Bird, stylized as bird (born December 9, 1975 as Yuki Kitayama (北山有紀)), is a Japanese singer.

History

Kitayama graduated from the Notre Dame Academy, a girls-only high school in the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

. She then attended

Kansai University , abbreviated as or , is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university with its main campus in Suita, Osaka, Japan and two sub-campuses in Sakai and Takatsuki, Osaka. Founded as Kansai Law School in 1886, It has been recognized as one of t ...

and graduated with a degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. While she was in university, she was a member of the school's light music club. After graduating, she spent a year in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Returning to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

in the late 1990s, she started her singing career by singing at various

jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is license ...

s. After achieving fame in the locality, she was discovered by

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Shinichi Osawa , also known by his stage name Mondo Grosso, is a Japanese musician, DJ, record producer and composer currently signed onto Avex Trax's Rhythm Zone label. Previously he was signed to Sony Music Japan's FEARLESS RECORDS division and released albu ...

, better known as Mondo Grosso. In 1998, Kitayama was featured in

Zeebra , known professionally as , is a Japanese hip hop recording artist and DJ who made his first appearance in 1995. Zeebra is a former member of the hip-hop group King Giddra, which also included DJ Oasis and K Dub Shine, and the older brother of f ...

's ''Mirai e no Kagi (Osawa's Realized Mix)'' released in the mini-album ''The Rhyme Animal Remix EP.1.'' She came up with the alias bird around this time, because her head resembled a bird's nest during her debut. Moreover, she expressed that she wanted her music to echo the song of small birds. On March 20, 1999, she released her first single ''Souls'' on Osawa's label RealEyes. In July of the same year, bird released her first

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ly titled album on the

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

label, which sold over 700,000 copies and won her the award of Japan Gold Record for Newcomers. After RealEyes became independent from

Sony Records Sony Records was a record label founded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner in 1963. It was not affiliated with Sony Group Corporation. Ike Turner produced singles by members of the Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes on Sony Records. Records on the label ...

, bird was able to become the lyricist and producer for her own music. She is married to illustrator

Jun Miura Jun or JUN may refer to: People and anthroponymy * Jun (given name), a common Japanese given name * Jun (singer), a member of South Korean boy band U-KISS * Tomáš Jun, Czech footballer * A spelling of common Korean family name Jeon (Korean surn ...

Discography

Singles

Albums

Other albums

VHS・DVD

References

External links

bird-watch
- Official Site
bird - Sony Music Japan
- bird's page at Sony Music Japan
bird - Universal J
- bird's page at Universal Music J {{DEFAULTSORT:Bird 1975 births Living people Musicians from Kyoto Prefecture Kansai University alumni 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers