AYOMI HAMASAKIAyumi Hamasaki born October 2 1978 is a Japanese singer songwriter record producer model lyricist, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans. Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to pursue a career in entertainment. In 1998 under the tutelage of Apex CEO Max Matsuura she released a string of modestly selling singles that concluded with her 1999 debut album A Song for ××. The album debuted atop the Orison charts and stayed there for four weeks establishing her popularity in Japan. Ayumi Hamasaki was still an infant when her father left the family in their home town of Fukuoka and she was raised by her mother and grandmother. At age seven she began modeling to earn money for her family. At 14 the family moved to Tokyo so Ayumi could pursue 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 and for good measure dropped out of high school.
Her time was spent mostly shopping and partying, until one night a friend took her to a karaoke club where she was persuaded to get up and sing. The club was owned by a major record label and a producer for that label happened to be in the club 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 singing lessons.
In 1999 Ayumi worked non stop by releasing 8 singles and finally managed to achieve her first single "Love Destiny". This single was particularly special because Hamasaki would discover that she genuinely started to enjoy being an artist. Afterwards all her singles would be featured in a 12cm format. Her 9th single “Boys & Girls” became her first maxi single and it was an instant hit selling over a million copies. The following single “A” was yet even more successful and sold over 1,670,000 copies. Orison announced to the public that it was the 6th highest selling single from a female artist during the last 10 years and is recorded to be her highest selling single to date.