Mariya Takeuchi

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, she recorded five albums and several singles, including the top-ten hit "Fushigi na Peach Pie". Those recordings featured dozens of prominent Japanese and North American songwriters, instrumentalists and producers, including David Foster, Jim Keltner, Jay Graydon, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate, Kazuhiko Kato, Kunihiko Kase, Shigeru Suzuki, Takashi Matsumoto and her future partner and husband, Tatsuro Yamashita. One of her songs from the 1980 album Miss M, "Heart to Heart" (co-written by Roger Nichols), was given English lyrics and a new title, "Now." It was recorded by The Carpenters, released in 1983, and was the last recording by the late Karen Carpenter.

In 1982, Takeuchi married singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, and stopped her career temporarily after becoming pregnant. Upon returning to the Japanese music industry in 1984, she has achieved huge commercial success. Since her return, she has recorded seven successful studio albums that mainly consist of her self-written songs, and all of them have reached No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon chart. As a singer-songwriter, she has produced eight top-ten hit singles on the Oricon chart, including "Single Again", "Kokuhaku", "Junai Rhapsody", "Konya wa Hearty Party" and her only No. 1 hit "Camouflage".

In addition to her work as a performer, she has also written songs and lyrics for other singers, including Yukiko Okada, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Hiromi Iwasaki, Masahiko Kondo, Masayuki Suzuki and Tackey & Tsubasa. Several of these songs scored top-ten on the Oricon, such as "Kenka o Yamete" and "Invitation" performed by Naoko Kawai, "Iro (White Blend)" performed by Miho Nakayama and "Maji de Koi Suru 5 Byoumae" by Ryōko Hirosue. Takeuchi has often re-recorded those songs for her own album. "Eki", a song originally written for the album by Akina Nakamori, became known by the composer's recorded version. "Genki o Dashite", a song first recorded by Hiroko Yakushimaru, is recognized as one of Takeuchi's notable compositions, despite not being released as a single. The song was later covered by Hitomi Shimatani in 2003, and became a moderate hit.

Up to September 2014, Takeuchi had released 12 studio albums, 42 singles, several compilations and a live album which was recorded in 2000. Her total sales have been estimated at more than 16 million units by 2009. Her 1994 compilation, Impressions, sold more than 3 million copies in Japan alone, and became her best-selling album.