Shizuka Kudo
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese singer and pop
idol
born in Hamura, Tokyo. She debuted as member no. 38 of the Onyanko Club
in May 1986 and went on to a successful solo career with 11 no.1 hits.
Onyanko Club
debuted on the first of April 1985 on their own Fuji TV variety show
Yūyake Nyan Nyan with eleven high school girls selected from participants in the Fuji TV aired in February that same year. Kudo auditioned for the group after completing high school in May 1986, becoming member no.38.
The group gave a new approach to the idol
formula with 52 official members and three unofficial members, with several, including Shizuka Kudo, forming sub-groups, such as Ushirogami Hikaretai
. Ushirogami Hikaretai
, which teamed Kudo with Akiko Ikuina
and Makiko Saito released five singles and two albums in a one year period from May 1987 until March 1988 with a live album their final release in July 1988 (Hora ne, Haru ga Kita - First Concert).
Kudo has said of her time in Onyanko Club
that “it was a great experience, with good, bad and really dirty things,” and that she tried not to learn from the behavior of others around her.
Onyanko Club disbanded on the 9th September 1987 with a final concert but Kudo had already launched her solo career with her first single, Kindan no Telepathy less than two weeks prior, on 31 August. It climbed to the top of the music chart and also became a favorite throughout Asia during the early '90s. She enjoyed a run of eight consecutive number 1 singles in Japan between 1988 and 1990, and eleven in total.
She continued to release new music every year until 2000 with sporadic releases since then. Her most recent release came in 2008 when she teamed up with Miyuki Nakajima
, co-composer of five of Kudo's late-80s hits, for a double a-side, Night Wing/ Yuki Gasa. Kudo said of their long-term working relationship, “We are not that close. We have a nice distance. Sometimes when I hear her music, it scares me but I especially like her passionate lyrics.”
Kudo also appears on television in jidaigeki
roles and also creates her own jewelry that is sold in Japan.
in the Japanese dub of the 1997 Disney film Hercules, opposite Tokio
drummer Masahiro Matsuoka
, playing the title role.
Kudo married Takuya Kimura
of popular boy-band SMAP
in 2000. They had two children named Kokomi and Mitsuki.
Kudo speaks English with a strong British accent stating in an English-language interview that “a British accent is much easier, because you don’t have the ‘r’ sound like the Americans.”
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
idol
Japanese idol
In Japanese culture, are media personalities in their teens and early twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g...
born in Hamura, Tokyo. She debuted as member no. 38 of the Onyanko Club
Onyanko Club
was a large all-girl Japanese pop idol group in the 1980s. The group gave a new approach to the idol formula with its 52 official members and three unofficial members...
in May 1986 and went on to a successful solo career with 11 no.1 hits.
Biography
Kudo began her career age just 14 in three-piece pop unit Seventeen Club, formed from a 1984 'Miss Seventeen Contest' organized by Japanese magazine Seventeen. They released two singles in 1985 on Sony Records and Kudo later said she joined "just to have fun."Onyanko Club
Onyanko Club
was a large all-girl Japanese pop idol group in the 1980s. The group gave a new approach to the idol formula with its 52 official members and three unofficial members...
debuted on the first of April 1985 on their own Fuji TV variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
Yūyake Nyan Nyan with eleven high school girls selected from participants in the Fuji TV aired in February that same year. Kudo auditioned for the group after completing high school in May 1986, becoming member no.38.
The group gave a new approach to the idol
Japanese idol
In Japanese culture, are media personalities in their teens and early twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g...
formula with 52 official members and three unofficial members, with several, including Shizuka Kudo, forming sub-groups, such as Ushirogami Hikaretai
Ushirogami Hikaretai
Ushirogami Hikaretai is a Japanese idol Jpop band, created in 1987 and disbanded in 1988, third sub-group of Onyanko Club, consisting of three of its members: Akiko Ikuina, Makiko Saito, and Shizuka Kudo who also begins as a soloist in 1987 with a huge success after the band's break-up...
. Ushirogami Hikaretai
Ushirogami Hikaretai
Ushirogami Hikaretai is a Japanese idol Jpop band, created in 1987 and disbanded in 1988, third sub-group of Onyanko Club, consisting of three of its members: Akiko Ikuina, Makiko Saito, and Shizuka Kudo who also begins as a soloist in 1987 with a huge success after the band's break-up...
, which teamed Kudo with Akiko Ikuina
Akiko Ikuina
is a Japanese entertainer. She was born on April 28, 1968 in Koganei, Tokyo, Japan. She is a left hander but she writes with her right hand. She joined the group Onyanko Club in 1986.-TV programs:* 1996-2003 Obun in Abarenbō Shōgun...
and Makiko Saito released five singles and two albums in a one year period from May 1987 until March 1988 with a live album their final release in July 1988 (Hora ne, Haru ga Kita - First Concert).
Kudo has said of her time in Onyanko Club
Onyanko Club
was a large all-girl Japanese pop idol group in the 1980s. The group gave a new approach to the idol formula with its 52 official members and three unofficial members...
that “it was a great experience, with good, bad and really dirty things,” and that she tried not to learn from the behavior of others around her.
Onyanko Club disbanded on the 9th September 1987 with a final concert but Kudo had already launched her solo career with her first single, Kindan no Telepathy less than two weeks prior, on 31 August. It climbed to the top of the music chart and also became a favorite throughout Asia during the early '90s. She enjoyed a run of eight consecutive number 1 singles in Japan between 1988 and 1990, and eleven in total.
She continued to release new music every year until 2000 with sporadic releases since then. Her most recent release came in 2008 when she teamed up with Miyuki Nakajima
Miyuki Nakajima
is a Japanese vocalist, guitarist, lyricist, composer and radio personality. As a principal Japanese female veteran singer-songwriter she is often compared to Yumi Matsutoya, she has released 37 studio albums, 40 singles, 2 live albums and multiple compilations to date, and whose sales have been...
, co-composer of five of Kudo's late-80s hits, for a double a-side, Night Wing/ Yuki Gasa. Kudo said of their long-term working relationship, “We are not that close. We have a nice distance. Sometimes when I hear her music, it scares me but I especially like her passionate lyrics.”
Kudo also appears on television in jidaigeki
Jidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
roles and also creates her own jewelry that is sold in Japan.
Trivia
Shizuka Kudo is also known as the Japanese voice of MegaraMegara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
in the Japanese dub of the 1997 Disney film Hercules, opposite Tokio
Tokio (band)
Tokio is a Japanese rock/pop band formed by Johnny & Associates that debuted in 1994. It is made up of five men who were signed with Sony Music Entertainment from 1994 to 2001, with Universal Music Japan from 2001 to 2008, and are now signed under J Storm, a label owned by Johnny & Associates...
drummer Masahiro Matsuoka
Masahiro Matsuoka
is a Japanese drummer and actor. He is a member of Tokio, a Johnny Entertainment musical group. His nicknames are Mabo and Maa-kun. He starred as Shinichi Ozaki in Godzilla: Final Wars., and comedy series Yasuko to Kenji.- As an artist :...
, playing the title role.
Kudo married Takuya Kimura
Takuya Kimura
, nicknamed , is a Japanese singer and actor. He is also a member of the Japanese idol group SMAP. Most of the TV dramas he starred in produced high ratings in Japan...
of popular boy-band SMAP
SMAP
SMAP is a Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. While originally consisting of six members, the current group members are Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori...
in 2000. They had two children named Kokomi and Mitsuki.
Kudo speaks English with a strong British accent stating in an English-language interview that “a British accent is much easier, because you don’t have the ‘r’ sound like the Americans.”
Singles
| # | Title | Release date | Highest Weekly Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 禁断のテレパシー (Kindan no Telepathy) | 1987.08.31 | #1 |
| 2 | Again | 1987.12.02 | 3 |
| 3 | 抱いてくれたらいいのに (Daite kuretara ii no ni) | 1988.03.02 | 3 |
| 4 | FU-JI-TSU (Fu-Ji-Tsu) | 1988.06.01 | #1 |
| 5 | MUGO・ん…色っぽい (Mugo n iroppoi) | 1988.08.24 | #1 |
| 6 | 恋一夜 (Koi hitoyo) | 1988.12.28 | #1 |
| 7 | 嵐の素顔 (Arashi no sugao) | 1989.05.03 | #1 |
| 8 | 黄砂に吹かれて (Kousa ni fukarete) | 1989.09.06 | #1 |
| 9 | くちびるから媚薬 (Kuchibiru kara biyaku) | 1990.01.10 | #1 |
| 10 | 千流の雫 (Senryuu no shizuku) | 1990.05.09 | #1 |
| 11 | 私について (Watashi ni tsuite) | 1990.09.21 | #1 |
| 12 | ぼやぼやできない (Boyaboya dekinai) | 1991.01.23 | 2 |
| 13 | Please Please - Music :*Please , 1986*Please , 1993*"Please" , 2005*"Please" *"Please" , 1997*"Please ", a 1993 song by INXS... |
1991.05.15 | #1 |
| 14 | メタモルフォーゼ (Metamorphose Métamorphose "Métamorphose" - a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1989 by Carrere Records.- Song information :"Métamorphose" was the first single from Amanda's French-Italian album Tant qu'il y aura des hommes. The album was actually a re-release of Uomini più uomini, and consisted mostly of down-... ) |
1991.10.23 | 2 |
| 15 | めちゃくちゃに泣いてしまいたい (Mechakucha ni naite shimaitai) | 1992.01.29 | 4 |
| 16 | うらはら (Urahara) | 1992.05.21 | 5 |
| 17 | 声を聴かせて (Koe wo kikasete) | 1992.08.21 | 5 |
