Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎 ã‚ゆã¿ Hamasaki Ayumi, born October 2, 1978) is a Japanese pop singer and Japanese idol originally from Fukuoka. In Japan, she is commonly called by her nickname Ayu. To this date, she has released six full-length studio albums, one mini-album, two compilation albums, and 38 singles. She officially debuted in 1998 with her single poker face. She is the first Japanese artist to have her first original six studio albums top the charts. Although Ayumi lived with her mother, she was primarily raised by her grandmother. She has vague recollections of her father, but he left the family at a very early time, around the time she was two, and has not seen him since then. She recalls playing a cassette tape that her father gave her that she drew from later on. She grew up in a very liberal household where she was expected to do what was right for her without her mother intervening in her affairs, since her mother was always out working to support the family. In her youth, Hamasaki started her modeling career as a model for a local bank. During high school, she was considered a delinquent because she liked to wear short skirts and to dye her hair, which was extremely unconventional in Japan at that time, and she also rarely came to school. Eventually she dropped out of high school as well and moved to Tokyo to pursue a fulltime modeling career. |
