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Kaori Kishitani (岸谷 香, Kishitani Kaori) (born February 17, 1967), formerly Kaori Okui (奥居 香, Okui Kaori), is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the all-female rock band Princess Princess and currently the lead vocalist of the band Unlock the Girls. In addition to her career as a musician, she has written songs for several J-pop artists.[1][2][3]
Biography
Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Kaori Okui dropped out of Tamagawa Seigakuin Girls' High School and Nakano Junior and Senior High School.[1][2][4]
In 1983, Okui, guitarist Kanako Nakayama, bassist Atsuko Watanabe, keyboardist Tomoko Konno, and drummer Kyōko Tomita won a band audition hosted by TDK Records and formed Akasaka Komachi. After releasing a handful of singles and an EP, the band left TDK Records and changed their name to Julian Mama in 1985 before settling with the name Princess Princess and signing with CBS Sony in 1986. The band's breakout year was in 1989, when "Diamonds" became the first of five consecutive singles to hit No. 1 on Oricon's singles chart. By the mid-1990s, however, their popularity waned, and in 1996, Princess Princess disbanded.[1][2]
After 16 years, Princess Princess reunited in November 2012 for several concerts in order to help with recovery from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[5] They performed six concerts: November 3 and 4 at the Sendai Sun Plaza Hall, then November 20, 21, 23 and 24 at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. In addition, the band performed at the Tokyo Dome on December 23 and 24, 2012, as well as the 2012 Kōhaku Uta Gassen on New Year's Eve. Princess Princess reunited again in 2016 for five concerts: March 11 to 13 at the Sendai Pit, and March 25 and 26 at the Toyosu Pit before once again parting ways.
Solo career
In 1994, Okui released her first solo singles "Kiseki no Toki" and "Vanishing"; she then released her solo debut album Renaissance on November 21. On March 4, 1995, one year prior to Princess Princess' disbandment, Okui held her first solo concert at NHK Hall. In 1997, after marrying actor Gorō Kishitani, she released her third single "Happy Man" and second album Shout. A year later, Okui released her third album Kaori.[1][2]
In 2018, Kishitani made an appearance as a guest artist at the annual touring ice show Fantasy on Ice, where she performed to the song "Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu" (lit. "The Hottest Summer in the World") in the show opening amongst others.[6]
Personal life
Okui married actor Gorō Kishitani in 1996 immediately after Princess Princess disbanded. After giving birth to her first son in the summer of 2001, she took her husband's surname as her professional name. Kishitani gave birth to her daughter in the summer of 2003.[1][2]