Suzuki Ami was born February 9, 1982 in Zama, located within the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan.
While in high school, Ami auditioned for ASAYAN, a TV talent show (think American Idol) that offered the winner a deal with Sony Music Entertainment Japan. From 13,500 contestants, only five girls were chosen to be in the final round, which Ami won thanks to 802,157 phone calls from the audience. She was only 15 years old at the time.
Sony Music signed Ami to their label and Tetsuya Komuro sponsored her to his own sub label on Sony, TRUE KiSS DISC, acting as her writer and producer. In April 1998, she recorded her first song and single, love the island. Sony Music and the government of Japan made a deal for its use as the main theme of the "Guam Island Campaign Summer '98", which aimed to increase Japanese tourism in Guam. Ami even traveled to Guam to promote the song live on MTV International. The single was finally released on July 1, 1998, and debuted at number five on the Oricon Charts, which was good for a debut single. Her second single, Alone in my room, was also used for the Guam campaign, and it fared even better, debuting at number three on the charts and selling even more than her first single.
Ami debuted her radio show, RUN!RUN!AMI-GO!, in October 1998. It topped the radio rankings, leading to a signing with Kissmark (a Japanese clothing line) for advertisements and promotion all around Asia. Later that year, she won various awards including the Japan Record Award for "Best New Artist." It was at this point that the country was oversaturated with her name and face and were unable to look the other way. Her music sold extremely well, always topping the charts and rivaling Hamasaki Ayumi's results. She was also a regular on a TV drama.
Just as things were looking up for Ami, her career hit a wall in 2000 when her parents decided to sue her management company, AG Communication, because they thought she was receiving less money that she legally deserved. Their suspicions were proven true when it was discovered that AG Communication bigwigs were underreporting their earnings in order to pay less taxes, consequently paying less to their artists. Even though she had won the legal battle, the fear of a bad reputation caused her to lose everything else: her fanclub ami spice (which had, at that time, at least 15,000 members) closed, she lost all her roles in commercials, her producer abandoned her and Sony decided to quickly finish her singing career off by releasing a collection of greatest hits named Fun for Fan in 2001.
She tried returning to the public eye a few times, even releasing a single called Forever Love in 2004 on her own indie label, Amity. The release sold well despite poor promotion and ranked number 21 on Oricon's general singles chart and number one on Oricon's independent singles chart. She also released a mini-concert DVD, which didn't sell as well. However, things changed in 2005 when she performed live at the annual Nihon University festival. Max Matsuura, the president of Avex Trax (one of the largest record labels in Japan) was in the audience. Matsuura is famous for finding artists and shaping them into famous stars. After watching Ami's performance, Matsuura asked her to sign on to Avex. She agreed and announced the deal on December 30th, during the last show of her small AMI's LOVE FOR YOU-LIVE tour.
On January 1, 2005 the official Suzuki Ami site under the Avex label officially opened and the singer made her comeback to the mainstream market. In March of the same year, she released her single, Delightful, which hit number two on the charts and was 97th on the "100 bestselling singles of the year" chart.
Later, Ami also participated in the 2005 version of A-Nation, a concert where the most popular artists of Avex Trax get together and sing their hits. During A-Nation, she performed her singles Delightful and Negaigoto. This was also the first time that Ami shared a tour and stage with her known rival, Hamasaki Ayumi.
October came around and Ami released her first album in give years, AROUND THE WORLD. Although the album sales weren't bad, they weren't stellar either. It was her lowest debut on the Oricon album charts, hitting number five. Luckily, album sales were helped by the AROUND THE WORLD tour, which was a gigantic hit.
Fast forward to July 26, 2006: Like a Love, her eighth single, was released and sold reasonably well. Higher numbers were expected though, seeing as this was the first time that J-Pop singer Ai Otsuka wrote a song for another artist besides herself.
Ami's acting career began to flourish again, and in 2006 she was cast to play a major role in the movie Niji no Megami Rainbow Song, and in 2007 she acted in several dramas. That year she began a series of collaboration projects, including her second album with Avex, Conneta featuring Hideki Kaji, HAL, Harada Ken, Ayano Tsuji, Buffalo Daughter and Kirinji among others. She also released the singles FREE FREE/SUPER MUSIC MAKER with Yasutaka Nakata (capsule)and DJ/musician Sugiurumn, followed by Potential Breakup Song, featuring American female duo Aly & AJ.
Now in 2008 the young singer has been continuing her activities in TV dramas, and in February she released her third album with Avex, entitled DOLCE. Her highly anticipated new single, ONE, comes out July 2nd. Once again the eyes of the world are upon this young artist and only time will tell if she'll conquer its heart.
