Koda Kumi

Profile

Name: Koda Kumi

Birthdate:November 13th 1982

Birthplace: KyotoEthnicity: Japanese

Blood type: A

Zodiac sign: Scorpion

Faverite of color: Green and Purple

Hobbies: Shopping

Koda Kumi was the first girl born into her family in a number of generations. She dreamed of becoming a singer since she was in elementary school. She auditioned alongside Goto Maki for the 3rd generation of Morning Musume when she was seventeen, but didn't make it. She was noticed by Avex Trax, however, and was signed and began releasing pop music with an urban feel.

Her debut single, TAKE BACK, was released in December 2000. After a few more unsuccessful singles, she released her debut album, affection in 2002. But with the 2003 release of real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba a year later, Koda's career finally found success.
She released three more albums: grow into one, feel my mind, and secret. Her fan base grew with the release of each album.

BEST ~first things~ is her first single collection, which sold nearly 2 million copies, and remained on the charts for less than four months. It became the highest selling female album of 2005 and reached #17 on the top albums of 2006.

Cherry Girl / Unmei and the follow up fifth studio album, Black Cherry, were both released in December 2006. Oricon reports that Black Cherry is the first female studio album to stay at number one for four weeks in four years, selling 802,000 copies. The last female studio album to have done that was Hamasaki Ayumi's 2000 album, Duty.

She released a third compilation album, BEST ~BOUNCE & LOVERS~. It charted at #2 on both the Oricon daily and weekly charts with first week sales of 161,458 copies.