YUI (singer)

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YUI is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter born and raised in Fukuoka, Japan. She grew up in a fatherless house and, consequently, holds no memory of her father. She sings and plays guitar, and writes her own songs. She is relatively known outside of Japan, with singles such as "Rolling Star" and "again" chosen as the opening theme of popular anime Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist, respectively. Her international reach was displayed in her recent concert in Hong Kong, which sold out despite it being her first time performing outside of Japan.

• Stage Name: YUI
• Real name: Yoshioka Yui (吉岡唯)
• Birthday: March 26 , 1987
• Birth place: Fukuoka, Japan
• Height: 155 cm / 5'1"
• Blood type: AB
• Favorite place: Shingu Sea in Fukuoka
• Hobbies: Movies, reading, acoustic guitar, badminton
• Family: Father (deceased), mother, grandmother, no siblings

YUI began writing poems in ninth grade. At the age of 16, by recommendation of a friend, she began studying singing, songwriting, and guitar at a private music school in her hometown in Fukuoka. Aspiring to become professional, she carried her guitar around and performed at local areas like the seashore of Shingu and the middle of Kaminofu's rice fields.

In March 2003, at an audition hosted by Sony Music Japan, all of the judges evaluated her with the highest score, which caused a fierce scramble among labels. At this audition, she sang three songs: "Why me" (which was later coupled with her debut single), "It's happy line", and "I know" - though the audition rules stated that a participant could only sing two songs. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she strummed her guitar and sang. The judges and the others present at the audition claimed that "the performance created a tremendous aura from her heavenly voice, and captured the hearts of the whole audience". "It's happy line" was then released as an indie single in December 2004, with "I know" as the second track.

Upon leaving Fukuoka for Tokyo, YUI wrote the song "feel my soul". She was planning to release it on an indie label as a tribute to her hometown, when the song caught the ears of Fuji TV producer, Mr. Yamaguchi, who happened to see the demo video clip. He claimed YUI's voice haunted him so much that he went out of his way to visit the recording studio himself. He even made his channel's prime-time drama "Fukigen na Gene" an extraordinary tie-in with YUI's debut track.

Although she is not the most comfortable when it comes to talking to people, YUI enjoys communicating with her audience at street performances in the Tenjin district of Fukuoka.

Her first full album, "FROM ME TO YOU", was released on February 22, 2006 to great acclaim. Among its 13 tracks, 9 of them were brand new, and these have been well received from her fans. The album has already sold quite well, reaching as high as the weekly 9th most sold album in Japan, and the main track, "TOKYO", has reached the number 4 spot on the MTV Japan song charts.

YUI has been honing her acting and singing skills in a movie released in 17 June, 2006 called "Taiyou no Uta", and has since been released in various Asian countries as well.

She released her second album entitled "CAN'T BUY MY LOVE" on April 4th, which had a more experimental sound to it, and went straight to #1 on the charts. Her third album, "I LOVED YESTERDAY" was released April 9th 2008, hitting #1 on the charts yet again.

YUI will be releasing her first compilation album, "MY SHORT STORIES", on November 12th. It will have all of her B-sides from her previous singles as well as a new song. After this release, she is planning to take a small hiatus to re-energize herself.

In 2009, after the hiatus, YUI came back with a new single entitled "again" and was the theme song for the anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This single is one of YUI's best selling singles because only in its first week passed the 100.000 copies. For October it's scheduled a new double A-side single and will be the theme and insert song for the upcoming movie Kaiji starring Death Note stars Tatsuya Fujiwara and Matsuyama Kenichi.

dari : http://www.generasia.com/wiki/YUI_%28singer%29