YUI
Sony Music Group, February 2004 SD Auditions
Each label was in competition at the presidential election.
Then, Sony Music Records contract.
23-year-old singer.
The movie "Midnight Sun" and starred for him to be,
Full of artistic talent,
Generation especially, has received overwhelming support across all generations.
FROM ME TO YOU 』[1st AL,
2nd AL and both [CAN'T BUY MY LOVE 』
Unprecedented in the current long hit.
The fall of 2007, the first LIVE DVD [Thank you My teens in addition to release 』
Traditional "Budokan" was a big success in the first live.
Spring 2008, 3rd AL 』[I LOVED YESTERDAY released.
Made after the release of this album
Large-scale national concert tours the country 25
Great success in over, ended.
After a temporary suspension of activities fall artists
Coupling of the first albums songs Non-album songs
[MY SHORT STORIES is released.
The best album of female coupling
Oricon debuted at number one record number
Set a record of 25 years.
Early summer of 2009, single again [』from resuming work
[It's all too much / Never say die 』, and [GLORIA』
Won first place in the Oricon in a row.
New to Mother [Guide provides also talked about his impressive piano.
2010.
The scene is the sole entity's activities YUI
More attention has been devoted.
Birthday : 1987.3.26
Horoscope : ARIES
Fukuoka Birth Place
Height : 155cm
Blood Type : AB
Favorite Place : Shingu Sea
Taste watching movies, reading,
Acoustic Guitar, Badminton
Biography
Early life
Yui was born in Fukuoka, Japan. She grew up in a single parent family and does not have any memory of her father. She states that she has always been close to music; be it from her mother's car stereo or the radio, she would remember the tunes and sing along. By the time she was in elementary school she thought she would like to become a singer.
During her third year in middle school, under her mother's influence, Yui began a journal of her everyday feelings and poetry. By the time she was in high school, she was writing songs.While in high school, she worked part-time to help pay for tuition. Always busy, she thought there was no longer a road to achieving her dreams of a music career. Eventually she became ill.While in hospital, she was overcome with desire to make music. She decided that school and music could not coexist. Upon leaving the hospital she encountered a live street performance and expressed her desire to pursue a musical career to the band, Bianco Nero, at the end of the concert. Bianco Nero advised Yui to join a private music school. Yui soon dropped out of her high school and began to study guitar and songwriting at a juku in her hometown of Fukuoka. Aspiring to become a professional, she took to street performing at Fukuoka's Tenjin Station. These street performances helped Yui to overcome her shyness.
Initial career
Her professional career began in March 2004 when, at the recommendation of her juku instructors, she applied for an audition hosted by Sony Music Japan. Despite the audition rule that a participant could only perform two songs, Yui was allowed to sing three. She first sang "Why Me" (a song later included in her debut single), followed by "It's Happy Line" and "I Know". The judges gave her the maximum score, causing a fierce scramble among record labels to sign her. Because "I Know" was incomplete at the time, the judges were able to get a glimpse of what would later be dubbed "Yui-go", or Yui-speak (Yui語 in Japanese), nonsensical English hummed to a tune during her songwriting process — an example of Yui-go can be found in the film Midnight Sun when Yui is working on the song "Goodbye Days".
On December 24, 2004, she released her debut single "It's Happy Line" under indie label Leaflet Records, coupled with the track "I Know". The pressing was limited to only 2,000 copies in her home area.
From Me to You (2005–2006)
Upon leaving her hometown in Fukuoka for Tokyo, Yui wrote the song "Feel My Soul" as a tribute to her hometown. She initially had planned its release on an indie label. However, when the song caught the ears of Fuji TV producer Mr. Yamaguchi, who happened to see the demo video clip, he claimed that Yui's voice haunted him so much that he went out of his way to visit the recording studio by himself. Fuji Television's primetime drama Fukigen na Gene used Yui's debut track as an insert song.
On February 23, Yui released her first major debut single, "Feel My Soul". The music in Fukigen na Gene was based on her songs such as "Feel My Soul" and "It's Happy Line". With the publicity the drama tie-in drew in, "Feel My Soul" managed to sell over 100,000 copies and managed to chart at number 8 on Oricon Weekly Charts in its first week. Her next three singles, "Tomorrow's Way" (theme song for the Japanese movie, "Hinokio"), "Life" (fifth ending song for a popular anime, Bleach), and "Tokyo" did not chart as high as Feel My Soul did and were only moderately successful in comparison.
After the release of four singles, Yui released her debut album, titled From Me to You, a moderate success with sales of more than 200,000 copies.
Can't Buy My Love (2006–2007)
Yui made her acting debut in the full-length Japanese feature film Midnight Sun (Taiyou no uta, タイヨウのうた), which opened on June 17, 2006. The film was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Yui attended the Japan Academy Prize and received the Best Newcomer Award for Midnight Sun. Prior to the release of the movie, Yui released her fifth single "Good-bye Days" written specifically for the film. The single is by far her highest selling at more than 200,000 copies sold. All three tracks on the single are featured in the "Midnight Sun." The single also re-released the track "It's Happy Line," originally released on her debut single.
Her next single, "I Remember You", did well in terms of sales, riding on the wave of the popularity of "Good-bye Days." Yui's seventh single "Rolling Star" was chosen as the 5th opening theme for the anime series Bleach. Her eighth single, "Cherry" was featured in commercial promoting KDDI au Listen Mobile Service.
She released her second album Can't Buy My Love on April 4, 2007. The album spending two weeks at number 1 on the Oricon charts, shattering her entire previous album's record sales in one week. Can't Buy My Love managed to sell over 680,000 copies. Due to the success of Can't Buy My Love, Yui's previous album, From Me to You charted once again, adding another 9,000 copies to the Oricon counting.
