http://www.ayumihamasaki.net/
Welcome to the Ayumi Hamasaki Fan Site with Latest Ayumi Hamasaki Lyrics, Pics, Bio, Wallpapers, Quotes, Trivia and More... Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese Pop singer. She is one of the most prolific and influential Japanese pop singers in Japanese music history, and is dubbed "the Empress of J-Pop". Ayumi Hamasaki began modeling at the age of seven to support her family. At 14 her family moved to Tokyo so Ayumi could pursue an acting and modeling career. She got small roles in several minor films and a little TV work, but she didn't particularly like acting, and was considered too small to have much of a future in modeling, so she left both fields, in addition to dropping out of high school. Her time was spent mostly partying, until one night a friend took her to a local karaoke club, where she was persuaded to sing. The club was owned by a major record label, and a producer for that label who happened to be present in the club on that night, heard her sing and offered her a contract. At first she turned him down, but he persisted, and the next year she agreed to at least take some singing lessons. She didn't like them either, and wound up missing most of them. The label company then sent her to New York for lessons, and this time she found that she enjoyed the experience, and stayed there for three months. She wrote several letters to her producer while in New York. On her return to Japan, Ayumi's producer who was impressed with her writing abilities suggested that she begin writing her thoughts down as songs. She began recording in early 1998, but it wasn't until the middle of 1999 that her album "Love-Destiny" zoomed to the #1 spot on the charts, and every one of her records has hit the top since that time. He fame as a singer has carried over into other entertainment media, and she is also one of the top spokesmodels in Japan, making commercials for Honda cars, among others. Her success at both singing and commercials have combined to make her the highest-paid entertainer in Japan. Ayumi Hamasaki fondly known as Ayu has several accolades to her credit. She is the female artist in Japan with the most units of singles sold: 17.4 million copies to date. She was the first artist to have 4 singles on the Japan top 10 charts simultaneously. She has also won MTV Asia's Best Female Artist Award (2002). She is the brand ambassador of many top-notch companies including Aube cosmetics, Kose cosmetics, Honda, Lycos Japan, Morigana, Takano Yuri Beauty Clinic and many others.