Tomomi Kahala

After a period of sickness, Kahara's talent agency terminated her contract on June 29, 2007.

• Name — Tomomi Kahara • Birth Name — Shimogawara Tomomi • Born — 17 August 1974 • Birthplace — Koto, Tokyo, Japan • Occupation — * Singer-songwriter • model • actress • Other Names — Tomomi Kahala • Children — 1

Kahara was born in Koto, Tokyo in 1974. She attended Showa Gakuin Elementary, Shoin Junior, and Senior High School. She started her horse-riding lesson when she was three, and later received the 4th place in the National Sports Festival of Japan in 1992. Before she started her career as a singer, she worked as a model, and appeared in fashion magazines such as CanCam and Vivi as well as TV shows.

While working with Tetsuya Komuro, her first single "Keep Yourself Alive", was released in late 1995. It sold over 360,000 copies and went Top 10, peaking at No. 8. Her second single, "I Believe", was her first million-seller and added to her popularity. In March 1996, she released the single "I'm Proud" which peaked at No. 2 and was her best-selling single. It outsold Namie Amuro's singles released that year. In June 1996, she finally released her first album, Love Brace, a collection of songs about love and stated by Tetsuya Komuro to be his best work to date. It was a huge success selling over 2.5 million copies, half of them within the first week of release. Already a big star, she and Tetsuya Komuro became an item and she continued to release singles, all peaking at 1. In December 1997, she finally released her second album, Storytelling. It went to the top of the charts and sold 1.37 million copies, much less than the 2.5 million copies that her previous album has sold.

Since the release of Storytelling, her popularity began to decline and her relationship with her mentor, Tetsuya Komuro, was in every tabloid. Gossip magazines rumored that both of them were abusing drugs and that their relationship was beginning to fall apart. Her next single tumblin dice went only to the number-two position. Her music did not reach the top position again. Her next album, nine cubes, sold a depressing 261,000 copies, much less than her first two albums. Her breakup with Tetsuya Komuro, frequent scandals, and suicide attempts shed her in a negative light in the conservative Japanese media. She finally left her record company, who released a compilation which sold well, over 600,000 copies and debuted at No. 1. At that time, gossip magazines were labeling rising-star, Ami Suzuki, as Kahara's replacement. After some time relaxing after the scandals, Tomomi Kahara resumed her career at Warner writing her own lyrics.

After Komuro, Kahara worked with a variety of producers at Warner Music Japan, including American Andy Marvel (Diana King, Jessica Simpson) and recorded songs by Gary Carolla (N Sync) and Vincent Degiorgio (N Sync, Atomic Kitten, Love, Inc., Mink, Nakano Mori Band) which appeared on her albums One Fine Day and Love Again, released in 1999 and 2001, respectively. In 2004, Kahara signed with Universal Music Japan. (Now credited as Kahara. formerly Kahala.) Her most recent recordings for Universal Music Japan have shown her in a dazzling and sultry light with some of her best vocal performances to date. She covered some of her biggest hits and also recorded new songs from Korean and Japanese composers as well as pop standards such as "Ben", a cover version of the song by Michael Jackson. Her best-selling album at Universal sold a little over 50,000 copies and her latest album, Naked, sold only 12,000 copies, but she was still be seen in the media. In 2006, after years of average fame, Tomomi Kahara returned briefly to the spotlight. She starred in a musical and her latest photobook, Crystallize II, which came with two strawberry condoms, sold unexpectedly well. She was one of the voice actors for the 'Sound of Music' Japanese DVD and she sang the theme song for a NHK Taiga drama.

On June 29, 2007, Kahara canceled her contract with Ogipro after repeated personal issues began affecting her professional appearances. Following this, she went on hiatus, and it was uncertain whether she would return to the entertainment industry. On November 4, 2008, Tetsuya Komuro was arrested. According to the Japanese weekly magazine Josei Jishin, Kahara was reportedly shocked by the news and suffered from insomnia. On January 17, 2009, she was hospitalized after allegedly taking an excessive amount of tranquilizers. On October 30, 2011, Kahara announced her intention to return to the entertainment industry. She began taking vocal and acting lessons in preparation. By the end of 2012, she made her comeback with a live appearance on the FNS TV program. On April 17, 2013, she released a new single titled Dreamed a Dream. This was followed by a self-cover album titled Dream: Self-Cover Best, released on June 26, 2013. In August 2013, following the suicide of Hikaru Utada's mother, Kahara sparked controversy by stating that she wished to create a song about the event. Her comment was widely criticized as being insensitive. In 2016, Kahara appeared as a guest artist in the Japanese touring ice show Fantasy on Ice, where she performed live in collaboration with various figure skaters during tour stops in Makuhari and Sapporo.

List of singles, with selected chart positions • Year — Single — Peak chart positions — Sales — Label — Formats • JPN Physical • 1995 — "Keep yourself alive" — 8 — 370,000 — Orumok Records — CD, digital download, streaming • "I Believe" — 1 — 1,028,490 — CD, digital download, streaming • 1996 — "I'm proud" — 2 — 1,390,440 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Love Brace" — 6 — 255,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Save your dream" — 1 — 808,570 — CD, digital download, streaming • 1997 — "Hate tell a lie" — 1,058,610 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Love is all music" — 653,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Tanoshiku Tanoshiku" Yasashikune" — 416,560 — CD, digital download, streaming • 1998 — "I wanna go" — 20 — 48,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "You Don't give up" — 20 — 66,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Tumblin' dice" — 2 — 189,000 — Warner Music Japan — CD, digital download, streaming • "Here we are" — 5 — 156,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Daily News" — 13 — 58,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • 1999 — "as A person" — 6 — 287,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Be Honest" — 12 — 51,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • 2000 — "Believe In Future ~Mayonaka no Cinderella~" — 28 — 29,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Blue Sky" — 55 — 6,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • 2001 — "Never Say Never" — 10 — 79,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Precious" — 32 — 14,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Anata no Kakera" — 36 — 13,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • 2002 — "Akiramemashou" — 28 — 22,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • 2003 — "Pleasure" — 55 — 4,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • 2004 — "Anata Ga Ireba" — 15 — 33,000 — Universal Music Japan — CD, digital download, streaming • 2005 — "Namida No Tsuzuki" — 30 — 13,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • 2006 — "Hana/Keep on Running" — 37 — 8,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • "Ano sayonara ni sayonara wo" — 46 — 5,000 — CD, digital download, streaming • 2013 — "Yume Yaburete -I Dreamed a Dream-" — 13 — - — CD, digital download, streaming • 2016 — "Kimi ga Sobe de" — 46 — - — CD, digital download, streaming

List of singles, with selected chart positions • Year — Single — Peak chart positions — Sales — Label — Formats • JPN Physical • 2003 — "Arigatou ne!" *with Hiroshi Takigawa — 145 — 2,000 — Tokuma Japan — CD

• Year — Single — Reference • 2022 — "Carry's son" • 2023 — "Change my everything"

• Title — Album details — Peak chart positions — Sales (JPN) • JPN Oricon • Love Brace — * Released: June 3, 1996 * Label: Orumok Records * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 1 — 2,571,210 • Storytelling — * Released: December 24, 1997 * Label: Orumok Records * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 2,000,000 • Nine cubes — * Released: November 26, 1998 * Label: Warner Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 5 — 400,000 • One Fine Day — * Released: November 25, 1999 * Label: Warner Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 7 — 56,530 • Love Again — * Released: November 21, 2001 * Label: Warner Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 26 — 11,370 • Naked — * Released: June 29, 2005 * Label: Universal Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 30 — 11,944

• Title — Album details — Peak chart positions — Sales (JPN) • JPN Oricon • Kahala Compilation — * Released: February 10, 1999 * Label: Orumok Records * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 1 — 695,730 • Best Selection — * Released: September 27, 2001 * Label: Warner Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 23 — 21,860 • Natural Breeze: Kahala Best 1998-2002 — * Released: July 17, 2002 * Label: Warner Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 37 — 7,620 • Super Best Singles~10th Anniversary — * Released: December 14, 2005 * Label: NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 65 — 5,012 • All Time Singles Best — * Released: June 26, 2015 * Label: Universal Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 9 — - • All Time Selection Best — * Released: June 26, 2015 * Label: Universal Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 29 — -

• Title — Album details — Peak chart positions — Sales (JPN) • JPN Oricon • Dream: Self Cover Best — * Released: June 26, 2013 * Label: Universal Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 15 — -

• Title — Album details — Peak chart positions — Sales (JPN) • JPN Oricon • Memories: Kahara Covers — * Released: March 12, 2014 * Label: Universal Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 10 — - • Memories 2: Kahara All Time Covers — * Released: October 1, 2014 * Label: Universal Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 9 — - • Memories 3: Kahara Back to 1995 — * Released: December 2, 2015 * Label: Universal Music Japan * Formats: CD, digital download, streaming — 30 — -

• No. — Release — Title — Formats • 1st — December 12, 2001 — Tomomi Kahala First Live — DVD, VHS • 2nd — December 7, 2005 — 10th Anniversary Celebration Concert 2005 — DVD, VHS

• No. — Release — Title — Formats • 1st — March 27, 2002 — very best of Music Clips — VHS