is an American-born former singer and actress who was active in Japan. She was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and was raised in Hawaii. Ito made her musical debut in Japan with the single, " Endless Story", which was used as one of the theme songs for the popular 2005 film '' Nana''; she also starred in the film, portraying Reira Serizawa. In 2006, Ito reprised her role as Reira for the

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

of the film singing the theme song, "

Truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belief ...

". In 2007, Ito released her debut album, ''

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as ca ...

'', which debuted atop 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 i ...

chart.

Biography

Early life and music interest

Ito was born to a Korean-Japanese mother and a Japanese father in

, California. She has a younger brother, Johnny. Her family later moved to

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...

, Hawaii. From a young age, Ito dreamed about becoming a singer. She was inspired by the powerful vocals of

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 ...

. At the age of fifteen, she was offered a recording contract, but turned it down. She later explained: "They saw me as a girl and not a singer." Initially, when Ito told her parents of plans to become a singer they disapproved of her choice. Her parents wanted Ito to attend school and meet a "nice guy". Ito disagreed with her parents, saying they wanted to "compact her life into a storybook". Ito graduated from McKinley High School in 2001. She moved to Japan in 2003. She married on 4th July 2022 in Honolulu.

2005—2007: Debut

In 2005, Ito was chosen to portray Reira Serizawa, the vocalist for rock band Trapnest in the

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

Ai Yazawa is a Japanese manga author. While most of Yazawa's manga is published in Japan by Shueisha, publishers of '' Ribon'' and ''Cookie'' (''Nana'' was serialized in the latter), series like ''Paradise Kiss'' have appeared in non-Shueisha magazines s ...

's popular

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

series '' Nana''. She released her debut single, " Endless Story", under the name "Reira Starring Yuna Ito"; the song was used as one of the theme songs for the film. "Endless Story" debuted on the

chart at the #2 position, and is a cover of the English ballad, "If I'm Not In Love" b
Constant Change
formerly Dawn Thomas. Following the release of "Endless Story" was her second single, " Faith/Pureyes" (2006), which debuted at #6 on the charts. Ito released her third single, " Precious", which debuted at #3 on the charts. The single contained two

b-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

, "I'm Free" and "Secret"; the latter was co-written by Ito and was the first time she contributed to one of her singles. Ito released three more singles in 2006; " Stuck on You", " Losin'", and "

". The singles debuted at the respective numbers of #20, #19 and #10. "Truth", released under the name "Reira Starring Yuna Ito", was used as a theme song for ''

Nana 2 ''Nana 2'' is a 2006 Japanese drama film directed by Kentarō Ōtani and adapted from the manga by Ai Yazawa. It is the sequel to the 2005 film ''Nana''. Production for the movie began in mid-September and only one and a half month shootings fin ...

'' in which Ito again portrayed Reira Serizawa. Ito started off 2007 with the release of her debut album ''

''. Upon its release ''Heart'' topped the Oricon album chart. ''Heart'' was certified Double Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

. In March, Ito released her seventh single, " I'm Here", which debuted at #15 on the Oricon chart. The single following "I'm Here" was " Mahaloha" (June), which was a collaboration with Micro from the band

Def Tech Def Tech is a Japanese pop band signed to 2VOX Ltd, an independent label. Career Jesse, the vocalist from Rize, named the band, the members of which did their own songwriting, arranging, and production. Def Tech had the 3rd best-selling album ...

. The single debuted at #5 on the chart. Along with Micro, Ito wrote the lyrics and composed the song. At the end of the year, Ito released her ninth single, " Urban Mermaid", which debuted at #10 on the charts.

2008—present: Rise to prominence

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

. 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 ''Taking Chances'' is the tenth English-language and twenty-third studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Columbia Records on 7 November 2007. Dion returned to the music scene after almost five years of performing '' A New Day... ...

''. 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 lost to

Kumi Koda , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs. After debuting with the single " Take Back" in December 2000, Koda gained fame in March 2003 when the songs from her seventh single, " Real Emot ...

's Last Angel. The singer's second album '' Wish'' was released on February 20 and 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, was used as the ending theme song for

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has ca ...

Time Hollow is a Japanese adventure visual novel video game developed and published by Konami for the Nintendo DS video game console. The game was released in Japan on March 19, 2008, North America on September 23, 2008, and Europe on February 6, 2009. Th ...

. In March, Ito became spokesperson for

Proactiv Proactiv is an American brand of skin-care products developed by two American dermatologists, Katie Rodan and Kathy A. Fields, and launched in 1995 by Guthy-Renker, a California-based direct marketing company, that is endorsed by famous celeb ...

Japan. Ito was featured in the commercial along with her song, "Tokyo Days", as the theme. In June 2008, Ito collaborated with popular Japanese music producer

Takeshi Kobayashi (born June 7, 1959), is a Japanese keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger, and record producer. History Kobayashi started his professional career in the late 1970s. After working in the backing bands for singers such as Yosui Inoue, Misato Wa ...

(who produced music for

Mr. Children , commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one o ...

, a famous Japanese band) and Russian conductor Mikhail Pletnev, to sing "Gate", the theme song for the documentary movie with the same name, ''Gate''. Her eleventh single entitled " Miss You" was released on September 3, 2008 and was used as the theme song for

Ito En () is a Japanese multinational drinks company specializing in tea production, distribution, and sales. Ito En is the largest green tea distributor in Japan. The Ito En Group includes subsidiaries based in Japan, Indonesia, the United States, Aus ...

