Ritsuko Okazaki was born in Hashima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture on 29 December 1959. She was 1.58m tall and was born left-handed. During her childhood, she was forced by her mother to use her right hand. However, after hearing that it was bad to force her to use her right hand, her mother quickly advised her to use her natural hand.
During her school days, she spent lots of time in the bakery where she worked part time, and practiced with her band, Eleanor. She was then in charge of the chorus and piano.On May 5, 2004, Ritsuko Okazaki died suddenly at the age of 44 from septic shock as a result of septicemia. She was unable to speak any last words, and left her work unfinished. Before that, she was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2003 but still continued with her work. During this time there was little information released about her. The news was revealed to the public in the liner notes of the CD soundtrack re-release of the visual novel Symphonic Rain, which was released a year after her death.
Utada Hikaru
Hikaru Utada was born in Manhattan as the only child of Teruzane Utada, a Japanese record producer, and his wife Junko Utada, an enka singer, performing under the stage name Keiko Fuji. She did her recordings with her mother, releasing songs under a band named “U3” (also known as Utada 3) until 1996 when she started her first solo project, "I'll be Stronger." The "Cookin' With Moses Vocal" from this project was called the "Cookin' With Gas Vocal" on the promotional release.
"I'll Be Stronger" was the first song Utada wrote. It was released under the artist name "Cubic U", a mathematical reference to her being the third Utada 'power', which was Hikaru's pseudonym before becoming a superstar in Japan. The song was not released in the United States, and in 1997, she started her next project, though at first she was hesitant. Cubic U released her debut single "Close to You", which was a cover of The Carpenters' song. She then released her debut album Precious.
She released Precious in Japan on January 28, 1998, and then later re-released it on March 31, 1999.
