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Bird (singer)

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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
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 #REDIRECT Bird_(album)#Summarybird -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