MARiA

MARiA, pronounced Meiria (ﾒｲﾘｱ), formerly known professionally as Mizuhashi Mai (水橋舞, Mai Mizuhashi), is a singer-songwriter and known for her strong, mature, and clear yet slightly husky voice. She first started singing professionally at the age of 13, and as such she is a very strong singer technically; possessing a wide vocal range and a firm hold on pitches and tones.

Although in recent years she has become more well known for being the lead vocalist of the doujin music duo GARNiDELiA with professional music producer Abe Yoshinoli (more popularly known among VOCALOID fans as ), she first became a professional singer in 2005 as the youngest member of the group Harajuku BJ Girls (BJ standing for Blues & Jazz, before they changed their name to Chix Chicks in 2007). They gained initial fame for being a girl group that performed retro pop, jazz and Motown rather than the expected bubblegum pop, releasing several albums before disbanding in 2010 to allow members to pursue solo careers.

She was signed under Newcome Inc. (a subsidiary of Sony Music Japan) as a solo artist, and as Mizuhashi Mai she has sung many opening and ending themes to various anime series, including the fourth ending of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, "Kaze no Message". The first theme she performed as MARiA, however, was the opening theme of the anime Freezing - "COLOR", originally composed by TokuP.

Her debut cover, first foray into utattemita, and eventual namesake was her cover of TokuP's "ARiA". It remains her most popular solo cover to date, with 387K views and 20.5K mylists as of March 2013. She also occasionally moonlights as an, such as in her song and dance cover of "Girls" with Miume and Kamen Liar 217.

Affiliations and Collaboration Projects

 * 1) Member of Chix Chicks (formerly Harajuku BJ Girls)
 * 2) Member of Miraku with Kudō Mayu and Iwaki Fumika
 * 3) Member of GARNiDELiA with
 * 4) BJ ONE! (Chix Chicks album) (Released on April 29, 2005)
 * 5) BJ TWO! (Chix Chicks album) (Released on September 25, 2005)
 * 6) BJ Three. (Chix Chicks album) (Released on August 23, 2006)
 * 7) ELECTRO CHIX (Chix Chicks album) (Released on June 21, 2008)
 * 8) BIRTHDAY EVE (Chix Chicks album) (Released on November 23, 2008)
 * 9) RE:ELECTRO CHIX Greatest Artists & Melodies (Chix Chicks album) (Released on January 21, 2009)
 * 10) Break up to make up / Miracles (Chix Chicks album) (Released on August 19, 2009)
 * 11) Retro Soul Revue (Chix Chicks album) (Released on November 11, 2009)
 * 12) ONE (GARNiDELiA album) (Released on December 31, 2010)
 * 13) Prayer (GARNiDELiA single) (Released on May 01, 2011)
 * 14)  (Released on June 01, 2011)
 * 15)  (Released on July 27, 2011)
 * 16) The Waltz of Anomalies (Nanou's album) (Released on September 29, 2011)
 * 17)  (Released on October 05, 2011)
 * 18) PLUSLIGHTS -21248931- (GARNiDELiA album) (Released on August 12, 2012)

Trivia

 * She participated in the 2008 stage production of "Atom With A Lonely Heart" (心は孤独なアトム, Kokoro wa Kodoku na Atom) from March 20-23, playing the lead character Motoko/Atom.
 * She appeared in the first episode of K-Pop group GLAM's Real Life Drama alongside TokuP.
 * She was born in Ibaraki prefecture.
 * She is 150 centimeters tall (approximately 4' 11").
 * Her blood type is B.
 * Her hobby is Twitter, and she claims to have a scent fetish.
 * Her favorite food is mint chocolate chip ice cream, while her least favorite foods are green peas and oysters.
 * Her favorite manga is Naruto.
 * Her favorite colors are pink and light blue.
 * She is happiest when performing at concerts.