Juju (singer)

For rappers called Juju, see Juju (disambiguation) § Music.
Juju
ジュジュ
Birth nameJun Sonoda (園田 淳)
Born (1976-02-14) February 14, 1976 (age 48)
OriginShōbara, Hiroshima, Japan
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • lyricist
  • Singer-songwriter
Instrument
  • Singing
Years active2001 (2001)–present
Labels
Websitewww.jujunyc.net

Juju (ジュジュ) (born February 14, 1976)[1] is a Japanese jazz and jpop singer. She is represented by Sony Music Associated Records[2]

Biography

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She dreamed of being a jazz singer while growing up in Kyoto, and participated in all sorts of music-related activities. At age 18, she left for the US alone. While in New York, she was very taken with the "New York sound," including jazz, R&B, hip-hop, soul, Latin music, and house. Around 2001, Juju began to be featured in a number of works by other artists. In 2002, she provided music for the film Kyōki no Sakura. In 2004, she debuted with her first single "Hikaru no Naka e". The same year, concurrent with her musical activities in New York, she started performing live in Japan. When her third single, "Kiseki o Nozomu nara", was released, it topped the USEN charts and remained on the chart for a record length of 22 weeks. At this point, while she received support from a small group of listeners, she remained mostly unknown. On August 23, 2008, with the release of "Kimi no Subete ni", a collaboration between Spontania and Juju, she broke out onto the Japanese popular music scene, with the single receiving over 2.5 million downloads. Again, on November 26, 2008, another collaboration with Spontania named "Sunao ni Naretara" earned her even more fame, with the song receiving 2.2 million downloads.[3] In 2010, Juju released her third album called Juju and it won the Excellence Album Award at the 52nd Japan Record Awards.[4] On November 16, 2020, NHK announced that Juju would take part in the 71st NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen of New Year's Eve.[5] It was Juju's first time appearing on the show. For her performance, she chose her song "Yasashisa de Afureru You ni" (やさしさで溢れるように; Like It's Overflowing with Kindness). [6]

Discography

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Main article: Juju discography
  • Wonderful Life (2007)
  • What's Love? (2009)
  • Juju (2010)
  • Request (2010)
  • You (2011)
  • Delicious (2011)
  • Delicious: Juju's Jazz 2nd Dish (2013)
  • Door (2014)
  • Request II (2014)
  • What You Want (2015)
  • Delicious - Juju's Jazz 3rd Dish (2018)
  • Your Story (2020)

References

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  1. ^ "JUJU、限定80人のファンの前でスペシャル・ライヴ" (in Japanese). Barks. February 12, 2009. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
  2. ^ "JuJu." Sony Music Online Japan. Retrieved February 22, 2009.
  3. ^ ""JUJU - goo 音楽". Archived from the original on 26 August 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.." goo Music profiles. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  4. ^ "tokyohives.com Winners and nominees for the 52nd Japan Record Awards" (in Japanese). Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  5. ^ "twitter.com NHK announced some of the performers for the 71st Kōhaku Uta Gassen" (in Japanese). Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  6. ^ "twitter.com Juju Staff announced what song Juju will be performing and at which timeslot for 71st NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen" (in Japanese). Retrieved December 30, 2020.
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