Chara was born Miwa Satō on January in 1968 in Kawaguchi, Saitama. When she was in elementary school her teacher continually called her “Chara chara”, which is Japanese for scatter brained. Because of this the name Chara stuck with her. She began playing piano when she was very young, as her mother forced her to take piano lessons. Soon she started studying Prince and some of the classic American film stars, like Brigitte Bardot. Through this, however, her music lessons continued.
In 1990 she finally sent a music demo to CBS/Sony. Masahiro Ohara, a music director and producer at CBS/Sony, signed her a deal with EPIC records and a year later she finally debuted. It was said that he was caught by her soft yet strong voice. She became a pioneer, starting the phenomenon that is now known as J-pop. Shortly after her first single was released she started hosting a television talk show, where her very different personality was taken notice of. It was this television show, along with her music, that helped to propel her career to epic proportions. In 1994 she chose to start taking more control of her music and started to write and help produce her albums. She also acted in a Japanese movie called Picnic that same year. When she was filming the movie she met Asano Tadanobu, a popular Japanese actor, and married him later that year.
It was not until 1995 that Chara began producing records again, as she had taken some time off after her marriage to give birth to her first child. Her music was taking a different direction and she started singing in both Japanese and in English. Her music is different every album she has, ranging from funk to light pop and dark pieces.
Sweet
Soul Kiss
Violet Blue
Happy Toy
Baby Baby Baby
Montage
Junior Sweet
Strange Fruits
Live 97-99 MOOD
Caramel Milk
Madrigal
Yokae Mae
A Scenery Like Me
Something Blue
Union
Sugar Hunter: Collection of Love songs