is a Japanese

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

singer. Formerly signed to the

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

label for 22 years, Shimatani started her career as an

Enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, pop ...

singer with the release of her debut single in 1999, but later decided to get into the

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

style for her music. Shimatani's music has also appeared in several video games and television shows. Shimatani is currently releasing music under her own label, AI.R LAND RECORD, under Daiki Sound.

Biography

Early life

At the age of seventeen, while still in high school, Shimatani attended "The Japan Audition 1997", where she was chosen as the winner out of around 200,000 people and got a recording contract with the

Avex Avex Inc. ( kabushiki gaisha , commonly known as Avex and stylized as avex) is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi ...

label. After this she continued her studies in high school in Hiroshima, although she started to take vocal lessons in Tokyo during the weekends. She graduated from Shimizugaoka High School.

1999–2002: Debut and mainstream success

Her first single, entitled "Ōsaka no Onna" which was an

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, pop ...

song, was released in 1999 on the

label. The single went to the top of the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

's Enka charts and much critical acclaim, but failed to chart within the Top 40 of the mainstream charts, selling rather poorly. "Ōsaka no Onna" became then Shimatani's only enka single, as since her second one, "Kaihōku", she turned into more mainstream pop influences. Mainstream success did not come until 2001 with the release of Shimatani's third single, "Papillon", a Japanese version of

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...

's song " Doesn't Really Matter". The single became her first Top 15 single in the Oricon charts, and eventually stayed within the Top 50 for twenty weeks, selling over 200,000 copies. Her sixth single "Shanty", which was used as theme song of TBS'

TV drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

''Pretty Girls'', became her first Top 10 single in the Japanese charts, peaking at number seven. In May 2002 she released another cover, this time of "Amairo no Kami no Otome" by the 60's

group sounds , often abbreviated as GS, is a genre of Japanese rock music which became popular in the mid to late 1960s and initiated the fusion of Japanese ''kayōkyoku'' music and Western rock music. Their music production techniques were regarded as playin ...

band Village Singers. The song became a massive success, peaking at number 4 and leading to a "boom of covers" in Japan. It also became one of the most preferred songs to be sung in

karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

s by Japanese people (it stayed at the top position of the Oricon Karaoke charts for 18 weeks, and it took the first position of its yearly charts). At the end of this successful year, Shimatani was invited for the first time to the most important Japanese TV show of

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

, the

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

on the NHK channel. From this time she would be invited to be in the show for another 3 years in a row. In 2003 she debuted as an actress in the

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

drama ''

Boku dake no Madonna , sometimes shortened to , is a drama series that aired in Japan on Fuji TV in 2003. In English it is often called ''You are my only Madonna / ... and I Love Her''. Cast * Hideaki Takizawa as Suzuki Kyouichi * Kyōko Hasegawa as Kataoka Surum ...

'', where she was given one of the main roles, and also made a debut as

voice actress Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

in the animated movie '' Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey''. In 2004 she also participated in her first musical, ''A Star is Born'', along with

Yukie Nakama is a Japanese actress, singer and former idol. Biography She was born in Urasoe, Okinawa, Japan, into a fisherman's family, the youngest of five siblings. At the start of her career she was a gravure idol and singer (her debut single "Moonli ...

and

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 ...

2005–2007: Pop to classical crossover

In February 2005, Shimatani released her first concept album, ''Crossover'', which marked a sustained shift her music, from mainstream J-pop to classical-influenced tunes. Since then her music has been heavily influenced by string instruments and pianos, instead of electric guitars, bass and keyboards, and also started to include some world ethnic elements. The first album released under this new style was ''Heart & Symphony'', which featured four singles including "Garnet Moon" (theme song of

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

's ''

Another Century's Episode is a 2005 third-person shooter video game published by Banpresto in Japan for the PlayStation 2. The player controls a mecha, mech from one of nine different real robot, anime robot franchises to destroy opposing forces before they steal a prized ...

