Azu (born December 8, 1981) is a Japanese R&B singer. She is well known for her collaborations with rapper Seamo, such as her first major release, the leading track from Seamo's second album ''Live Goes On'', "Kokoro no Koe".
Biography
Azu first began working in the Tokyo club scene at the age of 16.
She explains the meaning behind her stage name as "Putting memories to all the words from A to Z and conveying them to you (U)."
She began work with rapper
Seamo
is a Japanese hip hop recording artist better known by his stage name Seamo (シーモ ''Shīmo''). He made his debut in 2004 using the alias , but later changed his name to Seamo. He made his solo debut in 2005 with the Japanese record label ...
in 2005, and worked as a background vocalist for a few of his tracks. In 2006, she featured as a fully fledged billed artist in the lead radio single from his second album, ''Live Goes On''. The song, "Kokoro no Koe", was certified by the
RIAJ for 100,000 cellphone downloads.
She debuted as an artist in her own right in 2007, with the single "Cherish". "Cherish" is used as the ending theme in the ''
xxxHolic Shunmuki''
original video animation series. She continued to work with Seamo (for example, her first top 30 hit, "Jikan yo Tomare", featured him). To date, the pair have worked together on six songs together. "Jikan yo Tomare" is used as the second ending in the ''
Itazura na Kiss
is a Japanese '' shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Kaoru Tada. ''Itazura na Kiss'' was first serialized and published in 1990 by Shueisha through ''Bessatsu Margaret'' magazine. It became successful very quickly and beca ...
'' anime series.
Her songs generally do better in the digital market (her biggest single in physical sales only sold 11,000 copies
[ (subscription only)]). Since November 2009, five of her songs have been certified gold by the RIAJ for cellphone downloads.
Azu released her second album in March 2010, ''
Two of Us''. Azu's single "For You" is used as the 12th ending theme for ''
Naruto Shippuden
''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...
''. Azu's single "In My Life" is used as the third ending theme for ''
Yorinuki Gintama-san''. Azu composed the song "Akatsuki no Hana" for ''
Akatsuki no Yona''.
Azu announced her marriage to a man outside the music industry in May 2017, and she gave birth to a daughter on August 6, 2018.
Discography
Albums
Singles
* Japan Hot 100 established February 2008, RIAJ Digital Track Chart established April 2009.
Other appearances
References
External links
Azu's official website
Azu's Ameblo blog
Living people
1981 births
People from Mie Prefecture
Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists
Japanese pop musicians
Musicians from Mie Prefecture
21st-century Japanese singers
21st-century Japanese women singers
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