Anri

Who is Anri?

Anri, real name Eiko Kawashima, is a Japanese singer and singer-songwriter, born in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. She has written much of her own music as well as singing songs written by others such as her debut release Oribia o Kikinagara, by Amii Ozaki. Her song "Cat's Eye" was used as the first opening theme for the eponymous 1983 anime series Cat's Eye and debuted as #1 on Countdown Japan. It was one of the first J-pop songs used as an anime theme song, and it was included in a recent Dance Dance Revolution game. Her popularly increased following her appearance at the Red and White New Year's Music Special at the end of that same year.

Other hit songs include Summer Candles and Dolphin Ring, both of which became standard songs played at Japanese wedding and receptions. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Anri's albums were bestsellers. She is often cited as being one of the first Japanese singers to fuse Britain and American music into j-pop. She has highly successful tours—one with attendance of almost 100,000—and toured Hawaii for the first time in 1987. She was given a boost by singing the closing theme for the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano.