Kumi Koda Japanese Singer

Kumiko Koda is a famous Japanese singer who entered this world on November 13, 1982. She was born in the city of Kyoto which is located in the Kyoto Prefecture.

Early Life of Kumiko

Kumiko had the good luck of being born into a family of musicians. She is the oldest child in her family. At the age of 3, Kumiko began singing on stage and she took part in many auditions during her elementary school years. It was at this time that she expressed her desire to become a singer.

What also influenced her to become a musician was her mother who always used to perform in karaoke bars. Kumiko also has a sister named Misono who is younger than her. Misono is currently involved in her solo career and she also used to perform in the band Day After Tomorrow. During her sophomore year in high school, Koda participated in an audition. The audition had a total of 120,000 participants and Kumiko got a second place finish. After this first success, Kumiko got a contract with the Avex sub-label which was called Rhythm Zone.

Kumiko’s Early Music Career

Kumiko released her first single on the date of December 6, 2000 called Take Back. The following year, Kumiko released two more singles and these were titled Trust Your Love and Color of Soul. Both of these became an instant success as they ended up being in the Top 30 list. At this time, Kumiko decided to use a stage name so she decided to go by Koda. One interesting fact is that the songs Trust Your Love and Color of Soul were recorded in the English language and they were released in the United States on the Orpheus Records label. In the year 2002, Koda released her first album called Affection. This album ended up in the 12^th position on the charts. That’s pretty good for a first album that is released.

In February of 2004, Koda put out a third album which was called Feel My Mind and this one ended up in the 7^th position on the charts. Koda also performed a cover song that was the main song of the cartoon series called Cutie Honey. The song was originally sung by Yoko Maekawa.

Koda gets Popular

In 2005, Koda put out a fourth album called Secret which ended up very high on the charts in the third position and this was a milestone for Koda because the album was the first one to end up in the Top 5. The album was so successful that it became double platinum and there were a total of 521,000 copies of the album that were sold. The single titled Hot Stuff came off the Secret album.

In 2008, Koda released another single called Anytime and then a short time later, her sixth album came out. This one was titled Kingdom and during the first week, there were a total of 420,000 copies of the album that sold. Another single called Moon debuted in June 2008. And she also made an appearance at the summer concert of the record label she is signed to. There were a total of eight shows. On December 25, 2008, Koda released another single called Stay with Me and this one was an amazing success because this single alone sold 58,000 copies. That is a huge number of copies for just one single. Then Koda put out another new CD called Trick. Trick did really well, selling 253,000 copies the first week and then that number was followed by 56,000 the next week. In spite of this kind of success, Trick sold the least amount of total copies since the Secret album.

Koda released another single titled It’s All Love in March 2009. This one was interesting because she collaborated with her sister Misono and the single was a huge success ending up at number one on the charts. Koda made history because this was the first time that two sisters had a single which was at the top of the chart in its first week of release.

The Present Time

In early February 2010, Koda released yet another single called Can We Go Back. The interesting thing about this single is that it is a cover song off of Kelly Clarkson’s 2009 CD called All I Ever Wanted. Koda then put out her 8^th CD called Universe and she followed that up with a 9^th studio release called Déjàvu in March of 2011 which was only a few months ago.

The musical style of Koda is described as Japanese Urban and Rhythm and Blues. As her career has progressed, Koda has tried to incorporate additional styles of music into her such as rock, pop, electro pop and hip-hop as well. She is an interesting musician and at age 28, she has many years left in her.

Other facts about Kumiko Koda

· Her zodiac sign is Scorpio.

· Her main career ambition is to become a solo R & B singer.

· Her favorite singers are Christina Aguilera, Nelly, Pink and Pharrell Williams.

· Her favorite styles of music are rock and hip hop.

· Her favorite quote or the phrase that she lives by is once in a lifetime.

· She wants to eventually produce her own music.

· The people that she respects the most are her parents.