Michiyo Heike

Michiyo Heike is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Mie, Osaka. She first become known after her appearance on the show Asayan in the late 1990s, becoming the first member of the future "Hello! Project". Heike currently goes by the mononym Michiyo.

After her graduation from high school in Osaka, Heike attended the "Sharam Q Rock Vocalist Audition" in early 1997. The auditions, held by Sharam Q vocalist Tsunku, were broadcast on Asayan between April and August on TV Tokyo. Heike was eventually chosen, out of almost ten thousand girls, as the winner of the competition. On November 5, Heike's debut single, produced by Sharam Q, was released on the Warner Music Japan label. The single, titled "Get", peaked at #24 on the weekly Oricon charts, charting for six weeks. Her first live event was held at the Nippon Budokan the next day to an audience of ten thousand. During this time, Tsunku had been preparing five of the runners up to begin their own group, Morning Musume. The two acts shared a joint fan club, known as "Hello!", later to become known as "Hello! Project". During this time, Heike was the only soloist. In 2000, Heike participated in shuffle unit Kiiro 5. In 2001, she was part of 7-nin Matsuri, and in July 2002 she was a member of Sexy 8.

Heike graduated from Hello! Project in November 2002, five years after her debut.

In 2004, she changed her stage name to Michyo and began a career as an indies songwriter. Her first indie album, titled "Jecica", was entirely self-written and was released on March 3.

On March 22, 2007 it was announced on her official website that she was pregnant and had married the father of the baby. On November 1, it was announced that she gave a birth to a baby-girl.