Akina Nakamori (中森明菜, Nakamori Akina, born July 13, 1965) is a Japanese singer and actress. She is one of the most popular and top selling artists in Japan. Akina achieved national recognition when she won the 1981 season of the talent show Star Tanjō!. Her debut single "Slow Motion" was released to moderate success, peaking at number thirty on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. However, Akina's popularity was pushed up by the follow-up single, "Shōjo A", which peaked at number five on the Oricon chart and has sold over 390,000 copies. Her second album Variation became her first number-one on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart, staying three weeks atop. As an actress, she made her debut in 1985 with the appearance on the Japanese romance movie Ai, Tabidachi. After her extended hiatus from 2010 to 2014, Akina released two compilation album, All Time Best: Original and All Time Best: Utahime Cover, both of which were commercially successful. As of 2011, Akina has sold over 25.3 million records and was named as the third best-selling female Japanese idol singer of all-time.
Within two years of her debut, she set herself apart from all the singers of her generation with her mature song selection and the ability to change her image with the release of each new single, much like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper. This provocative and rebellious image was to be the direct opposite of the other pop rival, Seiko Matsuda, who projected more of a girl next door, sweet-natured charm. In a retrospective commendation of her album Fushigi (1986), Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wrote that she "was sometimes trumpeted as a more mature and sophisticated alternative to Matsuda".