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In this Japanese name, the family name is Tamaki.

Nami Tamaki (玉置 成実, Tamaki Nami ^?, born June 1, 1988) is a Japanese pop singer, who is known for her young age and her unique, yet powerful dancing. Her career took off when she was selected out of 1,000 other contestants in a Sony Music Japan Audition in 2001-2002, singing and dancing to Destiny's Child's "Survivor".^{[1] [2]} She has various commercial tie-ins with the Japanese anime and games industry, and has also performed in a stage musical and a movie. Her musical influences include American singers such as Britney Spears, Madonna, and Janet Jackson. ^[3]

Career

Beginnings

Nami auditioned for Sony Music Japan in 2001 when she was fourteen years old. The audition took place between 2001-2002 when she performed cover songs of Destiny Child hit "Survivor" and Core of Soul "Full Moon Prayer". ^[4] She was selected out of 1,000 applicants and would soon start her career in 2003 with her debut single Believe. Her first U.S. concert performance was opening for T.M.Revolution at the Pacific Media Expo 2004.

She graduated from high school in March 2007; her first Best (Greatest Hits) Album was released on November 29, 2006 to mark the event, and soon began an acting and stage performing career. The first event after her graduation was her first concert tour, Nami Tamaki Best Concert “My Graduation”, on the 11th, 17th, 23rd and 31st of March 2007 at various places in Japan.

In 2008, Nami released her 4th Studio Album entitled "Don't Stay". The album contained songs from her singles Brightdown, Cross Season and Winter Ballades as well as some new tracks. Unfortunately, the album did not chart or sell as well as her previous albums. Nami held a special live tour "Anniversary Live 5", which took place in Tokyo and Osaka. In the latter part of 2008, she conducted concert tours for her 6th album Don't Stay~GO!!~

Record label transfer & "nami"

For 2008, Nami's live events were in full motion; However after her 4th album Don't Stay launched on April 23, 2008, fans experienced a long gap of nothing new from Nami besides live performances. Speculation and rumors surfaced about Nami leaving Sony Music Japan to another record label however the transfer was finally confirmed by Nami Tamaki herself in a recent live performance on September 22, 2008 at the GIRLS ENTERTAINMENT vol.1 stating that she is indeed transferring but everything now is still secret. Towards the end of September 2008, her monthly issue of her Amour Fanclub volumes released an official confirmation about the transfer, and that Nami would be transferring to Universal Music Japan.

Amour Fanclub Manager states:

Debut 5th Year Anniversary was welcomed, Nami moves forward with a jump for her record company transfer to UNIVERSAL-J from Sony Music Records. Currently, we are earnestly working with the new system. Release time is undecided, but until settlement of assurance we will notify you. Please continue to support Nami chan!!

^[5]

On January 15 2009, Nami's official website, tamaki-nami.net, announced the release of a new single expected to be due out March 25 called "Give Me Up". This single would be her first under the Universal-J label and her 16th career single. The single would feature a more positive upbeat sound compared to her previous singles.

After the somewhat successful release of Give Me Up in January of 2009, Nami continued to release new music with new singles: "Friends!" (Single #17) and "Moshimo Negai ga..." (Single #18). A new single, her 19th career single and her 4th under the UNIVERSAL-J label, "Omoide ni naru no?" is set to be released February 10th, 2010.^[6] Universal-J has also given Nami Tamaki a stage name as "nami" as opposed to her full name in kanji. Fans agree that this is most likely an attempt to boost her sales. Her first album under Universal-J is to be released on the 24th of February, and will be titled "STEP".

Anime and game industry

Nami has a relatively close relationship with the ACG (Anime, Comics, Game) industry, as she contributed to several ACG franchises with her music. Well-known examples of her contributions include those in the Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny franchise^[7], Brightdown, an opening song of the anime series D.Gray-man as well as Sanctuary, an opening song of the anime series Kiba.

She also performed the song Fortune as the main theme for the PS2 role-playing game "Radiata Stories", and CASTAWAY as the theme song for a GBA turn-based strategy game, Super Robot Wars J.

