals on television. Originally she liked to draw and make art; and even won awards throughout her schooling years for her art.

Olivia started to work on music during her first years at high school. She tried out for a part in a production of the musical The Sound of Music in Japan, but didn't get the part that she wanted. Later, Olivia would attend the illustrious Okinawa Actors School (with alumni such as Amuro Namie and SPEED). While she performed in a concert in 1996, she was scouted for Avex Trax and was asked to join a new eurobeat dance-unit called Dance & Dream, aka D&D. She accepted, and D&D debuted in 1996.

D&D

D&D was a eurobeat unit made of Olivia and two fellow band-members, Uehara Aya and Higa Chikano. They debuted in 1996 with the single IN YOUR EYES, and between 1996 and 1998 released five singles. All of the singles were promoted by being songs used in TV commercials for several companies. The releases only had moderate success, as the highest charting single only reached #25 on Oricon charts. However, their debut album, Love is a Melody ~D&D Memorial 1st~, reached up to #5 on Oricon charts. D&D's music style was quite heavily controlled and packaged. Olivia is quoted to have said that the time spent there "was fun and I was happy", and she was glad that she did it. As time passed, she would have ideas, such as, "instead of that melody, this kind of melody would be so much better" or something similar, until the point that she got extremely stressed.

After the release of D&D's album, it was decided that the band would disband and separated into two different groups; 'OLIVIA' as Olivia's solo-project and Aya & Chika, a group featuring the two remaining members of D&D. After only two singles, Kiss in the Sun and Rise in My Heart (which charted at #35 and #55 respectively), Aya & Chika were cut from Avex Trax and disbanded.

Solo Debut - synchronicity

Olivia promoting I.L.Y. ~Yokubou~ (1999)
Olivia promoting I.L.Y. ~Yokubou~ (1999)

Famous eurobeat pioneer and producer, Komuro Tetsuya, heard of Olivia one day and decided that she would be perfect for a project in which he was planning along with Jean Michel Jarre. The project was to make the theme song for the FIFA France '98 World Soccer Cup, entitled Together Now. The single was released a month after D&D's last album and was released in both Japan and France. Olivia herself even features primarily in the music video. This release made Olivia take a step away from her previous euro/dance sound and into a more rock sound.

Ten months after the release of this single, Olivia was once again active in the music business. Komuro Tetsuya decided that Olivia would work well as a solo artist (much like the former success of Amuro Namie as she graduated from the SUPER MONKEYS). Olivia then debuted as a solo artist under avex trax in February of 1999. Tetsuya himself produced her first two singles, I.L.Y. ~Yokubou~ (I Love You ~Desire~) and re-ACT. I.L.Y. reached #32 on Oricon charts while re-ACT reached #29, showing the same moderate success as which D&D held.

However, Olivia was unhappy with still not having much control over her own career. Her third single, Dear Angel, while not being composed by her (it was composed by Ebine Yuuko) featured Olivia's own lyrics in both Japanese and English, and even featured her as an arranger. Olivia said she wrote the song in "...slightly sad days" and that at this point she was trying to "create a more complicated sound". From this point afterwards, all of Olivia's works would be her own; composed and written by herself. Before creating songs, Olivia went over artists' songs that she liked (artists such as PJ Harvey and Björk), but found it hard to "...make that kind of music in the Japanese music scene". Hence, Olivia decided to 'balance' out her music style and made "more easy to understand rock".

Olivia went on to release three more singles before releasing her debut album, synchronicity, two years after her solo debut. Olivia herself said that there was no real concept to the album, as each track sounded different (as the album was a mix of rock, pop, ethereal music and even jazz). The album peaked at #20 on Oricon charts.

Post-synchronicity

Olivia promoting Into The Stars (2002)
Olivia promoting Into The Stars (2002)

After a hiatus for over a year, Olivia released her seventh single, Sea me. From here onward, she would release under the rock-oriented Cutting Edge label, whereas before she released under avex trax. By this point, foreign interest in her had grown a lot as Olivia's first major fansite, OliviaLufkinOnline.com, was created shortly afterwards. The single reached #89 on the charts.

Olivia's releases became increasingly rare and sporadic from then on, with a video clip collection being released four months later. After this Olivia's next single, Into The Stars, was planned to be released in July with an album released at the end of the year. However, plans were changed as the single was postponed two months to September due to market forces, and an album release also similarly delayed.

Mini-Album Era

After Into The Stars Olivia released Internal Bleeding Strawberry, a mini-album thought to be a full length album initially. The mini-album featured English versions of her last 2 singles, an English version of Dress me Up and an Old Irish language (Goídelc) version of Color of your Spoon.

Then in 2003 Olivia launch a rare-items fashion label called Black Daisy Ville with her friend Friedia Niimura (Rin Kozue). The fashion line would continue on until 2004 in which a summer line of clothes/items was released. Presently not much has been heard of from Black Daisy Ville.

Olivia promoting Comatose Bunny Butcher (2003)
Olivia promoting Comatose Bunny Butcher (2003)

Internal Bleeding Strawberry would turn out to be the first of four mini-albums to be released in 2003, being followed up with Merry & Hell Go Round, Comatose Bunny Butcher and The Return of the Chlorophyll Bunny; roughly one quarter of a year away from each other. These three mini-albums were much like Internal Bleeding Strawberry in which they were only released at Tower Records and sung entirely in English. Jeffrey Lufkin, Olivia's brother, helped out with lyrics, composition, instruments and even background vocals and rap for several songs.

