鬼束ちひろ

j-pop

Chihiro Onitsuka (鬼束ちひろ, Onitsuka Chihiro, born October 30, 1980 in Nango, Miyazaki, Japan) is an alternative rock / folk / pop singer-songwriter and pianist. Chihiro Onitsuka's music is heavily seeded with ballads and folk music, having grown up listening to The Carpenters and Carole King. She has written and composed most of her own songs, even citing Jewel as a major influence in her decision to pursue singing as a career. She started singing, performing and writing in high school, then eventually decided to leave for Tokyo to further her dreams. She had allegedly written over 60 songs six months after her move to Tokyo. In early 2000 she was signed on to Toshiba EMI and debuted with the single Shine (シャイン), but it did not manage to break the charts. It was her sophomore single, Gekkou, that placed #11 on the Oricon charts, possibly fueled by the fact that it was also used as the ending theme to the television drama Trick. Her next single, Cage, was released later in the year. In 2001 her song 'Innocence' was used in a television campaign for Silicon Valley based Applied Materials. The commercial was saw quite a bit of airtime such as on US Channels CNN and the then CNBC. Chihiro's first album, Insomnia (インソムニア), was released more than a year from her own debut, garnering critical acclaim by placing #1 on the the Oricon charts with over a million units sold. Her subsequent albums,This Armor and Sugar High also enjoyed similar success on the...