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September 14, 2007

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito is an American Japanese pop singer-songwriter and actress in Japan. Ito was born in Los Angeles and raised in Hawaii. She is currently signed onto Sony Music Japan. She rose to fame due to the movie adaptation of the manga Nana, playing Reira Serizawa. She sang one of the main theme songs of the movie, "Endless Story", which peaked at the number two spot on the Oricon charts.

In early 2005, Ito auditioned and was chosen for the role of charismatic vocalist Reira Serizawa in the feature film adaptation of Ai Yazawa's manga series Nana. She also subsequently performed a theme song to the movie, "Endless Story", while debuting under the billing "Reira starring Yuna Ito". Endless Story debuted at the number-two spot on the Oricon chart. Endless Story is currently Ito's highest selling single. When Nana the movie was released in Japan, Ito was featured on magazine covers, posters and eventually had her first TV appearance on TV Asahi's Music Station, performing "Endless Story".

On March 1, 2006 Ito's second single, Faith / Pureyes, was released. Faith / Pureyes is Ito's first and only double a-side. "Faith" was used as the ending theme song to the television drama, Unfair and "Pureyes" was used as the theme song for a Bioclen Zero contact lens commercial, which featured Ito.

Two months later, Ito released her third and second highest selling single Precious. It was announced that Precious would be used 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. Precious debuted at number three on the charts. In the 2007 Japanese MTV Music Awards, Ito won the Best Buzz of Asia (Japan) for Precious. She covered "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", for the Daihatsu "Coo" commercial, featured on her fourth single "Stuck on You". She also performed the ending theme song to AXN Japan's Japanese television broadcast of the American television series Lost with her fifth single Losin'.

On August 4, 2006, film production company Toho announced that Ito would reprise her role of Reira Serizawa in Nana 2, with a second single for Reira starring Yuna Ito entitled Truth. Which was on December 6, 2006 and Nana 2 opening on December 9, 2006. Previews for the song were put on the net on November 8, 2006, three weeks after it first aired on Japanese radio. Sony Music released Ito's first album, Heart. The album was released in both CD only and CD+DVD versions, on January 24, 2007. The album debuted at the top of the charts selling 224,428 copies. On Oricon's yearly chart, Heart reached number fourteenth just ahead of Namie Amuro's Play. Heart was certified Double Platinum by the RIAJ.

Ito's seventh single, I'm Here was released on March 14, 2007. It was used as the theme song for "Unfair -the movie-" and the b-side "Reason Why" (sung entirely in English) was used as the insert song. Her eighth single, featuring Micro from the band Def Tech, titled Mahaloha, was released on June 27, 2007. This was Ito's third single to enter the top 5, since the release of Precious in May 2006. Ito was featured on a Celine Dion tribute album, released only Japan in September, on which she sang a cover of Dion's song "My Heart Will Go On". Ito was featured on Micro's debut album Laid Back. She sang Heal, which featured other artists such as Wise, PJ, Bigga, Raiji and Primary Color Allstars.

While Ito performed in 5 venues for her -"Yuna Ito 1st Live Tour: Heart"- tour in spring, her ninth single, entitled Urban Mermaid. The song Urban Mermaid was featured in the Lux Hair Care commercial that aired in Japan.

Her tenth single, entitled Anata ga Iru Kagiri: A World to Believe In, was released in on January 16, 2008. The song is a duet with Celine Dion. When Dion heard Ito's rendition of her song, she proposed the idea of a duet. Dion originally released this song on her latest English album Taking Chances. The song was used in an au LISMO commercial. A World to Believe In was nominated for 'Best Collaboration Video', for the MTV Video Awards Japan '08, but loss to Kumi Koda's Last Angel.

The singer's second album Wish was released on February 20 in both CD and CD+DVD formats. Wish debuted at number three on the charts. Since the release of Wish, the album has been certified gold by the RIAJ. Unite As One a song on her album as used as the ending theme song for Konami's Time Hollow. In March, Ito became spokesperson for Proactiv Japan. Ito was featured in the commercial along with her song being the theme song "Tokyo Days".

In June 2008, Ito collaborated with popular Japanese music producer Takeshi Kobayashi (who produced music for Mr. Children, a famous Japanese band) and Russian conductor Mikhail Pletnev, to sing Gate, the theme song for documentary movie -with the same name-, Gate. The release date for the single, Gate is currently unknown.

Her eleventh single entitled "Miss You" was released on September 3, 2008. "Miss You" is currently being used as the theme song for Ito En Vitamin Fruit. "Miss You" inspired the cellphone novel Tenshi no Koi (天使の恋, lit. Angel's Love?), which was written by sin. Love Machine Gun will be used as the main theme song for the novel. Ito was featured in the 6/4 edition as number 5 for most suited for bridal wear. She was also featured in the 6/11 edition as number 6 for most princess-like.

On October 3, 2008, Ito posted a entry on her blog, writing that she had recorded a new up-beat tempo song. Her upcoming single is revealed to be titled Koi wa Groovy x2 (恋はgroovy×2, lit. Love is Groovy Groovy?) and will be used as the Gap Japan's 2008 Holiday Collection Winter Neutrals campaign song. In addition to her song being used, Ito was also chosen to be a Gap model, which happened in July, according to her blog.

Ito released an English version of "Koi wa Groovy x2", entitled groovy x2 under the pseudonym Christine Ito (伊藤 クリスティーン?). Sony Music Japan created an official website for Christine and a blog. Ito will be collaborating with hip-pop/reggae duo Spontania for their upcoming single Ima Demo Zutto (今でもずっと, lit. Now, But Always?), which was released on January 28, 2009. Ito's solo single "Trust You" is being used as ending theme to the Japanese anime "GUNDAM 00" and has a tentative release date of March 4, 2009.

Birth name: Yuna Ito
Also known as: 伊藤 由奈, 유나, 伊藤 クリスティーン
Born: September 20, 1983
Birth place: Los Angeles, California, United States
Origin: Oahu, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Genres: Japanese Pop, R&B
Occupations: Singer, songwriter, actress, composer, model, spokesperson
Years active: 2005-present
Labels: Studioseven Recordings, Sony Music Japan
Associated acts: Celine Dion, Micro


Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito

Yuna Ito


3 comments:

  1. Yuck. Bad taste.

    ReplyDelete
  2. she can appear better if she weared sexier clothes or maybe wear nothing

    ReplyDelete
  3. i think shes older than they say

    ReplyDelete