To follow up these four mini-albums Olivia released her second full-length album The Lost Lolli. The album featured select material from her four mini-albums except for two new tracks; Alone in Our Castle and Fake Flowers (as well as two re-arrangements). This album was released nation-wide (though with a limited first press version available at Tower Records) and reached #121 on Oricon charts. The Lost Lolli also used SpidERSpins (Lost Lolli Mix) as a radio single as well as creating a promotional video for the song.

Hiatus

Except for a few sporadic concerts Olivia slipped once again into hiatus for roughly two and a half years. One of these concerts was the illustrious HALLOWEEN OF THE LIVING DEAD concert with Hyde in October 2005. Nothing much was heard from Olivia except that she gained the life as a fashion model. She later said that the hiatus was because at the time of The Lost Lolli's release, she was "feeling pretty depressed", and "started to notice and realize a lot of [her] faults". This was brought out from a "...dark filter through which [she] saw everything", which first came about during the production of her Merry & Hell Go Round mini-album. To counter-act this she flew to LA where she lived for three months. Later on Olivia would return to Tokyo and re-structure her life; eating more healthy foods and making her pace of life a lot slower. During Olivia's hiatus her sister Caroline debuted in the USA under the Indies label Temporary Residence in October 2005 with the single Where's My Love. She later released her debut album Murmurs in early 2006. Olivia herself helped out with the art direction of Murmurs' booklet by taking photos with Caroline and adding 'Critter Project'-style drawings to the booklet.

Return as OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST)

Olivia promoting a little pain (2006)
Olivia promoting a little pain (2006)

It was announced in early March 2006 that Olivia would once again be releasing music. She would play the role of the rival band Trapnest's lead vocalist Serizawa Reira for the anime adaptation of the manga NANA. As her first release for this role Olivia released the first ending theme song entitled a little pain. This was alongside fellow avex rock artist Tsuchiya Anna who played the role of Oosaki Nana, the vocalist for Trapnest's rival band Black Stones. Similarly Tsuchiya sung the opening theme song titled rose. The manga's author Yazawa Ai asked Olivia to sing for the anime when a staff member at avex gave her a copy of Olivia's Sea me and Into The Stars singles. It is reported that she exclaimed, "It can only be her!" when she first heard Olivia's music. For a little pain Olivia first made the general theme to the lyrics then wrote the song in English. Later on she changed the lyrics into Japanese. In interviews about the single Olivia stated it was about "Reira's loneliness, pain and strength,". According to Olivia she found that she could relate well to the character.

The effects of the NANA anime has led Olivia's musical expression to change. In interviews she has stated her style "has gotten a lot more detailed", it's "pleasing to the ear" and "a lot cooler". For the role she had to do a lot of research into Reira's character, as she "never really read manga". She specifically wrote the song tailored to the point of view of Reira stating "It was fun to sing as another person. Like an actress". She said that she "wrote many different songs" but they sounded too "western and dark", whereas a little pain sounded more like a "top Japanese band". When a little pain debuted it reached a position of #8 (her first top 10 position), and two positions below Anna's single (the opening theme song), which had been released on the same day. After the second week the single had outsold the total sales for her debut single, I.L.Y. ~Yokubou~ (which was her highest selling single to date at the time). Olivia would continue to release NANA-related music. The second opening and ending theme songs used would be both Olivia songs. The single, Wish / Starless Night, was subsequently released in October.

Recent Activity

Olivia during Share your treats tour (2007)
Olivia during Share your treats tour (2007)

Shortly after the release of Wish / Starless Night, Olivia held her first US concert at the Pacific Media Expo on October 28th. With an announcement of a new mini album at Pacific Media Expo, finally in early 2007 OLIVIA released The Cloudy Dreamer. Then the OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST) and NANA BEST albums were released soon afterwards.

In July of 2007 a special CD+DVD album containing both inspi' REIRA singles plus The Cloudy Dreamer was released in France through Wasabi Records. The Lost Lolli would also see a French release shortly after. Summer 2007 would also see the beginning of OLIVIA's discography release through US iTunes.

Olivia then held her second concert overseas in Paris, France at La Locomotive on July 6th, 2007. She also appeared as a special guest at France's Japan Expo on July 6th and 7th. During her performance Olivia announced a new single titled "Real Love" that would maybe see an October release date. The single was canceled and an announcement of a new mini-album took it's place. Unfortunately the mini-album was canceled as well and no follow-up information since then has surfaced.

The beginning of 2008 saw the French release of the OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST) album. Then on March 14th, 2008 Olivia announced on her blog the title of her new song called Bleeding Heart. The song was contributed on the Vision Factory compilation album titled FLOWER FESTIVAL.

Olivia's 6th mini-album titled Trinka Trinka was released on September 17th. Trinka Trinka debuted at #24 on Oricon weekly ranking, but eventually it fell to the #76 spot and charted for 1 week. Olivia described the titled of the album "Trinka Trinka" to mean "Happiness, Joy, and Love". Trinka Trinka came in a Cd Only and CD+DVD format. The song Rain was used as the 2nd ending theme for the dorama Keitai Sosakan 7, and a PV was also made for the lead track.

Setlist Tracks

Olivia promoting Bleeding Heart (2008)
Olivia promoting Bleeding Heart (2008)

Some songs have been performed solely live by OLIVIA. These include:

Discography

Note: See "D&D#Discography" for prior releases under 'D&D'

Albums

Mini-Albums

Singles

Download Exclusive

DVD/Videos

Compilation / Other

Single / Album Timeline

(Edit this timeline)

External Links

Retrieved from "http://wiki.theppn.org/Olivia_Lufkin"
Personal tools