Olivia Lufkin

OLIVIA (Olivia Lufkin, born December 9, 1979 in Okinawa) is a Japanese pop singer. Originally most of her works were in Japanese, but she has done more and more works in English, which has increased her popularity outside of Japan. Her father is American and her mother is Japanese, and OLIVIA sometimes writes about being mixed-race in songs such as "solarhalfbreed." Her sister Caroline Lufkin is also a singer (under the name Caroline).

Biography

OLIVIA attended the famous Okinawa Actors School, alma mater of popular acts like Namie Amuro. She was discovered there and signed to AVEX as part of the idol girl group D&D, which had a Eurobeat sound. When the group disbanded, OLIVIA became a solo artist. In contrast to her work with D&D, her first single in 1999 "I.L.Y.~Yokubou" had a driving rock sound. Her first two singles were written by others, but she wrote her third single "Dear Angel" and all her singles since then. In 1999 and 2000, she released six singles altogether, all with a pop-rock or alternative sound, and at the end of the year released her first album Synchronicity, containing all her singles to date. In 2001 and 2002 she released two more singles.

Although critically acclaimed, her solo singles were not chart toppers; her biggest hits, her second and third singles, both peaked at #29 on the Oricon, and her successive releases charted lower and lower (her final single peaked at #99). AVEX switched her from the main label to their "indies" label cutting edge. Rather than chase after mainstream success, OLIVIA continued on her own path. In 2003 she released 4 mini-albums instead of singles with macabre yet whimsical titles such as Comatose Bunny Butcher. Likewise, her music became both darker and cuter. For example, in the title song on Internal Bleeding Strawberry, OLIVIA hisses "but it leaks... and leaks... and leaks..." and then screams "strawberry don't you die on me!" These mini-albums contained only English songs.

In 2004 she released her second album, the Lost Lolli, which was also all in English. This album peaked at #111 on the Oricon. However, AVEX released an overseas version of this album, reflecting OLIVIA's increasing success outside of Japan; typically, only chart-topping artists release overseas versions of their albums.

After releasing the Lost Lolli, OLIVIA went on an unofficial hiatus, with her fans wondering whether if she would ever come back. In 2006, it was announced that she would be recording the closing song for the new NANA anime under the name "OLIVIA inspi' REIRA from TRAPNEST." The show debuted on April 5, 2006. The single was released on the 28th of June, and debut into the Top 10 of the Oricon Daily charts, and her first single to do so.

Discography

Singles

^* I.L.Y.~Yokubou~ (I.L.Y.~Desire~) (I.L.Y.~欲望~)
^* re-ACT
^* Dear Angel
^* Dress me Up
^* Dekinai (Cannot) (できない)
^* Color of your Spoon
^* Sea me
^* Into The Stars
^* a little pain

Albums and Mini-Albums

^* Synchronicity
^* Internal Bleeding Strawberry
^* Merry & Hell Go Round
^* Comatose Bunny Butcher
^* The Return of the Chlorophyll Bunny
^* The Lost Lolli

Music Video Collections

^* VIDEO CLIPS

Links

Eurasians | Japanese singers | 1979 births | Living people