is an American-born former singer and actress who was active in Japan.
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 of the film singing the theme song, "Truth". In 2007, Ito released her debut album, Heart, which debuted atop the Oricon chart.
Early life and education
Ito was born to a South Korean mother and a Japanese father in Los Angeles, California. She has a younger brother, Johnny. Her family later moved to Oahu, Hawaii. From a young age, Ito dreamed about becoming a singer. She was inspired by the powerful vocals of Celine Dion. 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.
Career
2005—2007: Debut
In 2005, Ito was chosen to portray Reira Serizawa, the vocalist for rock band Trapnest in the film adaptation of Ai Yazawa's popular manga 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 Oricon chart at the #2 position, and is a cover of the English ballad, "If I'm Not In Love" by 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, "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 "Truth". 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 in which Ito again portrayed Reira Serizawa.
Ito started off 2007 with the release of her debut album Heart. Upon its release Heart topped the Oricon album chart. Heart was certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. 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. 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—2012: 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 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 lost to Kumi Koda'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's Time Hollow. In March, Ito became spokesperson for Proactiv 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 (who produced music for Mr. Children, 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 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.