is a Japanese pop singer, actress, and former radio host. She was a member of the group

Speed In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...

. Uehara was born in

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, Japan.

Personal life

Uehara married TENN, one of the singers of

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

group ET-KING in 2012, but the marriage only lasted two years because her husband committed suicide in 2014. TENN’s suicide note alleged that Uehara was having an affair with

Tsuyoshi Abe is a Japanese actor. Biography Abe is of mixed Chinese and Japanese descent (his grandmother was Japanese), he is able to speak both Mandarin and Japanese fluently. Abe's original name was Li Zhendong (李振冬); after he moved to Japan at ...

. Three years after his death, TENN's younger brother leaked a concam recording detailing the transcript of the affair. Uehara is currently married to stage director Kazuya Koh. On July 13, 2023,

Shūkan Bunshun is a Japanese weekly tabloid ( shūkanshi) based in Tokyo, Japan, known for its investigative journalism and frequent clashes with the Japanese government. This has led to it being considered one of the most influential weekly magazines in the ...

and

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO 8601-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth ...

reported her second extramarital affair.

History

Her first solo single "My First Love" was released in January 1999, and was produced by

Ryuichi Kawamura is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989. They are regarded as one of the most influential bands in the visual kei scene. After they disbanded in ...

(of

Luna Sea Luna Sea (stylized as LUNA SEA) is a Japanese Rock music, rock band formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1986. Due to the use of makeup and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most successf ...

). "My First Love" was the beginning of a prosperous collaboration between Uehara and Kawamura. The single sold over 500,000 copies. The promotional video along with the cover and leaflet photos for 'My First Love' were all shot on location in Hawaii. Uehara followed up with her second and third singles, 'Come Close to Me' and 'My Greatest Memories'. In July 2000 following the disbandment of Speed, she became the first member of the group to release a solo album: My First Wing. After Speed, Uehara continued with a solo career as well as acting in various TV dramas. Takako is also a model endorsing many brands such as

Shiseido is a Japanese multinational cosmetic company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1872. Its product categories consist of: skin care, makeup, body care, hair care, and fragrances. The company is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world an ...

mainly on Proudia & Tsubaki Shampoo,

Dunlop Tyres Dunlop Tyres is a brand of tyres which is managed by different companies around the world. It was founded by pneumatic tyre pioneer John Boyd Dunlop in Belfast, Ireland, in 1888. The brand is operated by Goodyear in North America (passen ...

, NTT DoCoMo,

FujiFilm , trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...

FinePix The Fujifilm FinePix products are a line of digital cameras produced by Fujifilm. They include compact Point-and-shoot camera, point and shoot models, tough, waterproof models, bridge digital cameras, digital single-lens reflex camera, digital SLR ...

Camera, SAGAWA,

FamilyMart is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain, and a subsidiary of Itochu, a Japanese trading company. It is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind Seven-Eleven Japan. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Malaysia, Taiwa ...

, KC Card,

Meiji Meiji, the romanization of the Japanese characters 明治, may refer to: Japanese history * Emperor Meiji, Emperor of Japan between 1867 and 1912 ** Meiji era, the name given to that period in Japanese history *** Meiji Restoration, the revolution ...

Chocolate, NEC

FOMA Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access (FOMA) is the brand name of the W-CDMA-based 3G telecommunications services being offered by the Japanese telecommunications service provider NTT DoCoMo. It is an implementation of the Universal Mobile Telecommu ...

and other food & beverages. She teamed up with Vivian Hsu to promote Shiseido's 'Proudia' range of products aimed at the more youthful market. Uehara has also been a pinup model. She has released three photobooks. The first being '17' which was released in 2000. Her second photobook was Vingt Takako (Vingt means 20 in French). Vingt Takako was controversial as the book contained many semi-nude and erotic shots of her – some containing explicit poses. Uehara stated that the photos were tastefully done and shot on location in France by an all female crew. Uehara's third photobook Veintitres (meaning 23 in Spanish) was of similar nature to Vingt Takako but contained less explicit photos of her. Veintitres was shot on location in Mexico, this time with a mixed crew. The photobook contained a bonus 'making of DVD'. Uehara's has a preference for her photographs to be taken with minimal make-up and touch-up/alterations. Uehara was selected by Taiwanese singer,

Leehom Wang Wang Leehom ( zh, c=王力宏, poj=Ông Le̍k-hông; born May 17, 1976), sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. His music is known for fusing hip-hop and R&B, with Guoyue, tradi ...

