Toko Furuuchi -- Dare Yori Suki Nanoni （誰より好きなのに）

Toko Furuuchi （古内東子）has garnered a dedicated following over the 20 years of her career with her velvety vocals. According to her website, she used to play theme songs and movie tunes on the piano with her sister as an elementary school student, then had her eyes opened to music in full while listening to Billy Joel, Hall & Oates, and Elton John during junior high school. And like another singer, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, she also did a year of high school abroad in the United States, spurred on from listening to "The American Top 40"on the radio. (thanks to J-Wiki and her website)

I've collected several of her early CDs, and her genre has firmly been in the AOR or R&B ballad/mid-tempo mode. "Dare Yori Suki Nanoni"(But I Love You More Than Anyone) which was released in May 1996 was one of her big hits going up to No. 35 on Oricon. And the album which includes the song, "Hourglass" was released a month later, and it got as high as No. 10 on the album charts. As I've said, she's got a fine caramel-smooth set of pipes...I would recommend her to anyone who likes adult contemporary music in any country. The song itself has been covered by artists such as J-R&B chanteuse Sowelu and veteran singer Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明）.

And I have to finish this entry by saying that she's also one of the most beautiful singers I've ever seen in Japanese music.