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or as they are known in the United States (due to legal naming conflicts with Sean Combs, also known as "Sean 'Puffy' Combs" or "Puff Daddy"), is a Japanese J-Pop duo.

Ami Onuki, whose nickname is "Jane", and Yumi Yoshimura, nicknamed "Sue", were scouted by two different talent agencies and put together in 1995, and soon Puffy-Mania would begin. Puffy-Mania is a term that was used by the Japanese media to refer to the craze for all things related to Puffy, from key-chains, to CDs. It began in 1996 and continues to this day. Puffy-Mania reached its peak in 1998 to 1999, following the release of the Jet-CD and the Jet-Tour. Their first release "Asia no junshin" ("True Asia") sold a million records and their success continued with several more full-length releases (totalling 14 million sales in Japan).

Achievements

They hosted their own weekly TV show, "Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy", with guests such as Lenny Kravitz, Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, and rock band Garbage.

Their music has been largely a collaboration between producer Tamio Okuda, American singer-songwriter Andy Sturmer, formerly of the band Jellyfish (who is referred to as the "godfather" of Puffy, for naming the band), and Ami and Yumi themselves. Ami and Yumi's vocals are likened to U.S. vocal sister group The Roches. They often sing whole songs together with harmonies and their sound borrows heavily from the Beatles and other artists such as ABBA, The Who and Carpenters. Their genre is usually defined as J-Pop/J-Rock (more specifically it can be categorised as Shibuya-kei). Both Ami and Yumi themselves have openly admitted that their music is hard to put into just one genre because of the many different influences.

After 2000, they have been less in the limelight in native Japan with their TV show winding up in 2002. Instead, they have set the compass for the USA with promotional tours, releasing previous Japanese releases and two such songs were the theme songs of Teen Titans and SD Gundam Force. They have also done a cover version with Cyndi Lauper of her hit Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

The duo have their own animated series in the U.S. on Cartoon Network called Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi which premiered on November 19, 2004. The show features animated versions of Ami and Yumi. Although they are voiced by American actresses, the real Ami and Yumi star in short live-action segments taped in Japan. The show also features some of Puffy's music. Sony has released a companion album to "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi" in the U.S., comprising of most of Puffy's Japanese hits, some rarites, as well as, of course, the Teen Titans theme. Two DVD compilations from the series - Rock Forever and Let's Go! - were released in the United States on November 26, 2005. Cartoon Network's Japan service started airing episodes of the series (in English with Japanese sub-titles) in 2005. In October of that year, TV Tokyo began airing a Japanese-dubbed version of the series, which eventually also went to CN Japan on January 8, 2006.

Puffy AmiYumi made an appearance and performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2005 where they were also represented by their own Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Falloon (float with balloon elements).

On January 16, 2006 Ami and Yumi were appointed goodwill ambassadors to the United States as part of the Japanese government's campaign to encourage tourism in Japan *. They kicked off their 10th anniversary tour in Japan on April 14, 2006. They started touring America with the Puffy AmiYumi Tour '06 Splurge! Splurge! Splurge! on the East Coast starting July 8, 2006.

Influences

It has been noted that many of Puffy's songs are heavily influenced by a wide range of artists: ABBA, The Beatles, The Blue Hearts, The Cardigans, ELO, The Supremes, Elvis Costello, Ramones, Stereolab, The Buggles, The Who, and even Black Sabbath.

Discography

Albums

Image:AmiYumi album.jpg|
AmiYumi
July 22 1996 Image:SoloSolo.jpg|
Solo Solo
August 1997 Image:Jcdpay.JPG|
Jet-CD
1998 Image:Fever Fever.jpg|
Fever*Fever
1999 Image:Puffy AmiYumi - Spike.jpg|
Spike
June 5 2001 Image:The Hit Parade.jpg|
The Hit Parade
24 October 2002 Image:Puffy AmiYumi - Nice.jpg|
Nice.
January 22 2003 Image:Puffy AmiYumi 59.jpg|
59
2004 Image:Splurge123.jpg|
Splurge
June 28 2006

Singles

  1. Asia no Junshin ("True Asia") (1996)
  2. Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi ("That's the Way It Is"; literally "This is My Way of Living") (1996)
  3. Circuit no Musume ("Wild Girls on Circuit"; literally "Circuit Girls") (1997)
  4. Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Etc. ("Electric Beach Fever"; literally "About the Beach, Etc.") (1997)
  5. Mother/Nehorina Hahorina (1997)
  6. Ai no Shirushi ("Sign of Love") (1998)
  7. Talalan/Puffy no Tourmen (1998)
  8. Puffy de Rumba (1998)
  9. Nichiyobi no Musume ("Sunday Girls") (1999)
  10. Yume no Tame ni ("For the Sake of Dreams") (1999)
  11. Umi e to ("Into the Beach") /Pool Nite (Pronounced "Pool Nee-teh") (2000)
  12. "Boogie Woogie No. 5" (2000)
  13. "Atarashii Hibi (Brand New Days) (2001)
  14. "Aoi Namida (Blue Tears) (2001)
  15. "Hurricane" (2002)
  16. "Akai Buranko/Planet Tokyo" (2002)
  17. "Sunrise" (2004)
  18. "Hajimari no Uta/Nice Buddy" (2005)
  19. "Hi Hi" (2005)
  20. "Mogura Like" (Mole Like) (2006)
  21. "Tokyo I'm On My Way!" (2006)

Compilation

  1. Puffy Re-Mix Project (PRMX) (1999)
  2. ''The Very Best of Puffy/AmiYumi Jet Fever (2000)
  3. An Illustrated History (2002) U.S.
  4. PRMX Turbo (2003)
  5. Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (2004) U.S.

