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

Speed In everyday use and 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 scalar quanti ...

. Uehara was born in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, Japan.

Personal life

Uehara married TENN, one of the singers of

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

group ET-KING in 2012, but the marriage only lasted two years because her husband committed suicide in 2014. (She was allegedly having an affair with

Tsuyoshi Abe is a Chinese-Japanese (中国系日本人) actor based in Japan. Of mixed Chinese and Japanese descent (his grandmother was Japanese), he is able to speak both Mandarin and Japanese fluently. Early life Abe's original name was Li Zhendong (� ...

.) 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.

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. He started a solo career in 1997, three years before Luna Sea disbanded in 2000. In 2005, Kawamura form ...

(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 make-up and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most success ...

). "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 and ...

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 Dublin, Ireland, in 1890. The brand is operated by Goodyear in North America (passenger c ...

, NTT DoCoMo,

FujiFilm , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from th ...

FinePix The Fujifilm FinePix products are a line of digital cameras produced by Fujifilm. They include compact point and shoot models, tough, waterproof models, bridge digital cameras, digital SLRs and mirrorless cameras. Many use Fujifilm's proprietary ...

Camera, SAGAWA,

FamilyMart is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain. It is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind 7-Eleven. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Its ...

, KC Card, Meiji 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 Tel ...

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 (; born May 17, 1976), sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. Formally trained at Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his music i ...

, 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 k ...

'' (Together with fellow

members

Hiroko Shimabukuro , best known mononymously as Hiro, is a Japanese singer. She debuted as a member of the popular girl group Speed in 1996. In 1998, Hiro released her first solo song, "Mitsumete Itai", as a B-side to Speed's single "All My True Love". She made he ...

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 st ...

, 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 is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a populati ...

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

Koitanibashi is a 2011 Japanese film directed by Kōichi Gotō. Cast * Takako Uehara * Kensei Mikami is a Japanese actor. After being active as a fashion model in Japan, he went to New York at the age of 18. After returning home, he started work as an ...

'', 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 actresses Japanese women pop singers Avex Group artists People from Okinawa Prefecture Japanese idols Japanese gravure models Musicians from Okinawa Prefecture 1983 births 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers