[jimex289]

Nope it wasn't at a bar. It was at Velfarre, a famous avex-owned disco club once owned by famous producer Tetsuya Komuro. Ayu's friend apparently knew Max and invited him to come along and karaoke. Max saw Ayumi sing and thought she should do it for real. She turned down his offer because at that time she wasn't very trusting of people. Eventually he got her to do it. That's basically how the story goes...

Then a friend who worked at the club, owned by the record label Avex, invited her out for a night of karaoke that forever changed her life. The friend had also invited Masato ("Max") Matsuura, who introduced himself to Hamasaki as a producer. "I'd never heard of Avex," Hamasaki recalls, laughing. "When he asked if I wanted to pursue a singing career, I said, 'No way.' He was this older guy, and I thought the whole thing sounded fishy." Over the following year, though, Matsuura persisted. Finally she relented to his request that she at least attend vocal training, only because "I had nothing better to do." ...

Source: http://www.time.com/time/asia/featur...ki/cover3.html