Biography
Mie Nakao (中尾ミエ, born on 6 June 1946 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese singer and actress. Her real name is Mineko Nakao.
She has six siblings. Her family ran a bookstore. Her father's business failed, and the family moved to Tokyo in 1958. She grew up in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. She transferred from Fukuoka Gakugei University Ogura Elementary School to Ichikawa Municipal Mama Elementary School. While at Seika Gakuen Junior High School, she went to Toho to audition, but was told she was too short and was referred to Watanabe Productions. However, she was not immediately offered a contract. She continued to go every day and persisted, eventually being placed in Seiji Hiraoka's band. She sang at camps in Yoyogi and other venues. At the time, she sang standard numbers.
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She signed with Watanabe Productions in 1961. She formed the Spark Three Girls with Mari Sono and Yukari Ito. The following January, their starring film, Hi Hi Three Girls, was released. Expected to be the successor to The Peanuts, she appeared in shows such as "Shabon Dama Holiday" starring the Crazy Cats, establishing herself as a prominent figure of her time. She gained popularity for her strong singing ability and specialized in American pop music.
At the age of 16, her debut song "Kawaii Baby" became a huge hit, catapulting her to stardom. She entered the entertainment industry with the dream of building a house for his parents, and at the young age of 20, she bought a house in Tokyo and gifted it to them. After paying off her mortgage, at the age of 25, she took out another loan to build her own home next to her parents' house, and as of 2023, she continues to live in that house, renovating it rather than rebuilding it. Since the age of 60, she has also been a landlord, building and managing an apartment building next to his own home.
From the time of her debut, her strong personality and outspokenness were well-received, and in addition to her main profession, she hosted many talk shows such as "Mie and Ryoko's Chatty Thieves," to the point that Kenichi Mikawa said, "If you get into a verbal argument with Akiko Wada, Nakao will win."
Even now in her 70s, she continues to appear in numerous films and dramas as an actress, while also frequently making guest appearances on various talk shows, demonstrating her versatility across music programs, variety shows, talk shows, and dramas. Furthermore, she has reunited with Sono and Ito as the Spark Three Girls, participating in nationwide concerts, denar shows, and charity activities, demonstrating her commitment to community-based social activities as an individual.
In August 2017, she spoke for the first time in a public interview about the existence of a partner with whom she had been living at home with for 50 years, a fact that had been rumored in weekly magazines and other publications for some time.
On September 18, 2019, after 28 years, she returned to her former agency's successor office. She returned to Watanabe Entertainment.
In the same month, at the age of 73, she appeared in a sealed-page gravure spread in Weekly Gendai, which was described as her "first and last" appearance, and showed off shots of her cleavage and beautiful legs. Nakao said of this, "A while ago, some people might have frowned upon seeing a gravure spread and said, 'She's in her 70s and showing her skin.' But I can't be bound by such old customs. I think it's the role of our generation to update old values and customs that say a woman's value lies in her youth, so that women can continue to shine and live their lives to the fullest."
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.