Tomiko Van
Musical artist
Tomiko Van (伴 都美子, Ban Tomiko; born January 9, 1979), is a Japanese pop singer and occasional actress. She is as a member of the band Do As Infinity (DAI), along with Ryo Owatari and Dai Nagao, that has resumed activities after their 2005 split.
01Career
Do As Infinity
Beginnings as solo artist
Tomiko Van began as a solo artist while she was with Do As Infinity with the song "Again", which appeared on the charity album Song Nation, and later in 2003 with the song "Drive me nuts", which was recorded for trance DJs project Cyber X. Van also appeared in six commercials for the Japanese hair product company Lavenus.
Official solo career
2005
After Do As Infinity disbanded on September 29, 2005, Avex Trax, Van's label, announced that Van was going solo.
2006
In 2006, Van made her debut as a solo artist with her album Farewell. Singles were not released prior to her album, released in March 2006. Her first official single as a solo artist, "Flower", was released in June of the same year, and made the weekly top ten of the Japanese charts. Two other singles followed that year, "Senkō", in September, and "Yumeji", a late November release.
2007
Van began 2007 with her first cover album, Voice: Cover You With Love. The album was Van's only release that year. Tomiko van also acted in a movie Heat Island.
2008
In 2008, Van's third album and second cover album, Voice 2: Cover Lovers Rock, was released in March. In this album, she covered songs performed by male artists, such as Spitz and Masaharu Fukuyama. Despite her one-year hiatus from the music scene, the album charted at number 10 on the first day of release. Van's fourth solo single, "Tokyo Biyori", was released on June 18, 2008. Her second original album, Van, was released in December 2008.
On September 29, 2008, Do As Infinity officially reunited as a band, and released a four-track single on June 17, 2009.
02Personal life
Van married a man in September 2012, first publicly announcing her marriage at a Do As Infinity concert at Shibuya AX in Tokyo on September 29. As of 2016, she is the mother of two children. She divorced in July 2018.
03Discography
Singles
| Information | Sales |
|---|---|
"Flower"
|
24,230 copies sold |
"Senkō"
|
13,860 copies sold |
"Yumeji"
|
10,237 copies sold |
"Tokyo Biyori"
|
10,500 copies sold |
Albums
| Information | Sales |
|---|---|
Farewell
|
45,409 copies sold |
Voice: Cover You With Love
|
14,581 copies sold |
Voice 2: Cover Lovers Rock
|
7,979 copies sold |
Van.
|
8,852 copies sold |
Music videos
| Year | Song | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "Flower" | Masaki Ookita |
| "Hold Me..." | Ten Shimoyama | |
| "Farewell" | Naoto Kumasawa | |
| "Senkō" (閃光; Flash of Light) | Hiroshi Usui | |
| "Yumeji" (夢路; Dream Road) | Wataru Takeishi | |
| 2007 | "Yoru ni Kizutsuite" (夜に傷ついて; Hurt in the Night) | Wataru Takeishi |
| 2008 | "Cherry" | Ryuuji Seki |
| "Tokyo Biyori" (東京日和; Tokyo Weather) | Ryuuji Seki |
04Featured and collaborative releases
- "Drive Me Nuts" (Cyber X feat. Tomiko Van)
- "Truth'94 -Meets Tomiko Van-" (cover version of TRF's original song)
- "Again" (various artists album, Song Nation, an Avex project consisting of collaborations between many different Avex artists)
- "Music Flower" (Kohey Tsuchiya & various artists)
- "Velvet" (Kikkawa Kouji)
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Tomiko Van”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- DAI at shibuyaver.jpg by Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
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