About Yuna Ito Yuna Ito (Japanese: 伊藤 由奈 Itō Yuna), is a half-Japanese- and half-Korean-American Japanese pop music singer, actress and a former Korean model. She was born on Se...

About Yuna Ito
Yuna Ito (Japanese: 伊藤 由奈 Itō Yuna), is a half-Japanese- and half-Korean-American Japanese pop music singer, actress and a former Korean model. She was born on September 20, 1983, in Los Angeles and is a citizen of the United States.

Career and Personal Life
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 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. To establish a mysterious image, SONY BMG JAPAN refused to release any information regarding Ito.

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 Reira Serizawa from a very popular manga, NANA, Ito's identity was kept a secret until the end.

When NANA the movie finally released in Japan, people were going crazy about 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 on magazine covers, posters and eventually had her first TV appearance on MUSIC STATION, performing Endless Story.

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 also the 2nd highest downloaded song in the first half of 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, 2006, 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, 2006, with NANA 2 opening on December 9, 2006. Truth will be Ito's last single in 2006, and also rumoured last before her debut album comes out. Previews for the song were put on the net on November 8th, 2006, 3 weeks after it first aired on the radio.

Just now, Ito is busy shooting NANA2 and will be promoting the film alongsider her co-stars in December. Toho has stated that this time, the role of REIRA will have a more relevant part.

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

Last edit by krazysamurai12 on Saturday 31 May, 2008 at 01:38 +1.9%

This information was provided by: keoskey | Edit or update this information