Mari Hamada

Mari Hamada (浜田麻里, Hamada Mari, born July 18, 1962 in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, height 158cm) is a Japanese rock singer, songwriter and producer.

Biography

Mari Hamada started singing commercially whilst at Metropolitan Musashigaoka high school when she formed a punk rock band called Mari Band. After graduating high school she attended Aoyama Gakuin University, near Tokyo. There, she joined a backing band called Hamachan and sang backing vocals for a group called Misty Cats. This started to gain her some attention from a wider public but hard rock was at that time largely unknown inside Japan and was not considered commercial.

In 1985 the band released their fifth studio album called Blue Revolution with a single also called Blue Revolution that gained them wider attention from the Japanese public. This was followed up by In the Precious Age in 1987 for which the band brought in a foreign producer to give them a more commercial sound. By this time Mari had started experimenting with influences from other musical genres such as including catchy pop melodies on a hard rock base. In 1988 they recorded the theme used for the Seoul Olympics broadcasts on NHK radio and television, bringing them to the attention of a much bigger audience. The band were offered a place on an annual televised singing contest called Kohaku Uta Gassen, one of Japan's most watched television programs, but declined the offer. Instead, they released their new single called Heart and Soul.

The following year they released one of their most popular albums to date, Return to Myself, which included the single Return to Myself followed six months later by Colors which included the singles Tomorrow and Anti-Heroine, the latter of which went to number one on the Japanese charts.

In 1993, Mari participated in a charity group called "Used to be a Child", a concept similar to Band Aid where performers donate earnings from a single to charitable causes, in this case the money went to Imabari City's Islet Organization. This gave her the opportunity to tour extensively with the group and in 1994 she appeared for the first time in Europe and an album, Introducing... Mari Hamada was also released in Europe.

Studio albums then followed at two-year intervals with Persona (1996), Philosophia (1998), Blanche (2000), and Marigold (2002), but Mari took a break from live performance until 2002 when she performed live at Akasaka Blitz just before it was completely demolished and rebuilt.^[1] After that Mari continued to record an album every two years and added a live tour each year into the program. In 2010 the album Aestetica got heavy airplay and her concert at the Nakano Sun Plaza hall was recorded live and released as a 2-DVD box set Mari Hamada Live in Tokyo 'Aestetica' . Within two weeks the album was number three on the Japanese album charts. The 2012 album Legenda, recorded live at Nakano Sun Plaza hall on 26 May 2012, went to number 5 on the Oricon Music singles chart and number 9 on the album chart.^[2]

In January 2014, Mari released a comprehensive box set consisting of 4 CDs, 2 DVDs and a book with tracks including some rare items from her back catalog including Bye Bye My Little Summer, Someone Like You and for the first time on CD, Heartless Woman. In April 2014 Mari performed an extended concert in Tokyo including 28 tracks which was filmed for WOWOW, the first private satellite broadcast pay television station in Japan. This was aired on Japanese television on 20 July 2014 including two interviews with Mari and was due to be released as a 2-DVD set and on Blu-ray disc in January 2015.

On August 16, 2014, Mari performed live at the Summer Sonic Festival, an annual two-day rock festival held at two venues simultaneously with bands switching venues for the second day. On 31 August, 3 September and 7 September 2014, Mari performed concerts with a symphony orchestra titled "Rock Queen Orchestra".

On October 11, 2015, Mari performed live at the Loud Park Festival. Special guest was Akira Takasaki (Guitar) from Loudness.

On January 13, 2016, Mari released her album Mission. At May 29th, 2016 she performed the last concert of the Mission Tour, which was filmed for a new DVD release.

On February 22, 2017, is the release of her new DVD Mission Tour. At July 18th, 2016 at her birthday she performed the last concert of the "Mission"-Tour, it was filmed for the new DVD release. The concert from May 29th, 2016 will not be released.

On August 1, 2018, Mari will release her new album Gracia and at October she starts her 35th Anniversary Tour.

Band lineup

• Mari Hamada (浜田麻里, Hamada Mari) - vocals
• Takashi Masuzaki (増崎孝司, Masuzaki Takashi) - guitars
• Yoichi Fujii (藤井陽一, Fujii Yoichi) - guitars
• Tomonori "You" Yamada (山田友則, Yamada Tomonori) - bass
• Satoshi "Joe" Miyawaki (宮脇知史, Miyawaki Satoshi) - drums
• Takanobu Masuda (増田隆宣, Masuda Takanobu) - keyboards
• Eri Hamada (浜田絵里, Hamada Eri) - background vocals
• Masafumi Nakao (中尾昌史, Nakao Masafumi) - keyboards & SE
• Nozomu Wakai - guitars

Discography

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Official site at Victor Entertainment (in Japanese)
• Official site at Tokuma Japan Communications (in Japanese)
• Official site at Tri-M Records (in Japanese)
• Mari Family - official fan club (in Japanese)
• Mari Hamada on Idollica