Nami Shimada is a former Japanese idol singer who recorded for Nippon Columbia from 1986 to 1990 and later reinvented herself as music writer, radio personality and club DJ Naoko Shimada.[1]
Idol career
Shimada debuted in 1986 with the single “ガラスの幻想曲 (Fantasy)”, released by Nippon Columbia on 21 May 1986. Across her idol years she issued 14 singles and 10 original albums; “Free Balloon” brought her onto the TV rankings The Best Ten and Uta no Top Ten in early 1987, and other singles included “負けないで…片想い”, “パステルブルーのためいき”, “パウダースノーの妖精” and “内気なキューピッド”. Collaborators from the period include Yosuke Sugiyama, Soichi Terada and the New York DJ Larry Levan, and she wrote some lyrics herself under her real name.[1]
Later career
By her own choice she ended her entertainment career with a final concert on 30 July 1990. From 1991 she worked as a music writer, beginning with CD Journal, and from 1992 also as a radio personality and club DJ; she joined Hip Land Music in 1996, broadened into soul and club jazz in 2007, and in 2022 produced the album Something Jazzy～メロディ･イン･ザ・リビングルーム.[1]
Discography
Notable songs
- “Free Balloon” ↗1987
References
- “島田奈央子”. Weblio (Japanese Wikipedia mirror). Retrieved 11 October 2026.
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