Puffy Amiyumi

Puffy (in Japan) or Puffy Amiyumi as they are known in the United States (due to Puff Daddy and legal reasons), are a Japanese pop duo. Ami and Yumi (names of the duo) were scouted by two different talent agencies and put together in 1995. Their first release "Asia no junshin" sold a million records and their success continued with several more full-length releases (totalling 14 million sales in Japan). They hosted their own weekly TV show with guests like Lenny Kravitz, Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, rock band Garbage and so on.

Their music has been largely a collaboration between producer Tamio Okuda, singer songwriter, Andy Sturmer, regular session musicians and lastly Ami and Yumi themselves. Ami and Yumi's vocals are likened to US vocal sister group The Roches. They often sing whole songs together with harmonies. The songs borrow heavily from the Beatles and other artists such as Abba, The Who and The Carpenters.

Puffy Amiyumi's album releases include: JET CD, Spike, Fever Fever, Nice.

After 2000 they have been less in the limelight in native Japan with their TV show winding up in 2002. Instead they have set the compass for the USA with promotional tours, releasing previous Japanese releases and now a song from the latest album (2003) features on children's animated TV program "Teenage Titans". This might be the reason for the increase in English language songs in their repertoire.