Biography
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Born
2 September 1966 (age 58)
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Born In
Atami, Shizuoka, Japan
Yu Hayami( 早見 優, born 2 September 1966) is a Japanese singer and television personality. In 2011, the Japanese music television program Music Station listed her as the 50th all-time best-selling idol in Japan, with 2,850,000 records sold.
Her first single, 急いで！初恋 (Hurry up! First Love), released April 21, 1982 ended up winning a Japan Record Award for best new artist. This early success was capitalized on with a string of hit albums throughout the 1980s and a best of collection in the early 1990s. Her last studio album, MOMENTS, was released on December 12, 1988. She has appeared in ads for Coca-Cola, Toshiba and Shiseido among others and remains active in acting to this day. She has also appeared in plays, dorama, movies and as a voice actor for many popular animated films.
She gained the first role in the 1982 film Santō Kōkōsei. Up till 2008, Hayami has appeared in 13 movies, including one produced and filmed entirely in Hong Kong in 1987. In 1983, her fifth single, "Natsu Iro no Nancy" (Summer Coloured Nancy), was selected as a campaign song for a Coca-Cola commercial, and she became a cover girl of that. The single became Hayami's first big hit, making it to the top 10 of the Oricon Chart, winning countless awards. As a result of the success of the song, Hayami made her first appearance at the 34th edition of the year end NHK Red and White Song Festival. Hayami would later participate in that prestigious show for two more years.
In 1985, in order to shed off her "teen idol" image, Hayami began releasing euro beat dance music, and was well received. In the early 1990s, when her pop music career began to decline, Hayami shifted her focus to become an actress and TV and radio presenter. Being able to speak fluent English, Hayami's hosted programs were all catered to English-speaking education materials and were all very popular. Hayami has continued her successful presenter's work, and can still be regularly seen on entertainment variety programs singing her signature songs from the early stage of her idol career.
In 2005, Hayami, along with Iyo Matsumoto and Chiemi Hori (all of whom debuted in 1982), formed the unit キューティー☆マミー. They released a para para version of the Mickey Mouse March, which had significant success (ranking 72nd on the Oricon charts). It was featured in the Just Dance Wii 2 game for the Wii, and was also used on segments on the Disney Channel in the US.
Aside from releasing numerous hit singles and albums, Hayami has been very active in theater and in TV and films as well. In 2008, she starred as the Captain General in the Tokusatsu series Tomica Hero: Rescue Force. Hayami is a co-host alongside Master Chef Tatsuo Saito on the NHK program Dining with the Chef, which airs internationally on NHK World. Together, they present the basics and importance of Japanese cuisine.
In 2017, the unit キューティー☆マミー was renewed, this time with Hiroko Moriguchi replacing Chiemi Hori, and was renamed キューティー☆モリモリ. In February 2024, the unit released a new single, entitled "Soro Soro Fuyu desu nee" (そろそろ冬ですネェ), produced by Noritake Kinashi and written by George Tokoro. The single was billed to each singer individually (particularly on streaming sites such as RecoChoku and Apple Music).
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