Mari Hamada
| Mari Hamada 浜田麻里 |
|
|---|---|
| Birth name | 浜田麻里 (Hamada Mari) |
| Born |
July 18, 1962 Tokyo, Japan |
| Origin | Tokyo, Japan |
| Genres | AOR, pop rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels |
Tri-M MCA Victor |
| Associated acts | Indecent Obsession, Munetaka Higuchi |
| Website | Official site |
Mari Hamada (浜田麻里 Hamada Mari?, born July 18, 1962 in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, height 158cm) is a Japanese rock singer, songwriter and producer.
Mari Hamada started singing commercially whilst at Metropolitan Musashigaoka high school when she formed a punk rock band called Mari Band. After graduating high school she attended Aoyama Gakuin University, near Tokyo, Japan. At university she joined a backing band called Hamachan and sang backing vocals for a group called Misty Cats. This started to gain her some attention from a wider public but hard rock was at that time largely unknown inside Japan and was not considered commercial.
In 1985 the band released their fifth studio album called Blue Revolution with a single also called Blue Revolution that gained them wider attention from the Japanese public. This was followed up by In the Precious Age in 1987 for which the band brought in a foreign producer to give them a more commercial sound. By this time Mari had started experimenting with influences from other musical genres such as including catchy pop melodies on a hard rock base. In 1988 they recorded the theme used for the Seoul Olympics broadcasts on NHK radio and television, bringing them to the attention of a much bigger audience. The band were offered a place on an annual televised singing contest called Kohaku Uta Gassen, one of Japan's most watched television programs, but declined the offer. Instead, they released their new single called Heart and Soul.
The following year they released one of their most popular albums to date, Return to Myself, which included the single Return to Myself followed six months later by Colors which included the singles Tomorrow and Anti-Heroine, the latter of which went to number one on the Japanese charts.
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