Mami Kawada

Mami Kawada 川田まみ
Born	February 13 (year/age unknown)
Origin	Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan
Genres	J-rock, Electronic Rock, trance
Occupations	Singer, Songwriter
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Geneon Entertainment
Associated acts	I've Sound Love Planet Five
Website	Mami Kawada mami-kawada.jp

Mami Kawada (川田まみ, Kawada Mami^?) is a J-pop singer^[1] who is currently signed to Geneon Entertainment Inc. She is also a member of the I've Sound who performs soundtracks for some eroge. Mami was usually paired up with co-I've member Kotoko when making soundtracks for anime. Examples of these are Onegai Teacher, Onegai Twins, Starship Operators, Shakugan no Shana, Baldr Force EXE Resolution OVA, and Hayate no Gotoku wherein Kotoko would perform the opening theme while Mami would perform the ending theme or vice versa. Her debut single "Radiance", released on February 23, 2005, was used as an opening theme for the anime Starship Operators. Her most successful single was "Joint," released on October 31, 2007, and used as the first opening theme for the sequel of the anime series Shakugan no Shana, Shakugan no Shana II.

History

Debut

Mami Kawada's vocal talent was first discovered by Eiko Shimamiya, who was her teacher at a vocal school in Sapporo, Hokkaido. She was introduced to I've Sound, a music production group whom Shimamiya was a member of. Kawada would later become a member of I've Sound. In 2001, her debut song with I've Sound was to perform "Kaze to Kimi wo Daite" (風と君を抱いて^?), which was the opening theme for the eroge "miss you". The song was featured in the I've Sound's 5th Compilation Album titled Out Flow. Since then, she's created many theme songs for dating sim and visual novel games.

In 2002, she began performing anime theme songs, as well as theme songs for visual novels. Kawada performed the ending theme for the anime Please Teacher! titled "Sora no Mori de" (空の森で^?) while co-I've Sound singer Kotoko performed the opening theme titled "Shooting Star". In the same year, Kawada and Shimamiya grouped themselves as the band Healing Leaf and performed theme songs for some visual novels. Only one of the songs, however, was featured in the I've Girls Compilation, "Ame ni Utau Ballad" (雨に歌う譚詩曲^?).

In mid-2003, she got her second anime tie-up with Please Twins!, the spin-off sequel of previous anime tie-in Please Teacher!. Kawada performed the ending theme titled "Asu e no Namida" (明日への涙^?) while Kotoko performed the opening theme titled "Second Flight" together with J-pop singer Hiromi Satō.

Seed (2005–2006)

In 2005, Mami Kawada signed a contract with Geneon Entertainment and released her major debut single titled "Radiance / Chi ni Kaeru: On the Earth", which was used as the opening theme for the anime Starship Operators. This marked the launch of her career as a songwriter/vocalist. The song "Radiance" was written by her and accompanied by Kotoko. She began to write her own lyrics in her following releases.

In late 2005, she released her second single "Hishoku no Sora" (緋色の空^?, Scarlet-Colored Sky), which became the opening theme for the anime series Shakugan no Shana. It became her best-selling single and sold approximately 37,000 copies, garnering 11th in the Oricon weekly charts.

In March 2006, Kawada and Kotoko once again teamed up forming a split single for the OVA adaptation of the game Baldr Force. Again, Kawada did the ending theme, "Undelete," while Kotoko performed the opening theme "Face of Fact (Resolution ver.)", a remix of her first song which was featured in the game version. Four weeks after the release of this split single, Kawada released her debut album Seed, which contained seven new songs, four songs from her first three singles, and one visual novel theme song which was released back in 2004. The album reached #12 in the Oricon weekly charts and charted for five weeks selling more than 25,000 units.

After almost two months, Mami Kawada had her first live tour wherein she performed her album songs live and distributed a pamphlet CD containing two songs—one instrumental, and her first composed song titled "Carpe Diem".

Savia (2007)

After her success with "Hishoku no Sora", Kawada got a continuous tie-up with Shakugan no Shana, and she was also contracted to do the insert song for its movie titled "Akai Namida" (赤い涙, Red Tears^?) in May 2007. She also performed the ending theme to the movie together with the other I've Sound girls under the name Love Planet Five.

Three months later, she got another tie-up with the anime series Hayate the Combat Butler titled "Get My Way!", which was used as the second ending theme. This single is very different from her previous singles, since the song has a more punk rock feel. Although it didn't gain much attention, it wasn't Kawada's last attempt at a rock sound.

Soon after, Kawada came back with a more developed rock sound, evident in her opening theme single for the second installment of the anime series "Shakugan no Shana" titled "Joint", as well as the ending theme she performed titled "Triangle". "Joint" was released on October 31, 2007 and marked her first top 10 single entry since it reached #9 in its first week on the Oricon weekly charts. Overall, it sold 36,572 copies and charted for a total 19 weeks making this her longest-charting single.