DVDs

The release date on DVD is in parentheses

Performances:

  1. RUN! PUFFY! RUN! 1996 (2000)
  2. TOUR! PUFFY! TOUR! 1997 (2000)
  3. Jet Tour '98 (2000)
  4. Jet 1998 (2000) - Music videos, including Chinese version of "Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi"
  5. CLIPS (2000.07.05 and VHS)
  6. Fever*Fever 1999 (2000) - Concert footage from Fever Fever tour
  7. PUFFY SPIKE Daisakusen (2001) - Music video collection
  8. Rolling Debut Revue - Canada USA Tour 2002 (2002)
  9. Funclips Funclub (2005)

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Series:

  1. Let's Go! (2005)
  2. Rock Forever! (2006)

Books

  1. PUFFY 10th Anniversary Book
  2. Hi Hi PUFFY English

Video games

Other works

  • Hosted the Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy show
  • Appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live (April 25, 2005)*
  • Played "Electric Beach Fever" and "That's the Way It Is" at Japan's New Year's Eve Countdown show (2005-2006).**
  • Recorded a version of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with Cyndi Lauper on her album, The Body Acoustic.
  • Recorded the Teen Titans theme song ().
  • Recorded the opening theme (Sunrise) for SD Gundam Force ().
  • Recorded the song "Hito Natsu No Keiken" on the Yamaguchi Momoe Tribute Album "Tribute Thank You For..."
  • Recorded a cover version of the Guitar Wolf song "Can-Nana Fever" on a tribute album "I Love Guitar Wolf Very Much".
  • Friends Forever was featured on the Monsters Unleashed soundtrack ().
  • True Asia (Asia No Junshin) was featured on the compilation album Japan For Sale Vol.1 ().
  • Brand New Days (Atarashii Hibi) was featured on the compilation album Japan For Sale Vol.2
  • Nice Buddy (Hajimari no Uta) was featured on the compilation album Jpop CD, Vol. 2 and was featured in the Pokemon movie: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.
  • Kore Ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi was used in Donkey Konga 3.

Tours

West Coast Tour 2005

The Never Ending were supporting these shows. The Aquabats joined the shows in LA and San Diego.

  • Friday 22nd April - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom (9pm)
  • Saturday 23rd April - Seattle, WA - The Showbox (8pm)
  • Sunday 24th April - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre (9:15pm)
  • Wednesday 27th April - San Francisco, CA - Fillmore (8pm)
  • Friday 29th April - Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern Theatre (9pm)
  • Saturday 30th April - San Diego, CA - SOMA (9pm)
  • Monday 2nd May - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre (8pm)

Puffy AmiYumi toured the U.S. East Coast in August 2005. Visited cities were Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Toronto.

East Coast Tour 2006 (Splurge! Splurge! Splurge!)

On May 11, Puffy AmiYumi announced US (East Coast) tour dates:*

Summer Sonic Summer Festival in Japan 2006

On July 5th Puffy AmiYumi announced these dates on their official site: *

  • Sunday 30th July - Fukuoka, Japan - HIGHER GROUND 2006 Uminonakamichi Seaside Park
  • Friday 4th August - Ibaraki, Japan - ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL '06 Hitachi Seaside Park
  • Saturday 12th August - Chiba, Japan - SUMMER SONIC 2006
  • Sunday 13th August - Osaka, Japan - SUMMER SONIC 2006
  • Thursday 17th August - Miyagi, Japan - ROCK ROCK KON-NICHIWA! in Sendai Zepp Sendai
  • Friday 18th August - Tokyo, Japan - J-WAVE LIVE 2000+6 Yoyogi Gymnasium
  • Saturday 2nd September - Osaka, Japan - ROCK ROCK KON-NICHIWA! 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL Izumiohtsu Phoenix
  • Sunday 10th September - Okinawa, Japan - OkinawAmp'06 Tug+CHU!

Note: Also playing at the Summer Festival are Fall Out Boy, El Presidente and The Cardigans.*

Gallery

Image:Puffy_AmiYumi.JPG|Puffy AmiYumi on the cover of their Hi Hi album Image:543324716_l.jpg|Puffy AmiYumi in a recent press photograph Image:Puffyamiyumi01.jpg|Puffy AmiYumi on the cover of Japanese magazine "arco" Image:154070688 l.jpg|Puffy AmiYumi in a promotional photograph Image:TOKYOIMONMY.jpg|Puffy AmiYumi in a promotional photograph for Tokyo I'm On My Way! Image:PUFFYFLOWER.jpg|Puffy AmiYumi in a promotional photograph with sakura Image:Puffyjapantour.jpg|Puffy AmiYumi on tour in Saitama, Japan. (Photo taken 5th July 2006) Image:Puffytour2.jpg|Puffy AmiYumi on tour in Saitama, Japan. (Photo taken 5th July 2006)

See also

Related links

External links

Official links

Puffy AmiYumi | Girl groups | Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi | Japanese musical groups | J-pop | Shibuya-kei musicians

Puffy AmiYumi | Puffy AmiYumi | パフィー | Puffy AmiYumi | Puffy Amiyumi

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Puffy AmiYumi".

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