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. 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 In June 2007, Kuraki left
Giza Studio in
Osaka and made a new record contract with the newly founded record label,
Northern Music in
Tokyo, although the labels are both under the
Being Inc, group. On 7 June 2007, Kuraki performed "Born to Be Free" at the A3 Champions Cup 2007 in
Shandong,
China. On 16 June 2007, she performed "Secret of My Heart" at the
Golden Melody Awards in
Taiwan as the representative artist from Japan. In September 2007, Kuraki made her first appearance at the
Asia Song Festival in
Seoul,
South Korea. Kuraki embarked on the promotional tour, Mai Kuraki Live Tour 2007 Be With U in December 2007. In January 2008, Kuraki released her seventh studio album,
One Life. The album failed to reach top ten in Japan, only peaking at number fourteen, partly due to the chart system of
Oricon. The album peaked at number twelve in Taiwan and has been sold over 89,000 copies in Japan, certified gold by the RIAJ.
One Life has spawned four top ten singles, "
Shiroi Yuki", "
Season of Love", and "
Silent Love: Open My Heart"/"
Be With U". In October 2008, Kuraki embarked on the Mai Kuraki Live Tour 2008 "Touch Me!" to promote her then unreleased eighth studio album,
Touch Me!. The album was released in January 2009. Kuraki made her first appearance on the music television program,
Music Station, where she performed the album's title track, "Touch Me!", to promote the album. This performance became Kuraki's first performance on the television program, aside the Kōhaku Uta Gassen. The album was a commercial success, the album debuted at number one in Japan, earning her first number one album in five years, since the release of
Wish You the Best (2004). It has sold over 90,000 copies nationwide and been certified gold by the RIAJ. The album also peaked at number twelve in Taiwan.
Touch Me! has spawned four top ten singles, "
Yume ga Saku Haru"/"
You and Music and Dream", "
Ichibyōgoto ni Love for You", and "
24 Xmas Time". The title track also charted in Japan, peaking at number sixteen on the
Billboard Japan Hot 100, despite not being released as a single. In April 2009, Kuraki was featured as a guest vocalist on
ZARD's posthumous single, "
Sunao ni Ienakute", The single peaked at number 5 in Japan, selling over 36,000 copies nationwide. In July 2009, Kuraki embarked on the Asia tour, titled 10th Anniversary Mai Kuraki Tour 2009 "Best", in celebration of her tenth debut. Her second compilation album,
All My Best was released to a commercial success, debuting atop on the Oricon chart, making her among the two artists who sent two albums atop on the chart in 2009, the other being
Greeeen. The album has sold over 250,000 copies nationwide and been certified platinum by the RIAJ, as well as enter the year-end album chart at number twenty-five. The album has spawned two top three singles, "
Puzzle" and "
Beautiful". The lead track from the album, "Watashi no, Shiranai, Watashi." was used in the television commercials for the cosmetic company,
Kosé, in which she was featured as a model. The song peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, even though it was not released as a single. The double A-side single, "Puzzle"/"
Revive" became Kuraki's first top three single in 5 years since "Ashita e Kakeru Hashi" (2004). On 31 October 2009, Kuraki held a Halloween concert, titled 10th Anniversary Mai Kuraki Live Tour 2009 "Best" Happy Happy Halloween Live at
Nippon Budokan. "Puzzle" was used as the ending theme for the thirteenth movie
Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser, while "Revive" was used as the twenty-fifth opening theme song for the TV series.
2010–2012: Future Kiss and Over the Rainbow In March 2010, Kuraki released the double A-side single, "
Eien Yori Nagaku"/"
Drive Me Crazy". The former was used in the television commercial for Kosé, while the latter was used as the Japanese theme song to the American television series,
Heroes Season 3. The single peaked at number four in Japan and fifteen in Taiwan. In November 2010, her ninth studio album,
Future Kiss was released. The album debuted at number three and has sold over 65,000 copies in Japan. It also peaked at number eleven in Taiwan, making her highest-charting album in the country to date. The album has spawned four top five singles, "Revive", "Beautiful", "Drive Me Crazy", and "
Summer Time Gone". The title track of the album was performed on the several television programs including
SMAP×SMAP and
Music Station, making it peak at number thirteen on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. Another song from the album, "Tomorrow Is the Last Time" was used as the theme song to the anime,
Case Closed and charted on the
RIAJ Digital Track Chart at number forty-two. In November 2010, Kuraki performed at
Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto, the
UNESCO World Heritage Site, as a part of the
Tokyo FM's 40th anniversary campaign. In March 2011, Kuraki sang the national anthem at the soccer charity match, titled "The Tohoku Earthquake recovery support charity match Ganbarou Nippon!", at
Yanmar Stadium Nagai,
Osaka. The match was held again in August 2011, where Kuraki performed the anthem. In April 2011, she released a single titled "
Anata ga Irukara", which she dedicated to the victims of the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The song was re-released in August as a video single, featuring the performance by a professional
figure skater,
Shizuka Arakawa. The proceeds from all versions of the song were donated to the
Japanese Red Cross Society to benefit the victims and the reconstruction in the
disaster area. In June 2011, Kuraki was featured on
Nerdhead's single, "Doushite Suki nandaro?" under the name, Mai-K. The song peaked at number fifteen in Japan. In August 2011,
Sanrio announced their collaboration with
Northern Music for the creation of one of the characters of
Wish me mell, Maimai. Maimai is officially based on Kuraki herself in collaboration with Sanrio, and she released the series' official image song "Stay the Same". In October 2011, Kuraki held a charity concert titled Mai Kuraki Premium Live One for All, All for One at Nippon Budokan. The concert was supported by the musicians such as
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Alex Ru, and Nerdhead. In November 2011, Kuraki released her first
video single, "
Strong Heart". The single peaked at number seven and three in Japan and Taiwan respectively. The part of the proceeds were donated to reconstract the disaster area of 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. In January 2012, her tenth studio album
Over the Rainbow was released. The album debuted at number two in Japan and has sold approximately 50,000 copies nationwide.
