Miz
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224579242
2008-07-09T14:34:33Z
Kbdankbot
6505923
Robot - move category per [[WP:CFD|CFD]] [[Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2008 June 26|2008 June 26]]
{{Inappropriate tone|date=December 2007}}
:{{otheruses}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
| Name = Miz
| Img =
| Img_capt =
| Img_size = 150
| Landscape =
| Background = solo_singer
| Birth_name = Watanabe Mizuki (渡辺みづき)
| Alias =
| Born = {{birth date and age|1981|3|6}}
| Died =
| Origin = [[Kitami, Hokkaido|Kitami]], [[Hokkaidō]], [[Japan]]
| Instrument =
| Voice_type =
| Genre = [[J-Rock]]<br>[[J-Pop]]
| Occupation =
| Years_active = 2003–present
| Label = [[Victor Entertainment]]<br>[[Reactive Songs Int.]]<br>[[Scandinavian Songs]]
| Associated_acts =
| URL =
| Current_members =
| Past_members =
| Notable_instruments =
}}
'''Miz''' (Watanabe Mizuki, 渡辺みづき) is a [[Japanese people|Japanese]] pop/rock singer born in [[Kitami, Hokkaidō]], [[Japan]]. She was born on March 6, 1981, and currently juggles music careers in [[Sweden]] and in Japan. Though most of her music is released in Japan, she chose her central location for recording as Sweden, a little island called [[Gotland]]. She mainly does promotional videos, photo shoots, and recording there.
== Profile ==
* '''Artist Name:''' Miz
* '''Real Name:''' 渡辺みづき (Watanabe Mizuki) (Rumored to actually be Tsukiko Katayama){{Fact|date=April 2007}}
* '''Birthdate:''' March 6, 1981 (Rumored to be April 21){{Fact|date=April 2007}}
* '''Birthplace:''' [[Hokkaidō]], [[Japan]]
* '''[[Japanese theory of blood type personality|Blood Type]]:''' B
* '''Favorite Artists:''' [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]], [[Lauryn Hill]], [[The Cranberries]], [[Anastacia]], [[Sarah Brightman]], [[The Corrs]], [[Natalie Imbruglia]], [[The Cardigans]], [[Fiona Apple]], [[The Rasmus]], [[U2]], [[Garbage (band)|Garbage]], [[LeAnn Rimes]], [[Toni Braxton]]
== Biography ==
At a very young age, Miz has expressed a great interest and talent in music. She always wanted to become one of the singers she hears on the radio, but living in such a rural area as [[Hokkaidō]], there were very few opportunities for her. One of Miz's biggest hobbies during her high school years was going to a local beauty salon. And since she was a regular customer, she had become very good friends with the salon manager.
It was at that time when there was an idol audition being held, and posters were being put up in over 20,000 beauty salons all over Japan. Miz had kept looking over the poster, and the salon manager realized this. So she decided to suggest that Miz enter the contest. Hundreds of people competed, but in the end, Miz was the winner.
Immediately postponing her other plans in life, she decided to chase after her musical dreams. After graduating high school, she moved to [[Tokyo]] and soon after that, she was signed under ''Universal Victor''. Under a stage name, Mizuki Watanabe, she released ''I WILL'', her debut single. Following that, she also released another single called ''Ambition'', but she wasn't asked to release anything else after that. Both singles are now out of print in most Japanese CD stores.
After the release of Ambition, her brief career ended. However, she would not give up. She kept taking singing lessons at a studio, and eventually made a demo tape with the help of a writer. Soon, she was introduced to a producer named Tord Backstrom.
Tord Backstrom was looking for someone to perform a song written by a Swedish writer and upon searching, he found Miz. Immediately, he knew Miz had what it took to become a star. In the year 2003, Miz was on her way to [[Sweden]] to meet her creative team. They were very surprised once they met her, and they weren't even sure whether she was Japanese or not. This was because she spoke English very well, better than most common Japanese people, and she liked to give hugs (normally, Japanese women like to keep to their own space)!
First, they had planned to release some music in Sweden. Her Swedish debut single, ''Waiting'', hit charts soon after and debuted at #8. Soon enough, an album was also released. ''Story Untold'' emerged on the scene on September 22, 2004 and contains 10 all-English songs.
By that time, she had also released some other music. Her Japanese re-debut single ''New Day'' came out that same year. At that time, most of the biggest names in [[J-Pop]] were high-pitched, nasally singers. This was not the case for Miz. She was a fresh new face re-appearing in Japan, and people fell in love with her rich, strong voice. New Day debuted at #20 on [[Oricon]] charts. To promote her first Japanese album, Say It's Forever, Miz was invited to a [[Channel V]]-hosted concert in [[Taiwan]] along with other local and foreign artists, she performed 3 songs, New Day, Waiting for, and Say It's Forever. Also, she attended a show [[AIUEO]] to gain more publicity in her short visit, the host was apparently her friend before she made her major debut in Japan. She became one of the most popular Japanese artists in Taiwan that year.
