Singer brings her love to Summerlin

By Becky Bosshart

Friday, March 6, 2009 | 1:37 p.m.

Miari is all about love, from her poppy R&B ballads to her pink lipstick kiss "trademark" on all her publicity material. And that just may make her a marketer's dream at a time when people could use some candied lyrics and fizzy beats.

She's a singer/songwriter who has done multiple tours in Asia and Europe, promoting her self-entitled album. She speaks five languages, Japanese is her first. Her song titles include "Until I'm in Your Arms Again" and "Life in a Limosine," (sic) which may be less common in Las Vegas these days.

"I love Las Vegas," the Japanese/Scandinavian singer said. "It's the entertainment capital of the world. People from all over the world come here, so it's great. Everything is here."

The Summerlin singer performs at 10 p.m. March 20 and 21 in the Rocks Lounge at the Red Rock Resort. She's also in Larry Hart's gospel show "Praise," showing at 2 p.m. March 29 at the South Point. Some of her songs are played on local radio and she's looking to hit the airwaves more in March.

Managers are usually ebullient about an artist's buzz, and her's is no different,

"When Miari performs, I'm generally watching the reaction of the audience and I hear people constantly saying that she reminds them of Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey," said Bill Nelson, her manager, with Knockout Inc.

She has sung back-up vocals for Aguilera and she claims to have about a five-octave vocal range, which brings her close to the six octaves attributed to Carey.

She is influenced by singers like Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, Etta James and Chaka Khan. But rather than make it big by touring, she'd like to settle down here (she moved to Summerlin to be near her parents) and find a steady local show. She'd like her own "smaller Bette Midler show" with some shtick, singing and dancing.

"Miari" was released by Giant Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., in 2001. She has a new album, expected to be out soon under indie label Knockout Incorporated. Miari.com is a trove of pictures (she's been performing for about 14 years), video and audio clips.

Despite all this disclosure about Miari the performer, she isn't giving out a lot of information on Miari the person.

She doesn't want to give out her age (she's in her 20s). Nor her last name. She had a small role in the 2004 movie "Tony N' Tina's Wedding," which was more popular on stage than in film, and sung on the sound track.

And, just for the record, she would only do this interview if called by her stage name.

"It's unique and people find it unique," she said. "I like it better than using a last name. It's like Madonna or Cher. I'm not comparing myself to them, I find it more stage-like."

And she had a past problem with a fan, which involved taking out a restraining order, a concern for anyone who puts themselves in the public eye.

In Japanese "Miari" means "beautiful Asia country," and she's hoping to become a name on the local map.

Becky Bosshart can be reached at 990-7748 or [email protected].