Over the Rainbow was preceded by four top ten singles, "
1000 Mankai no Kiss", "
Mou Ichido", "
Your Best Friend", and "Strong Heart". From the same month, she embarked on the Mai Kuraki Live Tour 2012: Over the Rainbow in support of the album. In April 2012, Kuraki won The Most Popular Asian Influential Japanese Singer at the 2012 Channel V "Migu" Chinese Music Award, which was held in
Macau. In June 2012, she signed a promotional deal with NGW Japan to promote their bottled
mineral water series, Ice Field. In September 2012, Kuraki held her first orchestral concert titled Mai Kuraki Symphonic Live -Opus 1- at
Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. In December 2012, she released an orchestral compilation album,
Mai Kuraki Symphonic Collection in Moscow. The lead track from the album, "Hakanasa" was chosen as the Japanese theme song to the Chinese fantasy film,
Painted Skin and the
television series adapted from the film.
2013–2014: Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope In February 2013, Kuraki released a single "
Try Again", which was used as the theme song to the anime series
Case Closed. The single peaked at number seven and managed to enter G-Music J-Pop chart at number three. In June 2013, Kuraki embarked on the national tour titled Mai Kuraki Live Project 2013 "Re:". In September 2013, she held her second orchestral concert, Mai Kuraki Symphonic Live -Opus 2- in Tokyo. In March 2014, as a part of
JICA's Nantokashinakya! Project, Kuraki visited
Siem Reap,
Cambodia to support and help education system in Cambodia. After the visit, Kuraki started the project to raise fund to found a school in Trei Nhoar,
Puok District, Cambodia. In February 2016, the project was completed, and Trey Nhoar Community Learning Center was founded. From June 2014, Kuraki embarked on two tours, 15th Anniversary Mai Kuraki Live Project 2014 Best "151A": Fun Fun Fun and 15th Anniversary Mai Kuraki Live Project 2014 Best 151A: Muteki na Heart. During the former tour, Kuraki performed at the relatively small music venues while she performed at the music halls during the latter tour. In November 2014, Kuraki released her third compilation album
Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope in celebration of her fifteenth debut anniversary. The album peaked at number two in Japan and has sold over 67,000 copies, certified gold by the RIAJ. It also chart in Taiwan at number nineteen.
Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope has yielded six top ten singles, "
Koi ni Koishite"/"
Special Morning Day to You", "Try Again", "
Wake Me Up", "
Muteki na Heart"/"
Stand by You".
2015–2017: Smile and "Togetsukyo (Kimi Omou)" In May 2015, Kuraki released a promotional single "
Serendipity" in celebration of 40th anniversary of
West Japan Railway Company's
San'yō Shinkansen. The single debuted at number six on the
Recochoku weekly chart. In November 2015, Kuraki and other musicians including
Kazufumi Miyazawa,
Tetsuya Takeda, and
Ai Kawashima recorded the charity single "Hitori, Hitotsu" to support the
Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers. In April 2016, Kuraki held her first concert in
Russia, at the
Mariinsky Theatre. In May 2016, Kuraki signed an ambassador deal with
Nihon Unisys and wrote the image song to the company, "Make That Change". In September 2016, Kuraki embarked on the China tour, Mai Kuraki "Time After Time" Chine Live Tour. In January 2017, Kuraki released "
Yesterday Love" as the first
VR single in Japan. In the following month, her first studio album in five years,
Smile was released to a minor commercial success. The album managed to peak at number four and has sold over 29,000 copies in Japan. The album was preceded by one single, "Yesterday Love", and two promotional singles, "Serendipity" and "
Sawage Life". To promote the album, Kuraki embarked on the Mai Kuraki Live Project 2017 Sawage Live. In April 2017, Kuraki released the single "
Togetsukyo (Kimi Omou)", the ending theme for the animated film
Detective Conan: Crimson Love Letter. The song instantly entered the major music charts in Japan, selling about 30,000 physical copies in its first week. "Togetsukyo (Kimi Omou)" peaked at number two on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and number five on the
Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. Finally it sold over 76,000 physical copies and became her best-selling song since her 2004 single "Ashita e Kakeru Hashi". Finally the song became the best-selling single by a solo female musician in Japan, and fifty-second overall. Also, the song sold over 250,000 digital copies and became her most downloaded song since her debut, certified as platinum by the RIAJ. On July 25, 2017, she was awarded a
Guinness World Record for singing the most theme songs in a single anime series (
Case Closed). Kuraki's fourth compilation album
Mai Kuraki x Meitantei Conan Collaboration Best 21: Shinjitsu wa Itsumo Uta ni Aru!, a collaboration with
Case Closed, was released on October 25, 2017. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number four and selling over 79,000 copies in Japan. In December 2017, Kuraki made her first appearance at the
Kōhaku Uta Gassen in twelve years, performing "Togetsukyo (Kimi Omou)".
