Name:平家充代 (Heike Michiyo)
Stage names: 平家みちよ(Heike Michiyo), みちよ(Michiyo)
Date of birth: April 6th, 1979
Place of birth: Osaka, Japan
Official site | Official blog (taken down, 2011)
Michiyo is a Japanese singer and a former actress.
She started her career as a solo singer winning a singing contest on a show called ASAYAN in 1997.
In 2007 Michiyo gave birth to a baby girl, and withdrew from show business.
History
In 1997, an audition program called «Sharan Q Rock Vocalist Audition» were held in association with ASAYAN. ASAYAN was a tv show aiming at producing new music artists, and the band Sharan Q, with their lead man Tsunku, were looking for a female vocalist to join their group.
The finale of the show was on September 7th, 1997. In the final episode the number of girls were down to 11. All girls were singing an original song, penned by Tsunku, called «GET.» Michiyo would eventually win the whole audition (despite forgetting the lyrics to the song in the final). Plans were, however, diverted. Michiyo didn’t end up being in the band, but was given a solo career instead.
She debuted in november 1997 with the single «GET» (the song she had sung winning the ASAYAN finals). It sold almost 80.000 copies, and is her best selling single to this date.
In addition to being a solo artist, she also hosted the tv-show «Idol wo Sagase», a reality / infotainment show, together with Yuko Nakazawa from 1998 to 2002. The same year, she also starred in the movie «Morning Cop» and contributed to the sound-track of the movie.
Michiyo continued releasing singles with a rock-ish pop-sound, until the relase of her 7th single. Tsunku, who was the head of the band Sharan Q, had now several artists under his wings and called his management Hello!Project. Michiyo Heike was a part of this ensemble, and in 2000 Tsunku decided to shuffle all the artists he managed, so Michiyo ended up being in a 5nin shuffle group called kiiro 5.
With a renewed push, Tsunku produced her 7th single (her other singles were produced by Hatake, a fellow band-member of Tsunku) which sold better than her previous singles.
This also marked a change in her music’s sound, which from now on would be more pop-ish.
She released four more singles within Hello! Project, was in shuffle groups, and in 2001 she was among the cast for the musical «Love Century», before graduating the following year. Her graduation concerts, «Heike Michiyo – Hello!Pro sotsugyou LIVE», was held on November 1st to November 7th in 2002.
After her graduation she remained out of the spotlight for a few years, before releasing her first independent album as a solo artist in 2004. It is entitled «JECICA», and is released by the record label Sweet Hysteria Records. Heike Michiyo aslo changed her stage name to Michiyo (みちよ) to re-launch herself. The same year she held a concert called «JECICA hatsubai kinenbi higashi saka Tour ’05″ (one thing she didn’t abandon when graduating; looong tour names xD).
Six months later she released a dvd called «Sweets of JECICA» with three music videos and a documentary, only for sale through her web site.
In the beginning of 2005 Michiyo released a fan club only single entitled «ran RUN ran»,
and the following month she released her second solo album, «koimizuki».
Following the album she went on a tour called «koimizuki hatsubai kinenbi higashi saka Tour ’05″. She had another tour later the same year called «Michiyo Tour 2005 «unaffected»". Another single was released at the end of the year, and a tour with it called «Michiyo Tour 2005 «unaffected»".
Her third solo album was released the summer the following year. It is entitled «Fantasia», and is her last music release to this date.
In March of 2007, it was announced that Michiyo was pregnant, and in November she gave birth to a baby girl. The same year she had a commemoration concert to celebrate her 11th year in the music industry.
In late 2008 and early 2009 she released three talk cd with Nami Yoshikawa, called «Nami-chan to Michiyo no KIRAKIRA ☆ TALK» Vol.1, Vol.2 and Vol.3. In addition to the release of these cds, in early 2009 Michiyo was a guest at a Melon Kinenbi show, and in late 2009 she wished Taiyo to Ciscomoon good luck before their first concert in 8 years.
In 2011, Michiyo’s blog was shut down, and she hasn’t released any music or had any shows since. I am guessing she is focusing on being a home maker and spending time with her husband raising her kid.