(born October 28, 1982) is a Japanese pop and R&B singer. After releasing her US debut single "Baby I Like" in 1999, Kuraki signed with Giza Studio and released her Japanese debut single "Love, Day After Tomorrow" in 1999. In 2000, she released her debut album, Delicious Way, which debuted at number-one and sold over 2.2 million copies in its first week. The album has spawned four top-three singles, "Love, Day After Tomorrow", "Stay by My Side", "Secret of My Heart", and "Never Gonna Give You Up". Eventually, the album sold over 3.5 million copies nationwide and became the best-selling album in Japan of 2000, and has been the ninth best-selling album in Japan of all-time.
Her second album, Perfect Crime (2001) debuted atop in Japan and has sold over 1.3 million copies nationwide. After the success in Japan, Kuraki targeted the American market again, with the English-language studio album Secret of My Heart (2002), however it failed to enter any charts in the United States. Her third Japanese album, Fairy Tale was released in 2002 and topped the Oricon albums chart. The album has spawned one number-one song, "Winter Bells". Her fourth album, If I Believe become her fourth consecutive number-one album in Japan. Her first compilation album, Wish You the Best (2004) sold nearly a million copies and became the seventh best-selling album of 2004 in Japan. Kuraki's succeeding albums, Fuse of Love (2005), Diamond Wave (2006), and One Life (2008) were released to less commercial success.
In 2009, Kuraki saw a revival in her popularity with the increased television appearances and the promotion. Her eighth studio album, Touch Me!, debuted atop in Japan, becoming her first number-one album in five years. Her second compilation album, All My Best (2009) topped the chart in Japan, making her one of the two artists who sent two albums at the top spot on the chart in the year. Her next studio albums, Future Kiss (2010) and Over the Rainbow (2012) both reached top three in Japan. Her third compilation album, Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope (2014) managed to peak at number two in Japan and became the ninety-fifth best-selling album in Japan of the year. Her eleventh studio album, Smile (2017) sold less than her previous albums, partly due to the lack of the promotion.
Released in 2017, the single "Togetsukyo (Kimi Omou)" peaked at number two in Japan and became the best-selling single for a solo female artist in 2017. The single marked Kuraki's second revival in charts, succeeded by the compilation album, Mai Kuraki x Meitantei Conan Collaboration Best 21: Shinjitsu wa Itsumo Uta ni Aru! (2017), which peaked at number four in Japan and charted on the year-end album chart in 2017 and 2018. Her twelfth and thirteenth albums, Kimi Omou: Shunkashūtō (2018) and Let's Goal!: Barairo no Jinsei (2019) were both moderate success, reaching top three in Japan. Her fifth compilation album, Mai Kuraki Single Collection: Chance for You was released in 2019, in celebration of her 20th anniversary. In 2021, Kuraki released her fourteenth studio album Unconditional Love, which peaked at number four in Japan and spawned a number-one single "Zero kara Hajimete". Her first extended play Forever for You was released in 2024 to commercial success, reaching number three in Japan.
Kuraki is best known for singing theme songs for the Japanese television anime series, Case Closed aka detective conan. As of October 2020, she has recorded twenty-three songs for the series and earning her a Guinness World Record for singing the most theme songs for the same television series. Kuraki also holds the record for being the only female artist to have all of her singles consecutively debut in the Top 10 since her debut in 1999, and is the 38th best-selling Japanese music artist of all time. To date, Kuraki has seven number-one albums (five originals and two compilations) and two number-one singles.
Biography Early life and career beginnings Mai Kuraki was born on October 28, 1982, to entrepreneur, film director and actor, Isomi Yamasaki. Her grandfather is Saneharu Yamasaki, a poet, and her aunt is Reiko Takizawa, an actor. Upon hearing Whitney Houston's music and seeing the dance moves of Michael Jackson, Kuraki dreamed to be a singer. While in high school, with the help of her father, who was a friend of the music label, Giza Studio, Kuraki sent a demo tape to the label and contracted a record deal with them. However, before Kuraki made her debut in Japan, she made her American debut. Under Giza USA and Bip! Records, Kuraki released the single, "Baby I Like" under the stage name Mai K. The cover of Yoko Black. Stone song, even impressed executives from the major label East West Records, prompting the label to distribute it. However, the song failed to chart on the Billboard charts and Giza sent her back to Japan.
2000–2001: Delicious Way and Perfect Crime After coming back to Japan, Kuraki began working on her J-pop materials. She released her Japan debut single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow", on December 8, 1999. The single entered the Oricon single chart at number 18, and eventually peaked at number 2, selling 1.4 million copies and becoming the fourth best-selling single of 2000 in Japan. In June 2000, Kuraki's debut studio album, Delicious Way was released to a commercial success, debuting at number one in Japan and selling 2,210,000 copies in its first week, which still has been the biggest first week sales for the debut album in Japan as of 2020. Delicious Way has sold over three million copies and was certified 3x million as well as won "Rock album of the Year" at the 16th annual Japan Gold Disc Awards. As of 2020, the album remains as the ninth best-selling album in Japan. The album has spawned three other singles, "Stay by My Side", "Secret of My Heart", and "Never Gonna Give You Up", all of which reached top three in Japan. "Secret of My Heart" won a Japan Gold Disc Award for "Song of the Year" and was chosen as the theme song to the television anime series, Case Closed, for which Kuraki would be known for singing the multiple theme songs. In 2000, Kuraki sent six singles inside the top 100 on the Oricon Yearly Singles chart.
