OLIVIA's bio

OLIVIA was born Olivia Lufkin on December 9th 1979 to an American father and a Japanese mother in Okinawa, Japan. She is the eldest of three children, and her sister Caroline is also in the music industry in America on the Temporary Residence record label. Due to the fact that her father was in the American military the family move back and forth from Okinawa and America. As a child and teenager she did well academically, and took part in many extracurricular activities such as soccer, piano, guitar, and also took voice lessons. She also attended the famous Okinawa Actors School which was attended by some of the most famous Japanese pop acts of the nineties such as Namie Amuro, SPEED, MAX, and Rina Chinen. Olivia rose quickly through the ranks.

In 1996, while performing at Okinawa Actors School Olivia was spotted by the boss of Rising Productions (now known as Vision Factory). He asked Olivia to become a member of their latest pop group called Dance&Dream (also known as D&D)which Olivia agreed to. The group was composed of three girls, Olivia, Aya, and Chika. They were signed to Avex and released their debut single, "In Your Eyes", on August 21, 1996,they quickly received huge success. In 1998 Olivia caught the eye of famous japanese producer Testuya Komuro, who at the time was working with French Composer Jean Michel Jarre. They were producing a song for the France '98 FIFA World Cup, and they asked Olivia to sing the song. The single "Together Now" was released on April 22nd, 1998.

In September 1998, after releasing six singles and an album with D&D, Olivia announced that she was leaving to start a solo career. She released her first single, I.L.Y -desire-, on February 3rd, 1999. This is is one of two "Idol" singles that Olivia released, meaning that she did not write or compose any of the songs. The single came as a surprise to her fans as it was a Hard Rock song, as opposed to the Eurobeat style of D&D. Her next single Re-act , also one of her "Idol" singles, was stylistically similar. Both singles received good reviews and received modest success. She released four more singles, all of which received excellent reviews, proving that she was capable of success as a solo artist.
Shortly after the release of her single "Color of your Spoon" Olivia became the DJ on the H.I.S. World Trax radio show in which she played hit songs from around the world and also one of her own. The show aired every Friday until March 28th 2003. In late 2000 Olivia released her debut album synchronicity. The album featured a wide array of genres from Jazz, to Rock, to electronica. If you notice, the tracks are placed so each song on the album has a letter in its title that is a letter in the word synchronicity.

After the release of synchronicity, Olivia took a brief hiatus, during witch she switch from Avex Tracks to Cutting edge, a more alternative rock oriented label. On December 5th, 2001, Olivia released the single Sea Me. The song had a Pop-Rock feel, and the b-side of the single featured an electronica cover of Toto's "Africa". Almost a year later Olivia released the single "Into The Stars".
In 2003, Olivia release the mini album "Internal Bleeding Strawberry". The mini album featured new versions of her songs like a Gaelic version of Color of your Spoon. The title track featured a new style that Olivia would use in her next four releases. After Internal Bleeding Strawberry Olivia went on to release three more mini albums which had an Industrial/Heavy Metal sound. On February 18, 200 Olivia released her second album titled "The Lost Lolli", which contained nine songs from her mini albums along with two new songs and new versions of Sea Me and Into The Stars.

After releasing The Lost Lolli Olivia went on an unofficial hiatus for nearly two and a half years. She made no appearances except in magazines and a performance at the "Halloween of the Living Dead" concert hosted by Hyde. In March 2006 it was announced that Olivia would return from her hiatus. She was to provide the vocals for Reira Serizawa as part of the anime adaption of the popular manga NANA.She would produce songs for the show under the name OLIVIA 'inspi REIRA TRAPNEST alongside singer Anna Tsuchiya who was to sing the part of Nana Osaki in the anime.

Olivia released the single a little pain as the first single from OLIVIA 'inspi REIRA TRAPNEST on June 28th 2006. The single peaked at number 7 on the Oricon Charts, higher than any of her previous releases. She continued to release songs for NANA throughout 2006. Following the success of these releases Olivia made her first United States appearance and the Pacific Media Expo Held in Los Angeles California.
On January 17th 2007 Olivia returned as OLIVIA to release her mini album "The Cloudy Dreamer". The mini album featured more Pop-Rock songs similar to her NANA music. The album debuted at number 15 on the Oricon charts, her highest selling album to date. On September 17, 2008 Olivia release another mini album titled Trinka Trinka.

In interviews about the mini album Olivia explained that when naming the album and it's title track she wanted a word that represented excitement or "giggle trail". The mini album had very whimsical songs and a poppy sound. In December 2008 it was announced that Olivia would collaborate with INORAN on a single titled "Sailing Free". Sailing Free was released on April 15 2009, and was Olivia's first single in three years. The single featured three pop rock songs Sailing Free, Love Love Love, and Undress. close