I Loved Yesterday (2007–2008)
Yui released her 9th single "My Generation/Understand" on June 13, 2007. It was her first double A-side single. "My Generation" was selected as the ending theme for the drama Seito Shokun!, and "Understand" was chosen as the theme song for the movie Dog in a Sidecar (サイドカーに犬), (starring her senpai at Stardust Promotion, Yūko Takeuchi). The single charted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts the first week of its release.
Her tenth single, "Love & Truth" was released on September 26, 2007. The title track is the theme song to the Japanese film, Closed Note (クローズド・ノート) (starring Erika Sawajiri, also of Stardust).
During this time, her previous two albums were re-released as Winter Sleeve Editions in alternate covers presumably from her "Love & Truth" photoshoot. Her first live concert DVD "Thank You My Teens" was released on November 14, 2007, which contained footage of her second live concert tour. On November 19, 2007, Yui opened her first live show at Nippon Budokan. The tickets for the concert sold out.
Yui started 2008 with her eleventh single, Namidairo, released on February 27, 2008. Yui composed the song as a "mysterious and sad sounding" insert for the television drama 4 Shimai Tantei Dan. The chorus of the song was incidentally written by YUI long ago, during her singing debut.
A week following the release of her 11th single, the promotional video of a new song "Laugh Away", was released. The song was used in Glico's "Watering KissMint" commercial. "Laugh Away" was released as a digital single on March 10, 2008.
Her third studio album was released on April 9, 2008 titled I Loved Yesterday. It quickly charted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold more than 400,000 copies, only a little behind her sophomore album. The 10th track on the album, titled "Oh Yeah" was used as the opening theme to Mezamashi TV, a morning television show. The limited edition version of the album included DVD which contained music videos of her previous singles and live footage of her Nippon Budokan show.
Yui's third tour, named '"Oui": I Loved Yesterday' started in May 2008 and ran until July.
Yui released "Summer Song" on July 2, 2008, again charting at number 1 on Oricon Weekly Charts. "Summer Song" sold 83,440 copies in a week, making "Summer Song" second highest in first week sales after "Love & Truth."
My Short Stories (2008–Present)
Yui released her B-side compilation album, My Short Stories, released 12 November 2008, again charted at number 1 on Oricon. The album included all B-side tracks of all her singles to date, along with new song "I'll Be". Yui is the second female artist whose B-side compilation album topped the charts, after Seiko Matsuda's "Touch Me" in 1984. The last compilation album that reached #1 was Mr. Children's B-Side in May 2007. On the success of "My Short Stories", sales of her first album From Me to You rose again.
In her "Yui Diary" blog entry on August 29, 2008, Yui mentioned that she would put her career on hold, not making any public appearances after the release of the album. With this break, she would be able to fully concentrate on her plans for the next year. During this break, she co-wrote the song "I Do It" with Okinawan girl band Stereopony. It was released as Stereopony's third single on April 22, 2009.
Yui announced her return from her 5-month hiatus on March 25th on her official website. The single celebrating her return is an up-tempo tune titled "Again." The track was chosen as the first opening theme of the new season of the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood anime series, premiered on April 5th, 2009. The single was released on June 3, 2009. "Again" debuted atop the Oricon charts, selling over 110,000 copies in its first week. It currently has the highest opening week sales for a female act in 2009.
On July 27, 2009, Yui-net.com announced the release of her second double-A side single named, "It's All Too Much/Never Say Die". The two songs featured for a movie version of an anime, Kaiji as a both a theme and an insert song. The single was released on October 7, 2009 and Kaiji released on October 10, 2009. The single debuted at #1, selling 75,000 copies in its first week of sales. This is her fifth overall number 1 single.
Yui released her new single "Gloria" on January 20, 2010. It was another chart-topper, selling 80,000 copies in the first week. Her next single, "to Mother," was released on June 2, 2010.
Yui discography
ALBUMS
Studio albums
From Me to You (2006)
Released: February 22, 2006
Label: Studioseven Recordings
Formats: CD
Can't Buy My Love (2007)
Released: April 4, 2007
Label: Studioseven Recordings
Formats: CD
I Loved Yesterday (2008)
Released: April 9, 2008
Label: Studioseven Recordings
Formats: CD
Compilation album
My Short Stories (2008)
Released: November 12, 2008
Label: Studioseven Recordings
Formats: CD
SINGLES
2004
"It's Happy Line"
2005
"Feel My Soul"
"Tomorrow's Way"
"Life"
2006
"Tokyo"
"Good-bye Days"
"I Remember You"
2007
"Rolling Star"
"Cherry"
"My Generation/Understand"
"Love & Truth"
2008
"Namidairo"
"Summer Song"
2009
"Again"
"It's All Too Much/Never Say Die"
2010
"Gloria"
"To Mother"
DVDs
Thank You My Teens (2007)
Released: November 14, 2007
Label: Studioseven Recordings
Formats: DVD
Music videos
2004
"It's Happy Line"
2005
"Feel My Soul"
"Tomorrow's Way"
"Life"
2006
"Tokyo"
"Good-bye Days"
"I Remember You"
2007
"Rolling Star"
"Cherry"
"My Generation"
"Understand"
"Love & Truth"
"Jam"
2008
"Namidairo"
"Laugh Away"
"Summer Song"
"I'll Be"
2009
"Again"
"It's All Too Much"
"Never Say Die"
2010
"Gloria"
"To Mother"
Awards
2007
*20th Japan Gold Disc Awards: Artist of the Year (Nominated)
*30th Japan Academy Prize: Rookie of Year (Won)
2008
*MTV Student Voice Award 2008: Best Artist (Won)
*Space Shower Music Video Awards 08 : Best Pop Video (Won)
LINK
> Official Site
