OSAKA, JAPAN - With a dimming of the houselights and a stroll onto the stage, Carole King kicked off the opening night of the Three Great American Voices tour at the Osaka Jo Hall in Japan. The legendary songwriter joined together with Fergie (from the Black Eyed Peas) and Mary J. Blige for a three-city, five show tour sponsored by Kikkoman.

King brought a modified version of her "Living Room Tour" to Japan, performing a forty-five minute set with band members Rudy Guess and Gary Burr filled with songs featured on her recent DVD release, Welcome to My Living Room.

After her set, the crowd was treated to energetic performances from Fergie and then Mary J Blige (the three rotated the line-up along the tour). For an encore after Mary J's set, the three women joined forces onstage for a rousing version of "Dancing in the Streets," originally performed by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. To end this spectacular evening, they brought the house down with an inspired version of "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman."

"I never thought three women with such different performing styles would get along as well as we do," King said. "I think the audience enjoys that almost as much they enjoy our individual performances."

The Three Great American Voices Tour continued with another show in Osaka and hit Saitama before ending up with two shows at Tokyo's famous Budokan.

The tour schedule was as follows:
5 November          Osaka           Osaka Jo Hall
6 November          Osaka           Osaka Jo Hall
10 November        Saitama        Saitama Super Arena
2 November          Tokyo           Tokyo Budokan
13 November         Tokyo           Tokyo Budokan