After Kawada's success with her fifth single, she made her first live tour outside Japan, on January 19, 2008, at the KHS Hall in Taiwan.

In late March 2008, Kawada released her second album, Savia, which contained nine new songs. The album included the final ending theme to the second installment of Shakugan no Shana, as well as her first non-anime theme song tie-up, and four songs from the three singles she released. It didn't do well on the Oricon weekly charts, but after less than six months, Kawada had her second live tour for her second album.

Linkage (2008–2010)

After a year of not releasing a single, Kawada had another tie-up with the anime series Toaru Majutsu no Index and performed its opening themes titled "PSI-Missing" and "Masterpiece". Both of the coupling songs, "Ame" (雨^?) and "Jellyfish", were also used as insert songs in the series. In autumn 2008, Kawada also established her official website together with her official fan club "M.A.L.L.", which stands for "Mami Artist Lasting Live."

In June 2009, Kawada released her maxi single "L'Oiseau bleu". This single is also present in the I've Sound 10th Anniversary 「Departed to the future」 Special CD BOX, which was released earlier by the group on March 25, 2009.

Kawada also sang the opening and ending themes for the original video animation series of Shakugan no Shana titled Shakugan no Shana S, making this her fifth tie-in with the anime series. The opening theme titled "Prophecy" came out as a maxi single on November 18, 2009 while the ending theme, titled "All in Good Time", was not included in the single.

On March 24, 2010, Kawada released her third album, entitled Linkage, which contains 13 tracks. Her latest singles "PSI-Missing," "Masterpiece" and "Prophecy" were all included in the album. The album also contained the Shakugan no Shana S ending theme "All in Good Time", as well as a cover of the song "Dreams", originally performed by the Irish rock band The Cranberries. After two weeks, Kawada already had her third live tour to promote her latest album.

This year, Mami Kawada starts writing Lyrics for other I've singers. Her first song written for other I've Sound members is "A piece of my heart" (Ending Theme for the Eroge: Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, sung by the newcomer Nami Maisaki, who entered officially as an I've utahime in May of that year.^[2]

2010 to present

After another year of not releasing a single, Kawada made a come-back tie-up with the second season of the anime series Toaru Majutsu no Index. She performed the opening theme entitled "No buts!" and it eventually became her highest charting single to date reaching #6 on its first week in the Oricon weekly charts.^[3][4]

On February 16, 2011, she released her 10th single entitled "See visionS", the second opening theme for the second season of Toaru Majutsu no Index. Four months later, she wrote the lyrics for the song "Lead to the smile", the solo debut of the new I've singer, Rin Asami, who started her career that year.

Discography

Main article: Mami Kawada discography

• Seed (2006)
• Savia (2008)
• Linkage (2010)

Live performances

• I've in BUDOKAN 2005 ～Open the Birth Gate～ (October 15, 2005)
• MAMI KAWADA FIRST LIVE TOUR 2006 "SEED" (May 20, 2006)
• MAMI KAWADA 2008 January LIVE IN TAIWAN (January 19, 2008)
• Mami Kawada Official Fan Club Establishment Commemoration Event Special Video Concert "MAMI KAWADA 2008 January LIVE IN TAIWAN"
• MAMI KAWADA LIVE TOUR 2008 "SAVIA"
• I've in BUDOKAN 2009 ～Departed to the Future～ (January 2, 2009)
• MAMI KAWADA LIVE IN SHIBUYA 2011 "See visionS" (May 4 and May 5, 2011)

References

1. ^ "Profile". JOINT: The Kawada Mami fansite. http://ashcrimson.tsuioku.net/joint/fansite/profile.php. Retrieved 17 December 2010. 
2. ^ Blog of I've Sound (July 7, 2010). "Nami Maisaki gets her solo debut". WordPress.com. http://aibublog.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/nami-maisaki-gets-her-solo-debut. Retrieved July 7, 2009. 
3. ^ "No buts! Oricon Chart Ranking" (in Japanese). http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/292851/products/music/886391/1. Retrieved 25 December 2010. 
4. ^ "川田まみが歌う「とある魔術の禁書目録II」OPがオリコン6位！記念コメント到着！" (in Japanese). Zakzak. 11 November 2010. http://www.zakzak.co.jp/anime/article/1011/101111-372.html. Retrieved 15 February 2011. 

External links

• Mami Kawada's Geneon Website (Japanese)
• MAMI KAWADA Official Website
• I've Sound Explorer (Japanese)
• Mami Kawada at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• I've Sound Forum (Chinese)
• Oricon Profile (Japanese)
• Twitter profile (Japanese)

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