Shota Shimizu

Shota Shimizu emerged as a Japanese soul and R&B singer-songwriter who achieved widespread success in the late 2000s while still a teenager. He first encountered soul music during his high-school years and initially sought recognition in the United States, appearing at amateur nights held at New York’s Apollo Theater in both 2007 and 2008, where audiences responded favorably. Ultimately he turned his attention to Japan, where he collaborated with Dohzi-T and Miliyah Kato in 2007 and issued his debut solo single “Home” prior to his second Apollo performance. Although “Home” reached only number five on the Oricon chart, it earned gold certification after moving 128,000 copies domestically. Two subsequent singles sold fewer units, yet his first album, Umbrella, still climbed to number two and attained gold status by the end of 2008. Tickets for his inaugural tour the following year sold out within a single day. Shimizu’s own 2009 releases moved modestly, but the track “Love Forever,” a new duet with Kato featured on her album Ring (2009), became a major success, surpassing two million ringtone downloads and helping propel his sophomore album, Journey, to the top of the charts with 108,000 copies sold. A 2009 partnership with Double fell short commercially, whereas another joint single with Kato issued in 2010 moved 59,000 units.