, to be the female lead for his music video, 'Heartbeat'. This is the 1st collaboration between the both of them.

Releases

Singles

# "my first love" (1999-03-25) # "Come close to me" (1999-09-29) # "my greatest memories" (2000-04-19) # "SWEET DREAMS" (2001-04-18) # (2002-03-13) # (2002-05-22) # "Air" (2002-09-19) # "Make-up Shadow" (2003-03-12) # (2004-02-25) # "Galaxy Legend/Ladybug" (2004-10-20)

Albums

# ''first wing'' (2000-07-26) # ''pupa'' (2003-03-26) # ''depart ～takako uehara single collection～'' (2007-03-14)

DVDs / Videos

# ''MY FIRST WING'' (2000-09-27)(video) # ''TAKAKO UEHARA ON REEL-CLIPS&MORE'' (2003-03-19)(DVD)

Photobooks

# ''17'' (2000-10-10) # ''vingt Takako'' (2003-01-14) # ''Veintitres'' (2006-02-14)

Other Official Book(s)

# ''YunTaKu Diary / ゆんたく日記'' (2006-08-28)

Radio Host

# 2003.10.1～T-FM 「上原多香子のクローストゥユー」

Drama(s)

# 1999.4-6NTV 「蘇る金狼」 # 2000.10 CX 「ナースのお仕事 3」 # 2000.10-12NTV 「新宿暴走救急隊」 # 2001.7NTV系「ビューティ 7 （セブン）」 (Beauty 7) # 2002.1 NTV系「ナースマン」 # 2002.5.16CX 「青（ブルー）に恋して！～サッカー通と4人の美女の物語～最終回 # 2002.10.1CX 「フライングボーイズ」 # 2003.9.29NHK 連続テレビ小説「てるてる家族」 # 2004.4.6NTV系「ナースマンSPECIAL」 # 2004.4.10NTV系「東京ワンダーホテル」 # 2004.7.24NTV系「東京ワンダーホテル」 # 2006.9.7 NHK系「ちいさこべ」 # The Fugitive: Plan B (KBS, 2010)

Movie(s)

* 1998: ''

Andromedia is a 1998 Japanese film directed by Takashi Miike. The film features the Japanese musical groups Speed and Da Pump. Plot High school students Mainosuke "Mai" Hitomi and Yuu kiss for the first time. Later that same day Mai is hit by a truck and ...

'' (Together with fellow

members

Hiroko Shimabukuro , best known Mononymous person, mononymously as hiro, is a Japanese singer. She debuted as a member of the popular girl group Speed (Japanese band), Speed in 1996. In 1998, hiro released her first solo song, "Mitsumete Itai", as a B-side to Spee ...

Eriko Imai is a Japanese pop singer, actress and politician. She made her debut in the early 1990s as part of the group Speed, which disbanded in March 2000. Eriko began her work away from Speed during 1998, performing "Tsumetaku Shinai de", under the sta ...

, and

Hitoe Arakaki is the oldest member of the Japanese pop group Speed, which disbanded in 2000 and reformed in 2009. She was born in Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of ...

.) * 1999: ''Dream Maker'' * 2002: '' Digimon Frontier: Island of Lost Digimon'' * 2004: '' Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys'', Yuko (voice) * 2008: ''Dreaming Awake'' * 2011: '' Koitanibashi'', Tomoko

Musical(s)

# 2005.11.03 ~ 11.27 LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS # 2008.02.06 ~ 02.28 The Wedding Singer

References

External links

*
Official Blog

Takako Uehara
on Twitter {{DEFAULTSORT:Uehara, Takako Living people Japanese film actresses Japanese television actresses Japanese voice actresses Japanese women pop singers People from Tomigusuku, Okinawa Avex Group artists Japanese female idols Japanese gravure models Actors from Okinawa Prefecture Singers from Okinawa Prefecture 1983 births 21st-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers