| DOUBLE The two dynamic sisters known as DOUBLE (Sachiko and Takako) debuted on the music scene in 1998 with the slow jam �gFor Me�h. It took people of guard. Here were two beautiful Japanese women with great voices, singing in an R&B style and doing it well. They aimed to recreate the US mainstream R&B sound and made a great start of it. With native level English pronunciation they blended English and Japanese lyrics seamlessly and made it sound effortless. At the same time their vocals and choruses were so well done they almost seemed to be singing as one. They began to build a great following and were all set for their first full CD release. However, in 1999 tragedy struck. Just before the release of their first album (Crystal), older sister Sachiko was stricken by a brain aneurysm and died�c. Later Takako decided to continue on without her sister, but kept the name they debuted with. In 2000, Takako (now known as Double) released the singles �gHandle�h and �gU�h, which were received well. But it wasn�ft until the summer of 2002 that Double really established herself in the mainstream J-pop scene with the single �gWho�fs that girl?�h. This straight up R&B song about a woman who sees her boyfriend with another girl was an instant hit as well as a successful video. Double released the hit album �gVision�h later that same year. This culminated with the nomination of �gWho�fs that girl�h for best R&B video at the MTV video music awards Japan in 2003. Now Double is still going strong after another successful album release �gWonderful�h last year. She is also featured on M-Flo�fs latest album �gAstromantic�h. How far will the now Queen of J-R&B go? Only time will tell. |