Since that day, Miz has been steadily releasing her music up to today. She writes most of her original Japanese lyrics, and is becoming quite fluent in English, that pretty soon she could be writing her own English songs also.
After releasing her second album ''Mizrock'' in February 2006, Miz disappeared for a long while. In May 2007, however, her official website was updated with news of a new release coming in July. Other websites such as ORICON and Tower Records confirmed this news, listing a mini-album titled ''Good bye, yesterday'' to be released under the name "Mizrock." It is also with this album that Miz moved from Victor Interactive to Nayutawave Records.
In June 2007, "Good bye, yesterday" from her "Good bye, yesterday" album was used as the second ending song for the popular anime, Romeo X Juliet.
October 2007 she released a new single, "Best Friend" and in February 2008 she will release another single titled, "Thank You".
==Discography==
===渡辺みづき (Watanabe Mizuki)===
;Singles
#[[I WILL (Miz)|I WILL]] (June 18, 1999)
#*[[TV Tokyo]]'s Show 『恋愛スロット クルくるV』 Ending Theme Song
#[[Ambition (Miz)|Ambition]] (November 24, 1999)
#*[[Playstation]] Game 『ククロセアトロ~悠久の瞳~』 Theme Song
#*First Pressing Trading Card Included
#[[青い記憶]] (August 2001)
#*PC Game 『"Hello, world."』 Opening Theme Song
;Compilation / Other Works
#『"Hello, world." Original Sound Track』 (October 25, 2002)
#「青い記憶 Image version」
===Miz===
;Singles (Japan)
#[[New Day]] (February 18, 2004)
#*[[JVC]] Liquid Crystal Television 『EXE』『Lip Lap』Commercial Song
#[[Waiting For|Waiting for]] (July 21, 2004)
#*[[JVC]] Enterprises Image Song
#[[In the Sky]] (August 3, 2005)
#*First Pressing DVD Included
#*[[SquareEnix]] [[Playstation 2]] Game [[Grandia III]] Main Theme Song
#[[Backseat Baby]] (November 30, 2005)
#*[[Enhanced CD|CD EXTRA]] enhanced
#[[Bittersweet (Miz)|Bittersweet]] (January 25, 2006)
#*[[Enhanced CD|CD EXTRA]] enhanced
;Albums(Japan)
#[[Say It's Forever]] (September 22, 2004)
#*First Pressing DVD Included
#*If you run:[[Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation]] & [[Nippon Television]] Program "Dotch Cooking Show" Ending Theme Song
#[[Dreams (Miz)|DREAMS]] (March 9. 2005)
#*English Language Album
#[[Mizrock]] (February 22, 2006)
#*First Pressing DVD Included
;Singles (Sweden)
#[[Waiting (Miz)|Waiting]] (September 13, 2004)
#*[[Enhanced CD|CD EXTRA]] enhanced
;Albums (Sweden)
#[[Story Untold]] (November 17, 2004)
#*First Pressing Special Bonus Disk 『[[Say It's Forever]]』 Included
;Compilation / Other Works
#garp『garp2』 (June 30, 2003)
#*「Say It's Forever」
#V.A.『Light Mellow "blue oasis"』 (July 21, 2004)
#*「Say It's Forever」
;Photobook
#"An Ordinary Day" (August 4, 2005), (JVC Entertainment Network Publication)
#*Online Mail Order Limit
===Mizrock===
;Mini Albums
#[[Good bye, yesterday]] (July 25, 2007)
#*First Pressing DVD Included
#*Good bye, yesterday:[[Mainichi Broadcasting System]] & [[Tokyo Broadcasting System]] Program Anime "[[Romeo x Juliet]]" Ending Theme Song
;Singles
#[[Best Friend (Miz)|Best Friend]] (October 24, 2007)
#*First Pressing DVD Included
#*Best Friend:[[Nippon Television]] Program 『[[音楽戦士 MUSIC FIGHTER]]』POWER PLAY
#[[Thank You xxx]] (February 20, 2008)
#*First Pressing DVD Included
#[[ペッパー警部]] (Pepper Keibu; Inspector Pepper) (July 02, 2008)
#*First Pressing DVD Included
#*Cover of the [[1976]] hit song by [[Pink Lady (band)]]
==External links==
* [http://www.mizrock.com/ Miz Official Site]
* [http://www.little-voodoo.net/miz/index.php GORGEOUS LiTTLE THiNGS (Miz fansite)]
* [http://www.little-voodoo.net/miz/list/ New Day Come (Miz fanlisting)]
[[Category:Japanese female singers]]
[[Category:1981 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Hokkaidō]]
[[es:Mizrock]]
[[fr:Miz]]
[[ja:Mizrock]]
[[zh:Miz]]
[[tr:Miz]]