Layla Shibata

Hitomi Shibata (柴田 仁美, Shibata Hitomi, born January 12, 1984), known professionally as Layla Shibata is a Japanese-born Australian singer and actress. Born and raised in, , she was discovered by Japanese record producer Gabby Sanada and musician who invited her to Japan to record demo tapes. She released her debut rock-influenced studio album, My Life Was Protect in January 1996. She became further well known with the single "Tiger". Shibata left Japan in November 1998 to pursue an international career. After one year struggling in, she met Australian record producer , who produced her first international country rock album, Royalty (2000). Released in 11 countries, it became the best-selling album by an Asian artist outside Asia. The metal-influenced Rush (2004) spawned three Australian number one singles–"He's Melted", "Surprise Honey (Let's Get It On)", and "Silver Treasure".

Early life and education
Hitomi Shibata was born on January 12, 1984, in Osaka, Japan, to backup dancer Ayane (née Watanabe) and Takeda Shibata. She has a younger sister named Maria, who is an actress and lead dancer. Her parents divorced when she was four years old, and she remained with her father and a young sister. Shibata identifies as a shinto. She has a close friend with her father.

From an early age, she attended Ayase Elementary School, she had a tough time, since some two girls bullied her because they envied her student. Shibata began singing as a child in the rock singer of her uncle named Atsuya. She won several singing contests before recording an amateur rock single in February 1995 when she was 11 years old. After graduating in March 1995, she received a music scholarship before beginning her professional career in the early 1996.

Career
In January 1996, Shibata was signed to Plaza Star; to be more commercial, she adopted the stage name Layla Shibata. Her debut j-rock studio album, My Life Was Protect, was released in Japan and sold over 500,000 copies. The album went gold in March 1996, and platinum the following year. The success of hard rock singles such as "Tiger" gave she radio and television exposure.

On April 1997, Shibata produced her final non-album single "A Perfect Time/In Sincerly". By age thirteen, she had sold over four million albums in Japan. In December 1997, Shibata began to feel dissatisfied with her success in her country and began considering an international music career. She later sold her record label to fund her move to Oceania, and moved to Melbourne for about a year.

In October 1998, her international career began to advance; she was introduced to producer. Later, Shibata was signed to Snow Cobalt Records. In 2000, Shibata recorded her first country rock studio album, Royalty, in Melbourne for the Warner label. The songs were produced with Fisher and Cobalt Elise.

Relationships
Shibata dated j-rock singer Nathan Roseau from April 2001 to August 2002. From January 2003 to April 2004, Shibata was in an on-again, off-again relationship with Australian author Reggie De Fairfax. She married comedian and actor Frank Fitzroy on February 25, 2005, they had one daughter, dancer and actress Cellina Fitzroy (born 2006). They divorce was finalized on April 2, 2011.

In November 2013, Shibata met fantasy-action star Alexandre Jackson in after the miniseries. Jackson proposed to Shibata in November 2014, and the two were "engaged for an one year, lights." before becoming a couple again in December 2014. They married on June 4, 2015. They had a daughter, child actress Marlina (born 2016) and a son, Takeshi (born 2019).

Discography
Main article: List of Layla Shibata discography
 * My Life Was Protect (1996)
 * Royality (2000)
 * Rush (2004)
 * Northern Lights (2007)
 * Layla Shibata (2011)
 * Especially from the Wishes (2014)
 * Duets with Darrell Schmidt (2016)
 * A Perfect Me (2019)
 * Nice (2022)