Vitamin Fruit. "Miss You" inspired the cellphone novel , which was written by sin. "Love Machine Gun" was also used as the main theme song for the novel. Ito was featured in the 6/4 edition of the magazine, ''Oricon Style'', as the fifth-most suited for bridal wear. She was also featured in the 6/11 edition as sixth for most princess-like. Her next single titled was 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 in July. Ito released an English version of "Koi wa Groovy x2", entitled "groovy x2" under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is oper ...

created an official website for Christine and a blog. Ito collaborated with hip-pop/reggae duo

Spontania is a Japanese hip-hop/ reggae group. The name "Spontania" comes from the English word "spontaneous". In 2010, singer Kaori Natori became the permanent vocalist for the band. Members *Massattack (マサタック ''masatakku'' ?) **Born in Yoko ...

for their single , which was released on January 28, 2009. Ito's thirteenth single "

Trust You Trust You is the thirteenth Japanese-language single by American pop singer Yuna Ito. The title song, "Trust You" is the theme to Japanese anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00 season 2, while "Brand New World" was used as a tie-up song for the Commercial o ...

", became the fourth ending theme song for the

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

'' Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season''. The single was released on March 4, 2009 and became Ito's first Top 5 single since "Mahaloha" in 2007. On March 31, 2009 , which was the

answer song An answer song, response song or answer record, is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer so ...

to Spontania's "Ima Demo Zutto", was released online through ringtone sites. Ito's third album titled

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

was released on May 27, 2009. A single, "Let It Go", was released on November 11, 2009. In June 2010, Yuna opened a special project named "洋楽カバーをやってほしい" (lit. "I Want You to Do a Western Cover"). The idea was that she would do a live cover on her radio show ''Heart to Heart''. However, there were so many requests that her official website took the project and turned it into ''Ito Yuna Respects''. After that 10 songs were selected (that were requested the most) and people could vote on one of these songs. The song that won the poll was

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar). Their style, which is rooted in blues ...

's "

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" is a song performed by American hard rock band Aerosmith as the official theme song for the 1998 sci-fi disaster film ''Armageddon'', in which lead singer Steven Tyler's daughter Liv starred. It is one of four so ...

". After recording and releasing the song on July 28, the project announced a second poll. The song that got selected was

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nom ...

's "

She She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

". The song was released on August 25. A third song was

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

's " Hard to Say I'm Sorry". On 9 September, the website Spanspo mentioned that the drama named ''Ougon no Buta'' would feature a theme song sung by Yuna. Two weeks later Sony's Music Shop confirmed the theme song would be released as a new single named " Mamotte Agetai". The single was released on 3 November 2010. Ito then released her first compilation album '' Love: Single's Best 2005—2010'' on December 8. It marks Ito's final release under her record company as of 2012. Yuna Ito has decided to appear at the 40th anniversary event UNDAM 40th FES. "LIVE-BEYOND" 2019 http://gundam40th.net/live_beyond/of the "Mobile Suit Gundam" series TV anime broadcast. The event was held at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall for two days, September 7 and 8 2019. Hiroyuki Sawano / SawanoHiroyuki Zk TMRevolution / Takashi Nishikawa, SKY-HI, DJ Charaza aka DJ Caesar, TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND feat. Hasegawa Daisuke, BACK-ON, BiSH, May J The appearances of Hiroko Moriguchi, LUNE SEA and others have already been announced, but Yuna Ito has been selected. Yuna Ito is in charge of the ending theme for the TV anime "Mobile Suit Gundam 00". Currently based in Los Angeles, USA, it was her first live performance in seven years in Japan. Both "Gundam 00" and the cover of the Gundam song was shown.

Discography

* ''

'' (2007) * '' Wish'' (2008) * ''

'' (2009)

Filmography

Awards

*Best New Artist ( Best Hit Kayōsai 2005, 11.21.2005) *Best New Artist ( Japan Cable Awards 2005, 12.17.2005) *Special Award for ''Nana'' (47th Japan Record Awards, 12.31.2005) *Best New Artist ( Japan Gold Disc Awards 2006, 9.3.2006) *Gold Artist Award ( Best Hit Kayōsai 2006, 11.20.2006) *Audience Request Award (39th Yūsen Taishō, 12.16.2006) *Best Asia from Japan (

MTV Video Music Awards Japan The MTV Video Music Awards Japan (MTV VMAJ for short) are the Japanese version of the MTV Video Music Awards. Like the MTV Video Music Awards in the United States, in this event artists are awarded for their songs and videos through online votin ...

, 05.25.2007)

Radio programs

From October 4, 2005 until March 28, 2006, Ito was moderator of her own radio show, ''Journey'', which aired on Tokyo's

InterFM InterFM (JODW-FM 89.7 MHz Tokyo, 76.5 MHz Yokohama) is a Japanese commercial radio station on the FM band, transmitting in the Greater Tokyo area (including Narita International Airport), and owned and operated by . Since September 202 ...

radio station. Ito later returned with a new radio show, ''Heart to Heart''. On February 27, 2008, Ito did a public live talk show with

Hilary Duff Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including seven Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, four Teen Choice Awards and two Young Artist Awards. She began her acti ...

on Tokyo FM's radio show entitled ''Wonderful World''. Although she appeared on the radio show, Hilary Duff's main purpose was to promote

Disney Mobile Disney Mobile is an American division of Disney Consumer Products, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, that designs mobile apps, content and services. History In August 2000, Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) entered the mobile content mar ...

, which she did also on the show.

References

http://www.billboard-japan.com/d_news/detail/79273 https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20180411_0008.html

External links

Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Yuna 1983 births American emigrants to Japan American musicians of Japanese descent American musicians of Korean descent American pop musicians American women singer-songwriters Japanese women pop singers Japanese people of Korean descent Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Living people People from Oahu Singers from Los Angeles Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists Studioseven Recordings artists Video game musicians 21st-century American singers 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers Singer-songwriters from California 21st-century American women Singer-songwriters from Hawaii