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Created: Apr 24 2008

Onitsuka Chihiro

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Chihiro Onitsuka (鬼束ちひろ, Chihiro Onitsuka?), Onitsuka Chihiro, (born on 30 October, 1980, in Nango, Miyazaki) is a female Japanese popular music singer-songwriter and pianist.

Her parents encouraged Onitsuka to listen to Western music and by the time she was ten, she wrote her first poems, receiving praise from her parents, friends and teachers, who called them 'earnest efforts'. But she felt that just writing 'earnestly' wasn’t enough.

Influenced by Alanis Morissette during her junior high school days, it was American singer Jewel’s music and presence during her high school years that drpve Onitsuka to become a singer-songwriter. With some 70 original compositions and several other auditions under her belt, Onitsuka entered the 1998 Virgin Tokyo Artists Audition and won Grand Prize. At 17, after graduating from high school, Onitsuka moved to Tokyo in 1999 to launch her music career.

February 2000 saw the release of Onitsuka’s debut single "Shine." The following single "Gekkou" was selected the theme song to a TV drama series, gaining nationwide attention to this new artist.

2001 also saw Onitsuka’s music makes it overseas. 'Innocence' from her first album Insomnia was used in the TV campaign for Applied Materials based in Silicon Valley. The TV campaign aired on different channels including CNBC and CNN, resulting in many phone calls from the viewers asking about the singer. One of her songs 'Rasen' was used in a Luc Besson film 'Wasabi', starring Jean Reno and Hirosue Ryoko.

In early 2004, Toshiba EMI released a Singles Box against the wishes of Onitsuka. This caused so much anguish for her that she left Toshiba and signed on as an artist under Universal Music, and given a lot more freedom in her work. Currently she has released one single, 'Sodatsu Zassou (育つ雑草)', which was a major change from her folk-pop style into rock.

Contrary to popular belief, she did not announce a hiatus at this time; no hiatus was announced and the subsequent lack of release from her has been a great mystery to her sadly devoted fans who eagerly anticipate the next release and hope that one will indeed be forthcoming.
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