Mika Nakashima

Born on February 19, 1983 and raised in Kyūshū, Mika Nakashima is a Japanese singer, model, and actress. In 2005, Nakashima co-starred alongside Aoi Miyazaki in the live-action movie Nana, based on the manga of the same name, which was released September 10, 2005. She also sang one of the theme songs for the movie, which was released as a single under the name "Nana starring Mika Nakashima". The single, titled "Glamorous Sky," was written by the manga's author, Ai Yazawa, and composed by L'Arc-en-Ciel vocalist Hyde. It was Mika's first #1 single on the Oricon Singles Charts. This single sold over 423,000 copies in 2005, making it the best-selling female single of the year and the tenth highest selling in the world. The single continued selling well into the next year and sold 442,000 copies, which was about 25,000 copies less than her Nana co-star, Yuna Ito's "Endless Story". The single is featured in Konami's guitar/drum simulation game GuitarFreaks and Drummania V3, as well as Nintendo's Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2. Nakashima was nominated at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan as "Best BuzzAsia from Japan" for "Amazing Grace '05", and the "Glamorous Sky" video was nominated as "Best Female Video" and "Best Video from a Film". She won the "Best Video from a Film" award. Due to the success of Nana, a sequel was released in December, 2006, as well as new songs by Nakashima, again under the name Nana starring Mika Nakashima. The theme song to Nana 2 movie is "Hitoiro" (One Color), which is also written by Yazawa, while the music is composed by Glay's leader Takuro, who is also the author of the coupling song, "Eyes for the Moon." Besides the single, Mika released the album The End, featuring all her songs under the name Nana starring Mika Nakashima. I Don't Know is Nakashima Mika's 26th single. It is a collaboration with owarai group Morisanchū (森三中) and was released under the name MICA 3 CHU (Mikasanchuu), and her first single in English. The songs on the single are rock songs, and the single was marketed as Girls Angry Rock. The single was released in two versions: a limited edition CD+DVD version and a CD only version. The CD+DVD version also featured a picture label disc and a sticker. I Don't Know is Mika's first single sung entirely in English, and was used as the Kanebo Kate CM song. Mika's most recent single, Orion, was released on November 12, 2008. It would be used as an insert song for the TBS drama "Ryusei no Kizuna", which will also feature a role by Mika herself. Her fifth studio album, Voice, was released on November 26, 2008. Voice was the first album by Mika to top the Oricon Album Chart since Best in 2005, and sold over 155,000 copies in its first week of release.