- Mao Abe
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Mao Abe Birth name Mao Abe (阿部真央) Also known as Abema (あべま) (nickname) Born 24 January 1990
Ōita, JapanGenres Pop Occupations Singer-songwriter Instruments Acoustic guitar, Vocals Years active 2008–present Labels Pony Canyon (2008-present) Mao Abe (阿部 真央 Abe Mao, born 24 January 1990) is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She debuted in 2009 with the album Free.
Contents
Biography
Abe started learning the piano from age three, and from junior high school she had begun to want to be a singer.[1] She stopped learning the piano in favour of the guitar, wanting to be an acoustic pop singersongwriter in the style of Canadian pop musician Avril Lavigne.[2] While at high school she frequently busked and attended music auditions.[3] In February 2006 (on a morning when she had skipped school) she wrote her first song, "My Baby."[2] Late in mid 2006, she entered the Yamaha Teens' Music Festival's Ōita regional contest on the recommendation of a musical instrument store manager, and performed "My Baby."[1][3] She won the grand prize, and later entered the country-wide version, where she won an honourable mention prize after performing "Haha no Uta" (母の唄 Mother Song).[3]
After finishing high school, she moved to Tokyo and was signed to the major record label Pony Canyon. Abe performed at many different live events, some high-profile like the Rock in Japan Festival.[4] From August until November, four acoustic demos of Abe songs were released on iTunes.[5] The third of these, "My Baby," was chosen as the October iTunes Single of the Week free download song.[1]
Abe released her debut album Free in January 2009. The eponymous title track was released as a radio single, and did extremely well on radio stations: Abe hit #1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, despite only the airplay component counting to her rank (as opposed to airplay and physical sales, like most other releases).[6]
Since the release of the album, she has released three singles, the first two reaching the top 20 on the Oricon single charts.[7] The third, "Itsu no Hi mo," reached #2 on the Japan Hot 100 chart, a week before the physical release of the single.[8] The single was followed by her second album, Pop, which was her first top 5 album on the Oricon albums chart.[9]
Discography
Albums
Year Album Information Oricon
Albums
Charts
[10]Reported
sales
[11]2009 Free - Released: January 21, 2009
- Label: Pony Canyon (PCCA-02815)
- Formats: CD, digital download
17 21,000 2010 Pop - Released: January 27, 2010
- Label: Pony Canyon (PCCA-3071)
- Formats: CD, digital download
5 54,000 2011 Su. (素。, "Naked") - Released: June 1, 2011
- Label: Pony Canyon (PCCA-03413)
- Formats: CD, digital download
6 38,000 Singles
Release Title Notes Chart positions Oricon
sales
[11]Album Oricon Singles Charts
[10]Billboard Japan Hot 100
[12]RIAJ digital tracks*
[13]2008 "Free" Radio single — 1 — — Free 2009 "Tsutaetai Koto/I Wanna See You" 19 11
39—
6113,300 Pop "Anata no Koibito ni Naritai no Desu" 19 5 29 8,800 2010 "Itsu no Hi mo" Certified gold by the RIAJ for downloads to cellphones[14] 12 2 6 9,200 "Lonely" 22 5 19 9,500 Su. "19-sai no Uta" 20 18 68 6,000 2011 "Mottō./Hikari" (モットー。/光, "Mooore/Light") "Hikari" written in memory of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami 20 9 36 7,800 "Soba ni Ite" (側にいて, "Come to Me") TBA 43 25 TBA TBA *RIAJ Digital Track Chart established April 2009. Other charted songs
Release Title Chart positions Album Billboard Japan Hot 100
[12]2010 "Mada" (未だ, "Still") 23 Pop Tours
- Mao Abe Live No. 0 (2009)
- Mao Abe Live No. 0.7 (2009)
- Mao Abe Live No. 1 (2010)
- Mao Abe Live No. 2 (2010)
References
- ^ a b c "イデータ of あべま｜阿部真央オフィシャルサイト". Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://abemao.com/profile/. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ a b "阿部真央 悲しみも孤独も楽しさもすべてリアル". Yahoo.co.jp. 2009-01-16. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://smash.music.yahoo.co.jp/pow_dtl/itv/powyjm00281/. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ a b c "阿部真央 アーティストページ - TSUTAYA online". Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://www.tsutaya.co.jp/artist/00078180.html. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ "ROCK IN JAPAN FES 2008". 阿部真央's MySpace Blog あべまのブログ。. 2008-08-05. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=1001385664&blogId=421030321. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ "阿部真央 on MySpace Music". Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://www.myspace.com/abemao. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ "Mao Abe - Free". Music Charts. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://acharts.us/song/45795. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ "阿部真央 リリース一覧". Oricon. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://www.oricon.co.jp/artists/h/468856/. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ "Japan Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. 2010-01-18. Archived from the original on 2010-09-29. http://www.billboard-japan.com/system/jp_charts/hot100/. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
- ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」". Oricon. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://ranking.oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2010-02-03. (subscription only)
- ^ a b "アーティスト：阿部真央". Oricon. http://ranking.oricon.co.jp/free_contents/search/search.asp?artcd=468856&artist=%88%A2%95%94%90%5E%89%9B&ordt=sle&bs=all&bs2=1. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
- ^ a b "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」". Oricon. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. http://ranking.oricon.co.jp. Retrieved April 6, 2011. (subscription only)
- ^ a b "Hot 100｜JAPAN Charts｜Billboard JAPAN" (in Japanese). Billboard. Archived from the original on 2010-09-29. http://www.billboard-japan.com/system/jp_charts/hot100/.
- ^ "有料音楽配信チャート" (in Japanese). RIAJ. http://www.riaj.or.jp/data/others/weekly_chart/index.html.
- ^ "レコード協会調べ 12月度有料音楽配信認定 ＜略称：12月度認定＞" (in Japanese). RIAJ. March 20, 2010. http://www.riaj.or.jp/data/others/chart/w100420.html. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
External links
- Mao Abe Official Site (Japanese)
- Pony Canyon Official Label Site (Japanese)
- Mao Abe's Official MySpace "Mao Space" on Myspace (Japanese)
- Mao Abe Official Blog (Japanese)
Singles "Tsutaetai Koto/I Wanna See You" · "Anata no Koibito ni Naritai no Desu" · "Itsu no Hi mo" · "Lonely" · "19-sai no Uta"Promo singles "Hitomishiri no Uta" · "My Baby" · "Free" · "Mada"Tours Mao Abe Live No. 0 · Mao Abe Live No. 0.7 · Mao Abe Live No. 1 · Mao Abe Live No. 2Categories:- Living people
- Japanese musicians
- Japanese female singers
- Japanese singer-songwriters
- Japanese-language singers
- 1990 births
- People from Ōita (city)
- Pony Canyon artists
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