UA

Overview

UA (Ua, born Kaori Shima; legal name Kaori Hasegawa) is a Japanese singer born on March 11, 1972 in Osaka Prefecture, and now based in Canada. She debuted in 1995 on Victor's SPEEDSTAR RECORDS with the single "HORIZON". Blending soul, jazz, reggae, dub, electronica and world music, she drew attention from the start with a melancholic yet untamed voice. She is the vocalist of AJICO, formed with Kenichi Asai, and also performed on NHK's children's program Do Re Mi no TV as the "song sister" ううあ (Uua). Actor Nijiro Murakami is her eldest son.

Career

Before debut

She was captivated as a child by kayokyoku and children's songs, then listened to Yellow Magic Orchestra and Japanese punk, and discovered club music and global sounds in high school. Inspired by Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin, she decided to become a singer; her biggest Western female influence is Björk. After studying graphic design at an art junior college, she worked at a design company before taking a job at an Osaka jazz club to fund film studies. She began singing there and was scouted. Her stage name comes from a Swahili word meaning "flower" and "kill"; she later kept only the meaning "flower".

1990s

In June 1995 she debuted with "HORIZON", produced by Hiroshi Fujiwara and Hirofumi Asamoto. Her fourth single "Jōnetsu" (June 1996) was a smash hit, and her first album 11 (October 1996) sold over 800,000 copies. She married actor Jun Murakami in 1996 and gave birth to son Nijiro in 1997. She followed with Ametora (1998) and Turbo (1999), and in 1999 became the first Japanese female artist to play the Green Stage at FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL.

2000s

In 2000 she formed the rock band AJICO with Kenichi Asai, going on hiatus after a 2001 tour. In 2002 she released "Senkō", her first self-composed single (produced by Rei Harakami), and the album Dorobō; her lead-role film debut Woman of Water opened in October, winning the Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. In 2003 she released her first compilation Illuminate: The Very Best Songs, scored the film Sharasōju (a Cannes competition entry), and from April until March 2006 appeared as ううあ on Do Re Mi no TV. In 2004 she released Sun and the children's-song collection Utauua. For her 10th anniversary in 2005 she released Breathe and the collaboration compilation Nephews, contributed a theme song to the film Kūchū Teien, and sang as guest vocalist with Fishmans at Rising Sun Rock Festival. In 2006 she made Cure Jazz with saxophonist Naruyoshi Kikuchi and divorced Murakami. In 2007 she released Golden Green and appeared in Hitoshi Matsumoto's Dai Nipponjin. In 2008 she remarried (to Hibi Hasegawa) and had a daughter; her collaboration with Kurikoda Quartet, "PoPo Loouise", aired on NHK's Minna no Uta. She released the single "2008" in December and the album Atta in July 2009, played FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL '09, and performed a one-night show with Fishmans at SWEET LOVE SHOWER 2009.

2010s

In 2010 she released the live album Haluto Live (April) and, for her 15th anniversary, the cover album KABA (June). She moved to Yanbaru in northern Okinawa in 2011 and had a third child. In 2012 she co-founded Tidanowa, a group concerned with food safety, and held a support event for victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake; she also covered "Hoshikage no Komichi" for the film Sono Yoru no Samurai. She performed in Hong Kong with Gay Bird in 2013, reunited with Kikuchi in 2014 for the first time in eight years, and moved with her family to an island in Canada around 2014–2015, living between there and Tokyo. She marked her 20th anniversary in 2015 and guested on Towa Tei's CUTE. In 2016 she released JaPo, her first original album in seven years, and toured as "HELLO HAPPY JAPONESIA TOUR". In 2017 she began a correspondence column with Yuri Nomura for Asahi Shimbun Digital &w, in 2018 started a regular radio show on α-station (FM Kyoto), and in 2019 held the "WATASHIAUWA tour".

2020s

She celebrated her 25th anniversary in June 2020. In 2021 AJICO reunited after 20 years, releasing the EP Setsuzoku; the tour sold out instantly and the band made its first FUJI ROCK appearance. UA × Kikuchi also performed again after seven years. In January 2022 she held the "25th→→→30th Anniversary Live", and in May released the neo-pop-themed EP Are U Romantic? with guests including Shigeru Kishida, Kj, Hanaregumi, Kaho Nakamura and others. In August 2022 she played Aretha Franklin in the musical Janis. In 2023 she wrote the lyrics for the Kamiyama Marugoto College of Technology school song "KAMIYAMA" (music by Ryuichi Sakamoto) and released "Ainiikou", used in a JR Tokai commercial. In March 2024 AJICO released the EP Love no Genkei and toured nationwide with 12 shows. In June 2025 she celebrated her 30th anniversary with concerts in Osaka and Tokyo, and appeared in the NHK drama Kasei no Joō in December. Listed for 2026 are the album Newme and her autobiography, published on March 13.

Musical style

Rooted in club music, her sound moves freely across soul, jazz, reggae, dub, electronica and folk traditions from around the world, anchored by a voice that is both melancholic and wild. She has explored jazz with Naruyoshi Kikuchi, rock with AJICO, children's songs, covers and neo-pop, and has extended her work into film, soundtrack and lyric writing.