'') and "Falco" (theme song of ''

Miss Earth Miss Earth is an annual international major beauty pageant based in the Philippines that advocates for environmental awareness, conservation and social responsibility. Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss International, it is one ...

The Law Of Ueki is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsubasa Fukuchi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from July 2001 to October 2004, with its chapters collected in 16 volumes. A sequel, ''The ...

''). The album peaked at number 7 on the Oricon charts. The theme song for the Japanese version of

Racing Stripes ''Racing Stripes'' is a 2005 American sports comedy family film directed by Frederik Du Chau. The film was produced by Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Lloyd Phillips and Edward L. McDonnell, based on a script written by David Schmidt, S ...

is "I Will" by her. In 2006, Shimatani released three singles. The first one was the double A-side single "Haru Machibito/Camellia", released on March 15. Another double A-side single, entitled "Destiny: Taiyō no Hana/Koimizu: Tears of Love" was released on June 21. "Destiny: Taiyō no Hana" was used as opening theme for ''

Black Jack 21 is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka in the 1970s, dealing with the medical adventures of the title character, doctor Black Jack. ''Black Jack'' consists of hundreds of short, self-contained storie ...

''. Finally, "Pasio" was released on November 15. The b-side of this single, "True Blue", was used as insert song for anime television series ''The Law of Ueki'', was used as insert song for beauty pageant television series ''Miss Earth''.. This year she also played the lead role of

Anne Shirley Anne Blythe () is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel ''Anne of Green Gables'' by Lucy Maud Montgomery, L. M. Montgomery. Shirley is featured throughout the classic Anne of Green Gables#Related works, book series, which revolves ...

during the touring performance of ''Anne of Green Gables'' in Japan, and starred in the live action film ''

The Prince of Tennis is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 1999 to March 2008, with its chapters collected in 42 volumes. Viz Media licensed t ...

'' as Sumire Ryuzaki. On March 7, 2007, Shimatani released her 6th studio album, ''Prima Rosa'', which peaked at number 16 on the Oricon charts. She also recorded a cover of

High School Musical ''High School Musical'' is a 2006 American Musical film, musical television film produced by and aired on Disney Channel as part of the network's List of Disney Channel original films, slate of original television films. The first installmen ...

's "When There Was Me And You" (in Japanese entitled "Anata to Ita Toki"), which was included as part of the

Disney film The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

's Japanese soundtrack. On December 5, Shimatani released her first cover album, ''Otoko Uta: Cover Song Collection'', on which she only recorded covers originally sung by male artists, such as

Anzen Chitai is a Japanese rock band, formed in 1973 by five musicians in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. After debuting in Tokyo in 1982, they became one of Japan's most successful rock bands of the 1980s. History 1970s: Beginnings Formed in 1973 as the high-s ...

Begin Begin or Bégin may refer to: People *Begin (surname) Music * Begin (band), a Japanese pop trio * ''Begin'' (David Archuleta album) * ''begin'' (Riyu Kosaka album) * ''Begin'' (Lion Babe album) * ''Begin'' (The Millennium album) * ''beGin'' ...

and

Masayoshi Yamazaki is a Japanese singer-songwriter who plays guitar-driven blues, rock, and pop music, though he has also recorded piano ballads. Though he primarily plays the guitar, he has played the drums, piano, percussion, saxophone, and glockenspiel on some ...

. For the album she also made a new ''crossover'' version of "Amairo no Kami no Otome", which she performed live at that year's Kōhaku.

2008–present

In March 2008, Shimatani released the single "Nakitai Nara" in March 2008, which debuted at number 34 at the Japanese charts, being her lowest peaking song since "Yume Biyori" in 2003. In June she released the triple A-side single "Wake You Up/Ame no Naka ni wa, Ame no Naka wo, Kaze no Naka ni wa, Kaze no Naka wo/Marvelous". "Wake You Up" was used as the theme song of ''

K-tai Investigator 7 is a 2008 Japanese television drama which aired from April 2, 2008, to March 18, 2009 on TV Tokyo. It was a joint collaboration between WIZ and Production I.G. One of the episodes was directed by Takashi Miike. it is described as a science ficti ...

'', which started airing in early April 2008; "Ame no Naka ni wa, Ame no Naka wo, Kaze no Naka ni wa, Kaze no Naka wo" was a song to pay tribute to poet

Mitsuo Aida was a Japanese poet and calligrapher known as The Poet of Zen. His work was influenced by Zen Buddhism and he is known for his works, ''Ningen damono'' (Because I'm Human), ''Okagesan'' (Our Debt to Others), and ''Inochi ippai'' (Live a Full Liv ...

and was also released as a single by itself; "Marvelous" was used as theme song for ''Wrestling Asia Senshuken 2008'' (the previous song used for this show was "Neva Eva", which was released back in 2007). The single debuted at number 33 on the Oricon charts. On July 16, Shimatani released her seventh studio album, ''Flare''. On March 4, 2009, she released her thirtieth single, "Smiles", which is being used as the theme song for the drama ''Parallel'', in which Shimatani herself stars. In July she celebrated her tenth anniversary in music releasing the greatest hits album ''Best & Covers'', and also holding a special live concert in the

Itsukushima Shrine is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima), best known for its "floating" ''torii''.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005)"''Itsukushima-jinja''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 407. It is in the cit ...

. In 2011, Shimatani became part of the rock musical ''Rock of Ages'', along with other musicians such as

Takanori Nishikawa is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, voice actor, radio personality, and businessman. He performs under the stage name T.M.Revolution (T.M.R.), which stands for , stemming from the famous 1980s pop electronic band T ...

and

Misono , publicly known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Misono (stylized in lower case), is a Japanese singer-songwriter and TV personality. She was born in Kyoto, Japan, and is the younger sister of singer Koda Kumi. Career In 2000, Misono participa ...

. On October 1, 2011, Hitomi started her own radio program called ''Eyes on Me'' in FM Yokohama.Fm yokohamaで島谷ひとみの新番組「eyes on me」がスタートします！
/ref>

Discography

Studio albums * '' Papillon'' (2001) * '' Shanti'' (2002) * '' Poinsettia: Amairo Winter Memories'' (EP, 2002) * ''Gate: Scena III'' (2003) * ''Tsuioku+Love Letter'' (2004) * ''Heart & Symphony'' (2005) * ''Prima Rosa'' (2007) * ''Flare'' (2008) * ''Honjitsu, Tonai, Bousho'' (2014) * ''Kokoronomamani'' (EP, 2016) * ''Misty'' (2018) * ''Brilliant'' (EP, 2019) * ''LoveSong: My song for you'' (2021) Compilations & cover albums *'' Delicious!: The Best of Hitomi Shimatani'' (2003) *''

Crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...

'' (2007) *'' Otoko Uta: Cover Song Collection'' (2007) *''Best & Covers'' (2009) *''Otoko Uta II'' (2010) *''Sign Music'' (2012) *''15th Anniversary Super Best'' (2013) DVD Videos *''8colors Clips+Live'', October 23, 2002 *''Vibration!: Live & Clips'', March 17, 2004 *''Concert Tour 2004'', December 22, 2004 *''Special Live: Crossover'', June 15, 2005 *''Visual Works 2004–2006'', March 15, 2006 *''Premium Live 2005: Heart & Symphony & More'', March 15, 2006 *''Special Live: Crossover II'', December 13, 2006 *''Live 2007 – Prima Rosa'', September 12, 2007 *''Cross Over III: Premium Meets Premium'', November 8, 2008

References

External links

* * by

Eye-Land Official Fan Club Website

Hitomi Shimatani Official Blog

CrossOver Fans Website

JaME Profile

JaME Interview with Shimatani Hitomi

J!-ENT Interview/Feature

Wiki Hitomi Shimatani at the Asian Pop Culture wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimatani, Hitomi 1980 births Living people Japanese voice actresses Japanese women pop singers Avex Group artists Singers from Kure, Hiroshima 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers