The Okinawa-born JPop singer Shimabukuro Hiroko started her music career in 1996 with the girl group SPEED. Even though she was the youngest of the four members (being twelve at that time), she was the lead vocalist and also the most popular in the group.
She took the first few steps into the direction of a solo career in 1998, when she released her first solo song Mitsumete Itai as a b-side to SPEED's single ALL MY TRUE LOVE.
SPEED finally disbanded in 2000, and it was no surprise when she launched a solo-career, simply calling herself Hiro. Her first single As Time Goes By was released in the Summer of 1999. The release was highly successful selling over 800,000 copies.
After releasing a number of singles, she released her first album Brilliant in 2001. Her next album, Naked and True was released the following year. Both of them ranked well in the charts, number one and four respectively.
Hiro also won the 'Japan Record Awards' three times for her releases Treasure (2000), Your innocence (2001), and Eternal Place (2002).
In between recording, performing and appearing on radio stations and TV shows, the young pop star also found some time to reunite SPEED temporarily for two occasions (even though each former member was pursuing their own solo career as well). The first time they worked together again was in 2001 for the release of One more dream and they worked together once again in 2003 as a part of a charity project.
Two important things happened for Hiro in 2004. First of all, in April she was sent to the American convention Sakura-con to hold a performance there. Following that in August 2004, she released a jazz album under the name of Coco d'Or. All of the songs were in English and the album featured covers of popular songs including Frank Sinatra's Fly me to the moon and Summertime by Ella Fitzgerald.
Her latest release so far is the single Itsuka Futari De, in August 2006. After that, she participated in a musical but currently it seems silent around the young singer, so we're waiting patiently to see what the future will bring for Hiro!