2018–2020: Kimi Omou: Shunkashūtō and ''Let's Goal!: Barairo no Jinsei'' In September 2018, Kuraki appeared on the television commercials of
Kyoto City, as an Kyoto sightseeing ambassador. In October 2018, Kuraki was chosen as an image character for the department store chain
Parco, for their
Chinese New Year campaign. In the same month, Kuraki released her first concept album,
Kimi Omou: Shunkashūtō. The album peaked at number three and has sold approximately 30,000 copies in Japan. The album has spawned five singles, "Togetsukyo (Kimi Omou)", "
We Are Happy Women", "
Do It!", "
Light Up My Life", and "
Koyoi wa Yume wo Misasete". From 13 October 2018, she embarked on the
Mai Kuraki Live Project 2018 "Red It Be": Kimi Omou Shunkashūtō to promote the album. "Light Up My Life" served as the theme song to the Japanese
tactical role-playing game,
Valkyria Chronicles IV. In March 2019, Kuraki released a double A-side single "
Kimi to Koi no Mama de Owarenai Itsumo Yume no Mama ja Irarenai"/"
Barairo no Jinsei". Both songs served as the theme songs to the special episodes of
Case Closed, "
The Scarlet School Trip", on which Kuraki appeared as a voice actor. The song peaked at number four, becoming her forty-second consecutive top ten CD single since her debut "Love, Day After Tomorrow", extending her record for being the only female artist in Japan to do so. In celebration of 20th anniversary of debut, Kuraki embarked on the Asia tour 20th Anniversary Mai Kuraki Live Project 2019 in Asia from July 2019. In August 2019, she released her thirteenth studio album ''
Let's Goal!: Barairo no Jinsei''. The album debuted at number three and has sold over 29,000 copies in Japan. In support of the album, she embarked on the tour,
20th Anniversary Mai Kuraki Live Project 2019 "Let's Goal!: Barairo no Jinsei" from August to November 2019. In December 2019, Kuraki released her fifth compilation album
Mai Kuraki Single Collection: Chance for You. The album peaked at number six and has sold over 29,000 copies in Japan. The four-disc single collection was mastered by the
Grammy-nominated/winning engineers, Ryan Smith,
Chris Gehringer,
Randy Merrill,
Joe LaPorta, and
Ted Jensen. In October 2020, Kuraki wrote All at Once's song, "Just Believe You", which also sampled Kuraki's single, "Secret of My Heart".
2021–present: Unconditional Love On 6 March 2021, Kuraki released the first single in approximately two years, "
Zero kara Hajimete". The song was written in celebration of the 1000th episode of the anime television series,
Case Closed. On the same day, the songs which Kuraki wrote for the anime were released on
streaming platforms such as
Spotify and
Apple Music. In June, "Zero kara Hajimete" was re-released as a
video single. The single topped on the
Oricon Weekly DVD chart, becoming Kuraki's first number-one on the chart since
Mai Kuraki Clip & Live Selection "My Reflection" debuted atop in January 2004. In August 2021, Kuraki announced the release of her thirteenth studio album,
Unconditional Love. The singer will also embark on the tour, Mai Kuraki Live Project 2021 in support of the album. From 26 April 2024 to 6 May 2024, to celebrate the 25th anniversary since Kuraki's debut on 8 December 1999, the exhibition titled
Kuraki Mai 25th Anniversary "2525" Museum was held at Tokyu Plaza Ginza in Tokyo. In August 2024, Kuraki released her first
extended play,
Forever for You In support of the album and to commemorate her 25th anniversary of her debut, Kuraki embarked on the tour,
25th Anniversary Mai Kuraki Live Project 24-25 "Be Alright!", playing in several Asian cities including Tokyo, Shanghai and Taipei. == Artistry ==