Even as a little girl, Shimatani Hitomi wanted to become a singer. When she was 17, she participated in a talent show for young girls, The Japan Audition 1997, which was hosted by the label Avex. Out of the 200,000 girls that participated, Hitomi was chosen. Instead of immediately starting a music career, she decided to finish school first, which was fine with the label as long as she took vocal classes.
A few years later she finished high school and started on her music career. Her first single, Osaka no onna was released in 1999. It may come as a surprise to many people to hear that this first single was actually an enka song (Enka is a largely balladic style of music very popular among middle aged and older generations of Japanese.)
Although the song wasn’t bad and the vocals were well-executed, it was perceived as rather dull and didn’t really fit the young singer. It did receive positive critical attention and even some awards, but didn’t do well in sales. From then on, Hitomi decided to change her style and never release enka songs.
So, a year later she presented her next single, Kaihouku, an upbeat pop/dance song. It didn't fare well in sales either, selling even fewer copies than her first single. However, it did rank higher on the charts, ending up at the 28th rank.
Her real breakthrough happened about half a year later in 2001 when she released her third single, Papillon. It was a cover of Janet Jackson's song Doesn’t really matter, the music mostly the same and the lyrics in Japanese. The single became a huge success and it granted her instant fame.
After putting out another single, she released her first album in June. It was also called Papillon, and it sold enormously well. Her second album, Shanty, became even more popular, selling more then 400,000 copies and ranking first on the Oricon charts.
Since then, Shimatani Hitomi has been releasing single after single, album after album. In total, she has released 6 full albums, a few special albums and more than 20 singles. She has also released a good share of DVDs, most of them containing music videos of her songs and footage of her countless tours.
Her songs have been used for various anime and games, for example the song Angelus for "Inuyasha" and Garnet moon for the main theme of a Playstation 2 game, spreading her fame beyond the borders of Japan. Some of her songs have also been used for commercials, and she also acted in some herself.
In 2006, she starred in the popular anime turned live action movie, "Prince of Tennis," playing the role of the tennis coach Sumire Ryuzaki. In the past, she has also played a part in a drama as Imamura Keiko in "Boku dake no Madonna."
She released her 25th single, Shinku/Ai no uta, in September 2007, followed three months later by her first cover album, Otoko uta ~cover song collection~. This album featured songs solely by male artists and groups, and reached 11th on the Oricon top 200 chart.
The next year, she brought us a single with an absurdly lengthy name WAKE YOU UP/Ame no hi ni wa ame no naka wo kaze no hi ni wa kaze no naka wo/Marvelous in June. The track WAKE YOU UP was used for the opening of the science fiction action drama "K-tai Investigator 7" and Marvellous for "Wrestling Asia Senshuken 2008." The collaboration of this single with Mitsuo Aida was titled Ame no hi ni wa ame no naka wo kaze no hi ni wa kaze no naka wo and excluded the two tracks WAKE YOU UP and Marvelous.
Lately the sales of her CDs have slowed down and have been reaching lower rankings on the charts, but she has been pushing on nevertheless, and in February of 2009 she brought us her 30th single, SMILES. The title track of this single was also used for "Paralle," a drama Hitomi herself stars in, yet surprisingly the single still produced disappointing figures in sales.
Despite the recent long spell of substandard sales, to many of her loyal fans’ delight, Shimatani Hitomi released her first best-of album titled BEST&COVERS in July, to commemorate her 10th anniversary. We hope this will bring a new wave of listeners to enjoy her beautiful voice!
