Bird

bird
Origin	Japan
Genre(s)	J-pop, Jazz, R&B, Pop
Years active	1990s-present
Label(s)	Universal Music Japan
Associated acts	Mondo Grosso
Website	Official Website

Bird is the alias for the Japanese singer Kitayama Yuki (北山有紀^?, born December 9, 1975). She is known for her smooth voice and innovative style of combining elements of jazz, R&B, reggae, and latin music in her music.

History

Kitayama graduated from Notre Dame Academy, a girls-only high school in the Kansai region. She then attended Kansai University and graduated with a undergraduate degree in sociology. While she was in university, she was a member of the school's light music club.

She spent a year in New York after graduating. Returning to Osaka in the late 1990s, she started her singing career by singing at various jazz clubs. After achieving fame in the locality, she was discovered by record producer Shinichi Osawa, better known as Mondo Grosso.

In 1998, Kitayama was featured in Zeebra's Mirai e no Kagi (Osawa's Realized Mix) released in the mini-album The Rhyme Animal Remix EP.1. She came up with the alias Bird around this time because her head resembled a bird's nest during her debut ^{[disambiguation needed]}. Moreover, she expressed that she wanted her music to echo the song of small birds.

On March 20, 1999, she released her first single Souls on Osawa's label RealEyes. In July of the same year, Bird released her first eponymously titled album on the Sony Music Japan label, which sold over 700,000 copies and won her the award of Japan Gold Record for Newcomers.

After RealEyes became independent from Sony Records, Bird was able to become the lyricist and producer for her own music.

Bird is traditionally very secretive about her real name, marriage status, and family. However, she announced that she was pregnant in November of 2005, and gave birth to her first child on January 13th, 2006. Shuukan Post discovered that the father of the baby boy was Jun Miura, a manga artist and illustrator, with whom Bird has been living together since the end of 2006. According to reports, the pair does not wish to get married and hopes to live as partners.

Discography

Singles

1. SOULS (20 March 1999)
2. BEATS (30 June 1999)
3. 君の音が聴こえる場所へ (Kimi no Koe ga Kikoeru Basho e) (25 August 1999)
4. 空の瞳 (Sora no Hitomi) (6 October 1999)
5. 満ちてゆく唇 (Michite yuku Kuchibiru) (1 December 1999)
6. SOULS -Peach Bossa Mix- (21 January 2000)
7. GAME (1 April 2000)
8. オアシス (Oasis) (27 September 2000)
9. マインドトラベル (Mind Travel) (22 November 2000)
10. マーメイド3000 (Mermaid 3000) (31 January 2001)
11. 桜 (Sakura) (7 March 2001)
12. flow (22 August 2001)
13. ZERO (5 December 2001)
14. 私的パートナー (Shiteki Partner) (6 February 2002)
15. 散歩しよう (Sanpo Shiyo) (24 April 2002)
16. フラッシュ (Flash) (21 August 2002)
17. チャンス (Chance) (10 September 2003)
18. ハイビスカス (Hibiscus) (22 July 2004)
19. 髪をほどいて (Kami wo Hodoite) (1 September 2004)
20. 童神 (Warabe Kami) (24 August 2005)
21. ファーストブレス (First Breath) (28 June 2006)
22. SPARKLES (4 October 2006)
23. BATUCADA (11 July 2007)
24. サマーヌード / ダンシング・シスター (Summer Nude/Dancing Sister) (23 July 2008)

Other Singles

• LIFE (24 May 2000) - with Mondo Grosso
• LIFE (Main) (24 May 2000) - with Mondo Grosso

Albums

1. bird (23 July 1999)
2. bird －LIMITED SILVER EDITION－ (10 November 1999)
3. LIVE!tour 2000＋1 (23 May 2001) (Limited 100,000 pressings)
4. MINDTRAVEL (22 November 2000)
5. 極上ハイブリッド (Gokujo Hybrid) (6 March 2002)
6. DOUBLE CHANCE (8 October 2003)
7. vacation (23 September 2004)
8. bird's nest (28 September 2005) (Best of album)
9. BREATH (4 October 2006)
10. BIRDSONG EP -cover BEATS for the party- (28 November 2007)

DVD

1. tour 1999 LIVE! (23 March 2000)
2. 2000+1 live! (23 May 2001)
3. MG4V (with Mondo Grosso in Life) (25 July 2001)
4. clips! #1 (19 September 2001)
5. 2000+1 live! (17 December 2003)
6. clips! #2 (17 December 2003)

External links

This article contains Japanese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of kanji and kana.

• bird-watch - Official Site
• goo音楽 bird
• bird Watch Blog - Bird's blog (since December 1, 2004)
• Music Shelf Interview (Japanese)