Bird (singer)

Bird

bird is the alias for the Japanese singer Kitayama Yuki (北山有紀) born December 9, 1975. She is known for her smooth voice and innovative style of combining elements of jazz, R&B, reggae, and latin music in her music.

History

Kitayama graduated from Notre Dame Academy, a girls-only high school in the Kansai region. She then attended Kansai University and graduated with a undergraduate degree in sociology. While she was in university, she was a member of the school's light music club.

She spent a year in New York after graduating. Returning to Osaka in the late 1990s, she started her singing career by singing at various jazz clubs. After achieving fame in the locality, she was discovered by record producer Shinichi Osawa, better known as Mondo Grosso.

In 1998, Kitayama was featured in Zeebra's Mirai e no Kagi (Osawa's Realized Mix) released in the mini-album The Rhyme Animal Remix EP.1. She came up with the alias bird around this time because her head resembled a bird's nest during her debut. Moreover, she expressed that she wanted her music to echo the song of small birds.

On March 20, 1999, she released her first single Souls on Osawa's label RealEyes. In July of the same year, bird released her first eponymously titled album on the Sony Music Japan label, which sold over 700,000 copies and won her the award of Japan Gold Record for Newcomers.

After RealEyes became independent from Sony Records, bird was able to become the lyricist and producer for her own music.

bird is traditionally very secretive about her real name, marriage status, and family. However, she announced that she was pregnant in November of 2005, and gave birth to her first child on January 13th, 2006. Shuukan Post discovered that the father of the baby boy was Jun Miura, a manga artist and illustrator, with whom bird has been living together since the end of 2006. According to reports, the pair does not wish to get married and hopes to live as partners.

Discography

Singles

	Release Date	Title	Chart Position
1st	March 20 1999	SOULS	44
2nd	June 30 1999	BEATS	27
3rd	August 25 1999	君の音が聴こえる場所へ	76
4th	October 6 1999	空の瞳	14
5th	December 1 1999	満ちてゆく唇	70
6th	January 21 2000	SOULS （Peach Bossa Mix）
7th	April 1 2000	GAME	25
8th	September 27 2000	オアシス	24
9th	November 22 2000	マインドトラベル	73
10th	January 31 2001	マーメイド3000	82
11th	7 March 2001	桜
12th	August 22 2001	flow	42
13th	December 5 2001	ZERO	73
14th	February 6 2002	私的パートナー	80
15th	April 24 2002	散歩しよう
16th	August 21 2002	フラッシュ
17th	September 10 2003	チャンス	144
18th	July 22 2004	ハイビスカス	155
19th	September 1 2004	髪をほどいて
20th	August 24 2005	童神	140
	June 28 2006	ファーストブレス
21st	October 4 2006	SPARKLES	199
22nd	July 11 2007	BATUCADA	44
23rd	July 23 2008	サマーヌード／ダンシング・シスター

Albums

	Release Day	Title	Chart Position
1st	July 23 1999	bird	8
	November 10 1999	bird －LIMITED SILVER EDITION	8
2nd	November 22 2000	MINDTRAVEL	5
3rd	March 6 2002	極上ハイブリッド	11
4th	October 8 2003	DOUBLE CHANCE	22
5th	September 23 2004	vacation	46
6th	October 4 2006	BREATH	50

Other Albums

	Release Date	Title	Chart Position
Live	May 23 2001	LIVE! tour 2000+1	21
Best Of	September 28 2005	bird's nest	27
Cover Album	November 28 2007	BIRDSONG EP -cover BEATS for the party-	66
Cover Album	August 6 2008	MY LOVE	69
Best Of	September 24 2008	Free Soul Collection	246
Best Of	April 29 2009	covers

VHS・DVD

Release Date	Title
VHS、DVD March 23 2000	tour 1999 live!
VHS、DVD May 23 2001	bird tour 2000＋1 live
VHS、DVD September 19 2001	bird clips! #1
DVD October 9 2005	bird LIVE! '04-'05

External links

• bird-watch - Official Site
• bird - Sony Music Japan - bird's page at Sony Music Japan
• bird - Universal J - bird's page at Universal Music J