Rimi Natsukawa

is a Japanese singer. She is best known for her 2001 single "Nada Sōsō."

Childhood Natsukawa was born in Ishigaki, the largest city in the Yaeyama Islands chain. From a young age she enjoyed singing, and wanted to be a singer after hearing her father sing Yaeyama folk songs, such as and . From age 7, she practiced two hours a day with her father to become an enka singer. At 9, she won a local singing contest (the ). Natsukawa continued to win competitions, and in 1984 won the MBS TV show 's grand prize. In 1986, she won the 's grand prize, and was the youngest person to win this prize at the time. The song was released as her third single in March 2001.

Very slowly and steadily, the song started gaining popularity. It was a hit on Okinawan radio, and in May 2002 (over a year since its release) it first charted in the Oricon top 100 singles charts. Natsukawa released an EP of Okinawan cover songs, Minamikaze, in May, adding to the momentum. By June, the single had broken the top 50, and by July the top 20. Her debut album Tida: Tida Kaji nu Umui was released in September. Natsukawa was asked to perform the song at the 2002 Kōhaku Uta Gassen (New Year's song competition), which made the song break the top 10.

None of these three releases charted very highly, but they all charted extremely gradually. By the time Tida: Tida Kaji nu Umui and Minamikaze stopped charting (roughly two years later), they had sold 280,000/371,000 copies respectively. "Nada Sōsō" stopped charting a total of six years after its release, and sold over 680,000 copies.

In 2007, Natsukawa ended her contract with her production office. She continued to release music under Victor, however, such as her 5th album Umui Kaji.

Song Search At Natsukawa's concerts and at her website, she began asking for submissions from fans for songs they would like to hear her cover. The result of this was the project, where Natsukawa worked on covering mainly Japanese popular songs. This resulted in the album Uta Sagashi: Request Cover Album, her most successful release of her material since 2003.

Personal life Natsukawa married percussionist on January 1, 2009. Their first child, a boy, was born on August 20, 2010.

Discography

Studio albums 2002: Tida: Tida Kaji nu Umui 2003: Sora no Keshiki 2004: Kaze no Michi 2005: Ayakaji no Ne 2007: Umui Kaji 2009: Kokoro no Uta

Cover albums 2002: Minamikaze (EP) 2003: Famureuta (EP) 2007: Uta Sagashi: Request Cover Album 2010: Uta Sagashi: Asia no Kaze

Compilation albums 2004: Okinawa no Kaze 2005: Rimi Natsukawa Single Collection Vol. 1 2006: Rimits: Best Duet Songs 2006: Rimi Natsukawa Selection 2008: Ai no Uta: Self-Selection Best 2009: Okinawa Uta: Chikyū no Kaze o Kanjite 2010: Misato Hoshi Best Collection

Top 50 singles 2001: "Nada Sōsō" 2003: "Michishirube" 2003: "Tori yo" 2003: "Warabigami (Yamatoguchi)" 2004: "Kana yo Kana yo" 2004: "Kokoro Tsutae" 2005: "Sayōnara Arigatō" 2006: "Sayōnara Arigatō (Ama no Kaze)/Mirai"