In July 2001, Kuraki released her second album, Perfect Crime. The album sold over 800,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop on the Oricon chart. The album has sold over 1.3 million copies and been certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Perfect Crime won "Rock album of the Year". The album has spawned six singles, including platinum-certified singles, "Reach for the Sky", "Tsumetai Umi"/"Start in My Life", and "Stand Up". In August 2000, Kuraki embarked on her first promotional tour, Sokenbicha Natural Breeze 2001 Happy Live, supported by Coca-Cola, as their advertising campaign for their brand, Sokenbicha.
2002: Secret of My Heart and Fairy Tale In January 2002, Kuraki released her first English-language album, Secret of My Heart in the United States. The album included the English versions of her hit songs as well as her US single, "Baby I Like". Like the single, Secret of My Heart commercially failed in the US market. In the same month, Kuraki embarked on her first nationwide headlining tour, Mai Kuraki "Loving You..." Tour 2002. The fourteen-show tour was attended by approximately 150,000 audience. In April, Kuraki signed a promotional deal with Shiseido for their brand, Sea Breeze. her song, "Feel Fine!" was used for their television commercial, in which Kuraki herself appeared. In June 2002, Kuraki made her television appearance, performing at the 2002 FIFA World Cut Official Concert Korea/Japan Day with the other artists such as Lauryn Hill and Ken Hirai.
Her third studio album, Fairy Tale was released in October 2002. The album debuted at number one in Japan, and has sold over 730,000 copies nationwide. The album has spawned four top-three singles, "Can't Forget Your Love", "Feel Fine!", "Like a Star in the Night", and "Winter Bells", which peaked at number one in Japan. Fairy Tale won the "Rock & Pop album of the Year" award at the Japan Gold Disc Awards. In the same month, Kuraki embarked on the Mai Kuraki Fairy Tale Tour 02–03 in support of the album. In December 2002, Kuraki published her first autobiographical book, Myself Music.
2003–2004: If I Believe and Wish You the Best Kuraki released her fourth studio album, If I Believe, in July 2003. The album debuted at number one in Japan and has sold over 445,000 copies nationwide. If I Believe has yielded four singles, "Make My Day", "Time After Time: Hana Mau Machi de", "Kiss" and "Kaze no La La La", all of which reached number three in Japan. In October 2003, Kuraki was featured as a guest vocalist for Tak Matsumoto's single, "Imitation Gold", the cover of Momoe Yamaguchi. The single debuted at number one and has sold over 80,000 copies, earning Matsumoto his first number one single. The song was included on his eighth studio album, The Hit Parade (2003). In December 2003, Kuraki made her first appearance at the Kōhaku Uta Gassen and performed "Stay by My Side" at Tō-ji in Kyoto.
Wish You the Best, her first compilation album was released on the New Year's Day of 2004. The album became her fifth consecutive number-one album and has been certified million by RIAJ, although the album entirely consisted of previously released songs. In April 2004, Kuraki embarked on the Mai Kuraki 2004 Live Tour Wish You the Best: Grow, Step by Step. The tour was attended by the audience of 117,000. In December 2004, Kuraki performed her single, " at the Kōhaku Uta Gassen.
2005–2006: Fuse of Love and Diamond Wave Her fifth studio album, Fuse of Love was released in August 2005. The album failed to match the success of her previous albums, only peaking at number three on the Oricon chart, while it managed to enter the Taiwan's newly established G-Music chart at number thirteen. Fuse of Love has spawned four singles, including three top five singles: "Ashita e Kakeru Hashi", "Love, Needing" and "Dancing". The music video of "Dancing" was directed by Nigel Dick, who also directed the music video of the artists like Britney Spears, Guns N' Roses, and Backstreet Boys. The album was later certified gold by the RIAJ and has sold over 185,000 copies nationwide. Kuraki embarked on the Mai Kuraki Live Tour 2005 Like a Fuse of Love, in September 2005. In December 2005, Kuraki made her third appearance at the Kōhaku Uta Gassen, perfotming her debut single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow".
In August 2006, Kuraki released her sixth studio album, Diamond Wave. The album was a moderate success, peaking at number three in Japan and number thirteen in Taiwan. It has sold over 132,000 copies and has certified gold by the RIAJ. Diamond Wave has spawned three top ten singles: "Growing of My Heart", , and "Diamond Wave". From August 2006 to November 2006, Kuraki embarked on the Mai Kuraki Live Tour 2006 Diamond Wave to promote the album.
2007-2009: One Life, Touch Me!, and All My Best