Nanase Aikawa

Yumemiru Shoujo ja Irarenai

After she released her first single in November, 1995, Aikawa released three more singles, and then her first full album Red in 1996, which sold more than two million copies in its first month, and saw her named “the brightest star” in female rock. That album won her an invitation to perform in NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen. Since then, she released about an album each year, plus an average of three mini-albums or maxi-singles. Her second album, ParaDOX, was released in July 1997, selling 1.8 million copies, and coincided with her first concert tour Live Emotion ’97 (consisting of 20 concert dates, attracting a total of 65,000 fans, according to avex). July 1998 saw her third album Crimson, and another concert tour with over 40 concert dates. Her 1999 release, ID, was a compilation album, but it debuted at number one on the rock chart, her fourth consecutive album to release in the number one slot. In the year 2001, she released a ballad-style mini-album, recorded during her later months of pregnancy.

At the 11th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards, Aikawa’s album Red was voted the Best Album (Japanese Rock and Folk music, female vocalist category). Her album ParaDOX was voted Best Album of the Year, at the 12th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards.