hitomi

A fashion model turned singer, hitomi has ridden high in the Japanese pop charts since debuting in 1995. While her success has not been as all-conquering as that of her contemporaries Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki, she has nevertheless been a consistent hitmaker, selling more than 8.5 million singles and albums combined by the mid-2000s. That she's done so for more than a decade, a period longer than that of the average shelf life of a J-pop idol, is a result of a perennially youthful image (hitomi is looked upon as a fashion idol by her teenage fans), and because her music has never strayed too far from the winning, uptempo dance-pop formula of her label, Avex, albeit with a vocal delivery far less mannered than many of her labelmates. ~ David Hickey