Nami's 16th single, Give Me Up was used as the theme song for the anime Yatterman. Another song, "Negai Boshi", which is included in her 17th single, is the theme song for the new Wii RPG game, "Arc Rise Fantasia", while her 18th single, "Moshimo Negai ga..." is also the theme song for another Wii RPG game, "Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga"; Both games were released by Marvelous Entertainment.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Sony Music Japan

Universal Music Japan

Other compilation songs

Note: The songs below are tributes to several famous Japanese singers and are not presented in any of Nami Tamaki's singles or albums.

• Blue Jeans Memory - Matchy Tribute (January 25, 2006)
• Storm - Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:Birth- (December 19, 2007)
• Tonari no TOTORO by JAZZIDA GRANDE feat.Nami Tamaki - Ghibli meets Lovers Reggae (July 8, 2009)

DVDs

• Believe DVD - November 12, 2003
• Realize DVD - December 17, 2003
• Greeting DVD - May 19, 2004
• Make Progress DVD - July 6, 2005
• NAMI TAMAKI 2nd CONCERT "Make Progress～road to～" DVD - October 5, 2005
• Speciality DVD - August 30, 2006
• NAMI TAMAKI Best CONCERT"My Graduation" DVD - June 13, 2007
• Gundam OP/END COLLECTION Volume2-21st Century- August 25, 2009
• STEP DVD- February 17, 2010

Performances

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Concert
  • Pacific Media Expo 2004, opening for T.M.Revolution
  • FanimeCon 2004, MusicFest event
• Musical
  • Sweet Charity (スウィート・チャリティ) as Charity
  • High School Musical ON STAGE!(JPN ver.) (ハイスクール・ミュージカルON STAGE!) as Gabriella Montez^[8]
  • All Shook Up (JPN ver.)
• Movie
  • Lovely Complex (ラブ★コン) as Nobuko Ishihara (石原信子, Ishihara Nobuko ^?)

Commercial tie-ins

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Animation, Comics, and Games (ACG)

• Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny and related franchise: Believe, Realize, Reason, Result, IDentity (Collaborated in the Gundam SEED C.E. 73 Δ Astray comic project ^[9])
• Radiata Stories, a PS2 role-playing game from Square Enix: Fortune
• Super Robot Wars J, a GBA turn-based strategy game from Banpresto: Castaway
• Kiba: Sanctuary
• D.Gray-man: Brightdown
• Yattaman (2008 remake version): Give Me Up
• Arc Rise Fantasia, a Wii CRPG from Marvelous Entertainment: Negai Hoshi (願い星)
• Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga, a Wii ARPG from Marvelous Entertainment: Moshimo Negai ga... (もしも願いが．．．)

TV Shows and others

• Matthew's Best Hit TV: Shining Star ☆忘れないから☆
• NTT DoCoMo Commercial: DreamerS
• Sports Urugusu: CROSS SEASON
• High School Musical 2: You Are the Music in Me (Japanese version)
• NNN News Real-time: Together
• Palty Commercial : Friends!
• 歌スタ!!: 思い出になるの？

Awards

• The 18th Japan Gold Disc Award (第18回日本ゴールドディスク大賞): New Artist of the Year (2004)

References

1. ^ http://www.tamaki-nami.net/profile/index.html
2. ^ http://namitamaki73.net/info/
3. ^ http://namitamaki73.net/info/
4. ^ http://namitamaki73.net/info/
5. ^ http://www.amour-nami.jp/ver6/fclogin.asp
6. ^ http://www.tamaki-nami.net/discography/sg_19_omoideninaruno.html
7. ^ The songs Realize, Believe, Reason, Result and IDentity
8. ^ http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070312-00000013-oric-ent
9. ^ Official Website (episode 7 overview)

External links

• Nami Tamaki Official site (Universal Music Japan)
• Nami Tamaki Official site (Smile Company)
• Nami Tamaki Official Site (Sony Music Japan) (Now defunct)
• Nami Tamaki Official Site (Smile Company) (Now defunct)
• Nami Tamaki at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Nami Tamaki at the Internet Movie Database