Melody Ishikawa (born February 24, 1982), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

as Melody, stylized as melody., is a Japanese American former J-pop singer. She debuted in February 2003 with the song "

Dreamin' Away "Dreamin' Away" is the debut single by melody. under the Toy's Factory label released February 19, 2003. The single stayed on the Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies ...

", under Toy's Factory. In October 2008, Melody announced on her blog ending her career as a music artist to focus on pursuing a career as a fashion designer.

Biography

Melody was born to Japanese parents in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii. When she was young, she would occasionally watch shows that involved J-pop, and she has also listed

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

, and Destiny's Child as inspirations. She took ballet and piano, as well as vocal training. When she was 16, she worked as a Hawaiian model for Japanese commercials. While she was a high school student at Punahou, she had a secret audition with record producer

Tetsuya Komuro is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is recognized as the most successful producer in Japanese music history and introduced contemporary electronic dance music to the Japanese mainstream. He was also a former owner of the ...

, who was forming an international unit, but when they wanted her to join the next day, she negotiated to wait until she graduated. At the age of 19, she moved to Japan to pursue a singing career. After some time with Komuro's company, where she was allocated to various groups in development, she eventually left and signed with

Toy's Factory is a Japanese record label founded in the late 1980s as a subsidiary of the entertainment company VAP, based in Japan. On May 30, 1990, it was established as an independent company. Toy's Factory, as of the first half of 2012, is the four ...

. Her debut song, "

", was released in February 2003 where it peaked at number 33 on the Oricon weekly charts and stayed charted for eight weeks. In June, she released the single "Simple as That" along with a cover of " Over The Rainbow" from '' The Wizard of Oz''; the latter was used in a commercial for

Mitsubishi Motors is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.Ryohei in

m-flo is a Japanese hip hop group consisting of record producer DJ Taku Takahashi, Verbal and Lisa. Lisa left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career and the remaining members then started the M-Flo Loves... project working different vocalists ...

's song " Miss You", which reached number eight on Oricon. She is also known for singing the single " Realize" which was the theme song for a TV drama series called ''

Dragon Zakura is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Norifusa Mita. Serialized in ''Weekly Morning'' from 2003 to 2007, it was released into 21 ''tankōbon'' by Kodansha between October 22, 2003, and August 23, 2007. It was adapted into l ...

'', which debuted sixth on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

charts. Her single "

Lovin' U "Lovin' U" is the eighth single by melody. under the Toy's Factory label released November 8, 2006. The single stayed on the Oricon for 3 weeks and peaked at number 16. To date, the single has sold 15,434 copies. Track listing # Lovin' U (4:33) ...

" was used in a Raycious commercial in 2006. The single included "Our Journey", which was the theme song for the 2006 movie ''Gen Yu Den'' starring

Rena Tanaka is a Japanese actress and TV personality. In 1999, she won the Japanese Academy Award for "Best Newcomer" for her performance in ''Give It All''; in 2001, she received a "Best Actress" nomination for '' First Love''. Selected filmography Fi ...

, who also co-wrote the lyrics to the song. Melody made an appearance in a Japanese

Subaru Forester The is a compact crossover SUV that has been manufactured by Subaru since 1997. The first generation was built on the platform of the Impreza in the style of a taller station wagon, a style that continued to the second generation, while the thi ...

commercial in 2007, in which her single "

Finding My Road "Finding My Road" is the ninth single by melody. under the Toy's Factory label released February 14, 2007. The Japanese single stayed on the Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that ...

", was used as promotion. In April 2007, she started hosting the English-language Japanese music show ''

J-Melo ''J-Melo'' is a weekly Japanese music television program broadcast by NHK. It is recorded entirely in the English language. It began broadcasting on October 7, 2005. The program is available on NHK's World Service television station, Radio Japan, ...

'' on

NHK World TV NHK World-Japan (formerly and also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese state-controlled public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-ser ...

. Her single, " Love Story", written by her sister Christine (KURIS), was used in the drama series ''Kodoku no Kake – Itoshikihito Yo'' in the summer of 2007. She was cast as Yumi in the

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

video game ''

Need for Speed Carbon ''Need for Speed: Carbon'' is a 2006 racing video game and the tenth installment in the ''Need for Speed'' series. Developed by EA Canada, Rovio Mobile, and EA Black Box, and published by Electronic Arts, it was released on October 30, 2006, ...

''. The song " Feel the Rush", which was remixed by

Junkie XL Tom Holkenborg (born 8 December 1967), also known by his stage name Junkie XL or occasionally JXL, is a Dutch composer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer, and engineer. Originally known for his trance productions, he has moved to producing ...

, was also used in the game. Her fourth album ''

Lei Aloha ''Lei Aloha'' is the fourth album released by melody. It contains 1 single track " Haruka: Haruka" and 13 brand new songs. Unlike her other albums, there is no CD + DVD edition of ''Lei Aloha'' available. In a blog entry on February 25, 2008, mel ...

'' was released on April 9, 2008 and had one preceding single, " Haruka: Haruka". In September 2008 was announced that Melody would no longer be the host of ''J-Melo''. Japanese singers

May J. , better known by her stage name May J., is a Japanese pop and R&B singer who made her major label debut under Sony Music Japan on July 12, 2006, with her first mini-album '' All My Girls''. She was born to an Iranian mother and Japanese father ...

and Shanti would take her place. On October 8, 2008, Melody released her first compilation album '' The Best of melody. ~Timeline~''. On October 22, she announced on her

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

that she would be retiring as a J-pop singer in January 2009 and would be pursuing a career in fashion design. * In 2012, she announced a children's music project Gold Belle, with sister Christine Saimo. She found it difficult to teach her kids English while living in Japan so they put together the project to give children a fun way to learn. Saimo produced the music and they released the album ''Kid's Melodies'' in December 19, under their own record label, EverDream.

Personal life

Angelina Jolie Pitt, Miyavi, Brad Pitt (15624875127)

Melody has three sisters: Christine Saimo, who goes by KURIS in the Japanese music industry and who also resides in Tokyo; and Harmony and Rhythmy, who live in the United States. On March 14, 2009, Melody married Japanese musician and actor

Miyavi , better known by his stage name Miyavi (雅, stylized as MIYAVI), is a Japanese guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor known for his finger- slapping style of playing a guitar. He has been active since 1999, first as guitaris ...

(Takamasa Ishihara). The couple has three children, Lovelie Miyavi, now going by Aily or Aspen, (born 2009 in Japan), Jewelie Aoi (born 2010 in Japan), and Skyler Kakeru (born 2021 in the United States). From 2014 to 2021, Melody and her family were living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, having moved to the area during the release of Miyavi's film ''Unbroken''. After the birth of their son Skyler, the family returned to Japan and currently live in Tokyo.

Discography

Studio albums

* 2004: '' Sincerely'' * 2006: '' Be as One'' * 2007: ''

Ready to Go! ''Ready to Go!'' is the third album released by melody. It is her second album (and third release) to be released in a CD Only version as well as a CD+DVD version (limited edition). All of the A-sides from her singles leading up to the album are ...

'' * 2008: ''

Compilation albums

*2008: '' The Best of melody.: Timeline''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Melody 1982 births American musicians of Japanese descent American emigrants to Japan Japanese-language singers Japanese women pop singers Living people Musicians from Honolulu Toy's Factory artists Punahou School alumni 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers English-language singers from Japan