舞 (Mai) is also known as Ruppina. Real name: 工藤舞, Kudou Mai) was born July 18, 1984 in Ishikari, Hokkaido, Japan. She has been involved musically and enjoyed singing since she was a child. During her sixth year in elementary school she was part of Ishikari Kurenai Taiko, a drum group, and Ishikari Ryuusei Umi, a soran (traditional Japanese dance) dance group. It was a huge team, winning the semi-grand prix award out of 400 teams in her second year of high school. During her third year of junior high school, her father fell ill and collapsed. After this Mai had ambitions to become a nurse, but she still enjoyed singing and was considering pursuing a career. Later Mai found out from a friend about a vocal audition going on so she made a demo tape and impressed the scouts. An indie label made 500 copies of the tape and had a Hokkaido radio station play it, with the copies being sold at a Sapporo CD shop. It was sold out in four days. After this, Ruppina was created. In her third year of high school she visited Tokyo with her family and was additionally scouted in Shibuya. She sent her Ruppina demo track to avex, impressing CEO Matsuura Max so much that he personally went to Hokkaido to meet her. Mai was still torn between becoming a nurse or a singer at this point and Matsuura helped her make up her mind by telling her that “Songs can also encourage people.” She moved to Tokyo in July that year, recording a demo tape in May 2002. Ruppina’s first single Free Will...

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