Chiemi Amako (尼子 智栄美, Amako Chiemi, née Hori (堀), born February 15, 1967, in Higashi-ku, Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan),^[1] better known as Chiemi Hori (堀 ちえみ, Hori Chiemi), is a Japanese singer, actress, and entertainer represented by Horipro, and later Shochiku Geino. Her stage name is a hiragana version (ちえみ) of her given name written in kanji (智栄美), also pronounced Chiemi.

Career

Chiemi Hori debuted in 1982, when she was only 14 years old. She steadily gained popularity and was tipped to be one of the most recognised idols in 1984 after producing a string of top 5 hits and starring in a few well-received dramas. In the same year, she was selected to perform in the NHK Red and White Song Festival - a prestigious annual year end programme. However, an exhausted Hori eventually got burnt out, forcing her to quit show business in 1987, at the age of only 20.

Hori returned in late 1989, but could no longer match her earlier success. From mid 1990s, she began to host TV programmes catered to housewives, and did some acting.

Hori is mother to five biological children from her first two marriages, in addition to being the stepmother of the two children of her current husband.^[2]

Illness and recovery

In February 2019, Hori announced that she has stage 4 tongue cancer and tumors on the lymph nodes on the left side of her neck. She underwent surgery to have the tumors and half of her tongue removed.^[3] The surgery was successful after two surgeries throughout the month of March. However, she announced the following month that during one of her follow-up appointments, she was diagnosed with stage 1 esophageal cancer.^[4][5] Following an additional round of surgery, her esophageal cancer was declared in remission (stage 0) by the end of the month.^[6]

On October 21, 2019, Hori released a biography entitled "Stage For ~ Tongue Cancer: From Stage 4 to the Stage of Hope" (Stage For〜舌がん『ステージ4』から希望のステージへ) , documenting her battle with cancer.^[7] The following month on November 3, she made her first public appearance post-surgery to promote the book. During this appearance, it was revealed that due to the extensive oral surgeries, her speech had become very heavily impeded (and she proceeded to apologize for her slurred speech)^[8] but also announced that she plans to undergo extensive speech therapy and voice lessons with a goal to be well enough to perform for her 40th Anniversary in 2022.^[9]

In January 2020, Hori made a full-scale return to the entertainment industry, making television appearances. Through her blog (and later via her Instagram account, which she opened in August 2022), she provided updates on her voice lessons and speech therapy.^[10] However, she was not satisfied enough with her progress to hold her 40th Anniversary Concert in 2022 as hoped.

Nevertheless, she continued to upload videos of her singing her singles with her home karaoke machine on Instagram, documenting her improvement. These videos received positive feedback, thus encouraging her to change her decision and have a 41st Anniversary Live Tour instead ("40th plus 1 Anniversary", as titled) as a way of showing gratitude to the fans who encouraged her to keep singing.^[11] The tour began in February 2023 and continued throughout the year, making various performances throughout Japan.^[12][13]

Filmography

References

External links

• Official profile (in Japanese)
• Official website (in Japanese)