Mariya Takeuchi

A Keio University student harboring a strong interest in vocal performance, Mariya Takeuchi independently issued a debut single in 1978 without any label support. Moderate sales for that track quickly translated into wider public attention. Across the next four years she completed five albums whose singles repeatedly entered the Oricon Top 100 or Top 40 yet never reached the summit, aside from “Mysterious Peach Pie,” which climbed to number three. The albums themselves landed inside the weekly Top 20, but only Love Songs, released in 1980, captured the number-one position and posted strong sales figures. In 1981 she married Tatsuro Yamashita, a fellow musician and occasional collaborator, then withdrew from recording to raise their young child. When she reentered the market in 1984, success arrived on a larger scale. Since that return she has produced seven studio albums, each of which debuted at number one on the Oricon chart, while the 1994 compilation Impressions sold three million copies and became one of the best-selling Japanese albums ever. Beyond her solo catalog, Takeuchi has written numerous songs for leading figures in Japanese pop. Following a short break after Longtime Favorites in 2004, she resumed activity with the chart-topping Denim in 2007 and repeated the feat the next year with Expressions.