Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito (born September 20, 1983, in Los Angeles) is an American singer active in Japan who is of ethnic Japanese and Korean ancestry; her father is Japanese and her mother is Korean. She is also a native-born citizen of the United States. Much of her music falls in the category of Japanese Pop, and features lyrics that are sung both in Japanese and English.

Biography

Early life and debut

Yuna Ito was born to a Japanese father and a Korean mother in Los Angeles, California. Three months later, she and her family moved to Hawaii, United States, where she remained until the start of her singing career in Japan. She has one sibling, a younger brother named Johnny. She graduated from McKinley High School in 2001. When Ito was little, she used to sing to songs of both Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson and dreamt of becoming a singer.

In early 2005, Ito auditioned for the role of charismatic vocalist Reira from TRAPNEST and eventually was chosen for the role. She debuted under the billing of "REIRA starring YUNA ITO" with her song "Endless Story", which landed on number 2 of Oricon's single ranking. As the singer and the actress picked to play Reira Serizawa from the popular manga, NANA, Ito's identity was kept a secret until the movie's release.

When NANA the movie was finally released in Japan, movie-goers were drawn to the "wonderful, high-pitched", voice of Ito and the movie song "Endless Story" ended its first day of sales on number 2 of Japan's Oricon charts. Ito was featured on magazine covers, posters and eventually had her first TV appearance on Music Station, performing "Endless Story".

Rise to Fame

It was only in 2006 that her 2nd single, Faith / Pureyes, was put on the market, with "Faith" being the ending theme to the drama, Unfair, and "Pureyes" being a song for the Bioclen Zero commercial. This single sold about 50,000 copies which was a disappointment considering "Endless Story" had outsold Mika Nakashima's "Glamorous Sky" with over 450,000 copies.

Yuna's third single was perhaps the biggest hit after the NANA-era. Precious was announced as the theme song for the 2006 movie, "LIMIT OF LOVE ~Umizaru~". The single included two b-sides, "I'm Free" and "Secrets", both co-written by Ito herself. Precious sold over 200,000 copies and was the 5th highest downloaded song at the end of year 2006 in Japan.

Sony later announced a 2-month Single Project. She covered "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", for the Daihatsu "COO" commercial, featured on her 4th single "Stuck on You". She recently sang the Japanese ending theme song for TV show Lost. losin' will be her 5th single.

On August 4, Toho announced the role of Reira Serizawa in the sequel to NANA, NANA 2 will still be played by Ito. A 2nd single for REIRA starring YUNA ITO has been scheduled for December 6, with NANA 2 opening on December 9. Truth will be Ito's last single in 2006, and also rumored last before her debut album comes out. Previews for the song were put on the net on November 8, 3 weeks after it first aired on the radio.

In December, Ito was shooting NANA2 and promoted the film alongside her co-stars . Toho has stated that this time, the role of REIRA will have a more relevant part.

As of November 8, Ito is under STUDIO SEVEN Recordings, a sub-label to Sony Music Japan.

Sony Music released Yuna's first album, HEART, a CD+DVD compilation, on January 24 2007. The album debuted at the #1 spot on the Oricon Daily Album chart, after which the album also grabbed #1 on the Oricon Weekly Album chart and United World Weekly Album Chart. The official early sales for HEART was 224,000 copies sold, leaving a gap of 116,000 copies between the first and second place. It was also said on Oricon that HEART is continuing the AYAKA's fragrance of her debut album. HEART was considered a great success as it managed to stay on the Oricon weekly charts in the top 3 for 4 consecutive weeks.

Ito's 7th single, I'm Here was released on March 14, 2007. It will be the theme song to "UNFAIR -the movie-" and is coupled with "Reason Why" which will be an insert-song.

Her next single will be a featuring with the jawaiian band, Def Tech. It is titled Mahaloha, and will be released on June 27, 2007.

Trivia

While Yuna is American and her name is correctly written in Latin script, the unofficial ateji 伊藤由奈 (Itō Yuna) can be found in Japanese. "Yuna" is her given name; "Ito" is her surname, which etymologically derives from the common Japanese surname Itō.
Her test scores were always great, which was why her mother never was too fond of her daughter becoming a singer.
Her parents own several restaurants, the current is in Honolulu, Hawaii- "Aki-no-No".
She is friends with Hawaiian J-pop singer melody., Angela Aki, Sowelu, Mika Nakashima, Crystal Kay, and AI
Angela Aki and Ito attended the same Japanese language school.
Her favorite music style is R&B, even though she pursues a J-Pop career in Japan.
English is her native language, Japanese her 2nd language.
Her bloodtype is A.
J-pop singer Mika Nakashima who starred as Nana Osaki wrote a message to Ito at her very first MUSIC STATION and television performance, wishing her good luck for the performance and that she herself was sitting in front of the TV to follow her. Ironically, in the Nana storyline, Nana was never too fond of Layla.
Yuna's favourite color is black.
She resides in Tokyo when she's in Japan, and in Honolulu when she's in the USA.

Discography

Filmography

NANA -the movie- - as REIRA (芹澤レイラ Serizawa Reira) (2005)
NANA II - as REIRA (芹澤レイラ Serizawa Reira) (2006)

Awards

Best New Artist (Best Hit Kayousai 2005, 21.11.2005)
Best New Artist (Japan Cable Awards 2005, 17.12.2005)
Special Award for NANA (47th Japan Record Awards, 31.12.2005)
Best New Artist (JAPAN GOLD DISC AWARDS 2006, 9.3.2006)
Gold Artist Award (Best Hit Kayousai 2006, 20.11.2006)
Audience Request Award (39th Yusen Taishou, 16.12.2006)
Best Asia from Japan (MTV Video Music Awards Japan, 25.05.2007)

Radio Program

From October 4, 2005 until March 28, 2006, Yuna was moderator of her own radio show, Journey, that aired on Tokyo's InterFM radio station. It was called off because Ito was too busy promoting her songs with television performances and interviews therefore, didn't have enough time to record and moderate the show. In an interview she stated that it was "a weird feeling leaving the radio staff" and that "she would love to have a radio show someday again" hence she "loves to connect with her fans". In 2007, Ito will once again host a radio show entitled HEART to HEART that will be broadcasted by JFN.

References

ORICON STYLE Site