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Chara
From Virtual Japan
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 JPop. 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.
Albums
Sweet
- Released November of 1991
Soul Kiss
- Released September of 1992
Violet Blue
- Released September of 1993
Happy Toy
- Released October of 1994
Baby Baby Baby
- Released October of 1995
Montage
- Released September of 1996
Junior Sweet
- Released September of 1997
Strange Fruits
- Released March of 1999
Live 97-99 MOOD
- Released March of 2000
Caramel Milk
- Released November of 2000
Madrigal
- Released March of 1999
Yokae Mae
- Released March of 2003
A Scenery Like Me
- Released February of 2004
Something Blue
- Released August of 2005
Union
- Released February of 2007
Sugar Hunter: Collection of Love songs
- Released September of 2007