Hikaru Utada

"Utada" is her family name, and music is the family business. Born in Manhattan to a traditional-Japanese-style-singer Mom and musician/producer Dad, she was flying frequently between New York and Tokyo before she had learned to walk. Now, 21 years old and bilingual, Utada prizes her unstable, nomadic upbringing which has instilled in her an open yet analytic mind, and the confidence to quickly adapt to any new environment.

To Utada, both metropolises are home. Then perhaps the recording studio could be called her third. There she went after school to do homework, take naps under huge speakers, and watch her parents recording music.

As naturally as a shoemaker's son takes up his father's tools, she composed and recorded her first song at age 11. At 13, she recorded her first solo album in English---she had written and composed most of the songs. A year later, a music producer at Toshiba EMI casually asked her if she was capable of writing Japanese songs. Her answer would become the first recording for her debut album, which has sold over 9 million copies since its release in 1999.

(From http://www6.islandrecords.com/utada)

When she was just 17 years old, Utada Hikaru wrote and recorded the one of the biggest-selling albums in Japan of all time. Her debut album (under her own name), First Love, shot up the Oricon charts, and "Hikki" has been on top ever since.

In 2002, she signed a deal with Def Jam Records to record English-language albums in the States.

(From http://archive.musicwhore.org/artists/profile.php?artistID=214)