| 18 | 慟哭 (Doukoku) | 1993.02.03 | #1 |
| 19 | わたしはナイフ (Watashi wa Knife) | 1993.06.02 | 6 |
| 20 | あなたしかいないでしょ (Anata shika inai desho) | 1993.10.06 | 5 |
| 21 | Blue Rose | 1994.03.18 | 8 |
| 22 | Jaguar Line | 1994.07.21 | 8 |
| 23 | Ice Rain | 1994.11.18 | 8 |
| 24 | Moon Water | 1995.05.19 | 14 |
| 25 | 7 | 1995.11.20 | 15 |
| 26 | 蝶 (Chou) | 1996.03.21 | 15 |
| 27 | 優 (Yuu) | 1996.06.05 | 26 |
| 28 | 激情 (Gekijou) | 1996.11.07 | 10 |
| 29 | Blue Velvet Blue Velvet (Shizuka Kudo song) Blue Velvet is the third closing theme song of the anime series Dragon Ball GT and is the 29th single by Jpop artist Shizuka Kudō. It was released on 8 cm CD on May 28, 1997 in Japan only. It is coupled with the song "Break". The song is used for episodes 42-50 of the series... |
1997.05.28 | 8 |
| 30 | カーマスートラの伝説 (Kama Sutra no densetsu) | 1997.11.19 | 29 |
| 31 | 雪・月・花 (Yuki Tsuki Hana) | 1998.02.18 | 23 |
| 32 | きらら (Kirara Kirara Kirara may refer to:*Kirara , a character in the manga and anime series InuYasha*Kirara , a manga by Toshiki Yui that was also adapted into an OVA*Kirara Beach, Shimane*Kirara Beach, Yamaguchi... ) |
1998.07.17 | 6 |
| 33 | 一瞬 (Isshun) | 1998.11.06 | 29 |
| 34 | Blue Zone Blue Zone A Blue Zone is a region of the world where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years. Scientists and demographers have classified these longevity hot-spots by having common healthy traits and life practices that result in higher-than-normal longevity.The name Blue Zone seems to... |
1999.04.07 | 28 |
| 35 | 深紅の花 (Shinkuu no Hana) | 2000.11.08 | 33 |
| 36 | Maple Maple Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in... |
2002.04.24 | 35 |
| 37 | Lotus～生まれし花～ (Lotus ~Umareshi hana~) | 2005.02.16 | 40 |
| 38 | 心のチカラ (Kokoro no chikara) | 2005.04.27 | 60 |
| 39 | Clavis－鍵－ (Clavis - Kagi) | 2006.09.06 | 67 |
| 40 | 雨夜の月に (Amayo no tsuki ni) | 2007.05.23 | 44 |
| 41 | NIGHT WING／雪傘 (Yuki kasa) | 2008.11.05 | 75 |
Albums
| # | Title | Release date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ミステリアス (Mysterious) | 1988.01.21 | |
| 2 | 静香 (Shizuka Shizuka is a Japanese word meaning . It is also a Japanese given name which is mostly used by females.-Possible writings:Shizuka can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:as a given name*静, "quiet/calm"*静花, "quiet/calm, flower"... ) |
1988.07.21 | |
| 3 | Graduation | 1988.11.30 | Best of |
| 4 | JOY | 1989.03.15 | |
| 5 | カレリア (Karelia Karelia Karelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden... ) |
1989.10.04 | |
| 6 | Harvest | 1989.12.06 | Best of |
| 7 | Rosette | 1990.04.04 | |
| 8 | Unlimited | 1990.11.14 | Best of |
| 9 | Mind Universe | 1991.03.06 | |
| 10 | Intimate Intimate Intimate may refer to:* Intimate examination, a physical examination for medical purposes that includes examination of the breasts, genitalia, or rectum of a patient... |
1991.12.11 | Best of |
| 11 | Trinity Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being... |
1992.03.18 | |
| 12 | Best of Ballade "Empathy" | 1992.11.20 | Best of |
| 13 | Rise Me | 1993.04.01 | |
| 14 | Super Best | 1993.11.19 | Best of |
| 15 | Expose | 1994.09.07 | |
| 16 | Purple Purple Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade.... |
1995.08.02 | |
| 17 | Doing | 1997.05.17 | |
| 18 | She - Best of Best | 1996.12.16 | Best of |
| 19 | Dress Dress A dress is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice or with a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment.Dress may also refer to:*Clothing in general*Costume, fancy dress... |
1997.03.19 | |
| 20 | I'm not | 1998.04.29 | |
| 21 | Best of Ballade カレント (Best of Ballade Calent) | 1998.11.18 | Best of |
| 22 | Full of Love | 1999.06.02 | |
| 23 | Millennium Best | 2000.03.15 | Best of |
| 24 | The Best of Shizuka Kudo | 2001.12.05 | |
| 25 | Jewelry Box | 2002.07.03 | |
| 26 | 昭和の階段 Vol.1 (Showa no Kaidan Vol.1) | 2002.10.30 | Cover Album |
| 27 | 月影 (Tsukikage) | 2005.06.01 | |
| 28 | Kudo Shizuka Best ~20TH ANNIVERSARY~ | 2007.08.29 | Best of |
| 29 | Shizuka Kudo 20th Anniversary B-side Collection | 2008.03.05 | Best of |
| 30 | MY PRECIOUS -Shizuka sings songs of Miyuki- | 2008.08.20 | Cover Album |