Yui

Yui (born March 26, 1987), stylized as Yui or Yui, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

In her solo career, she sold more than 5 million physical copies in Japan.

Yui's professional career began in March 2004 when, at the recommendation of her cram school instructors, she applied for an audition hosted by Sony Music Japan.

Although instructed that a participant could only perform two songs, she first sang "Why Me" (a song later included in her debut Sony Records single), followed by "It's Happy Line," and then half of "I Know", performing the unfinished third song because she wanted the judges to hear a song full of hope.

The judges gave her the maximum score.

Although "I Know" was incomplete at the time, the judges were able to get a glimpse of what would later be dubbed "Yui-go" (Yui語), or Yui-speak, nonsensical English hummed to a tune during her songwriting process.

An example of Yui-go can be found in the film Song of the Sun.

On December 24, 2004, Yui released her debut single, "It's Happy Line", under the indie label Leaflet Records, coupled with the track "I Know," although the pressing was limited to only 2,000 copies in her home area.

Upon leaving her hometown in Fukuoka for Tokyo, Yui wrote the song "Feel My Soul" as a tribute to her hometown.

Although she initially had planned its release on an indie label, Fuji Television producer Yamaguchi was so inspired by Yui's voice that he insisted on having her work on the music for his primetime drama Fukigen na Gene, prior to releasing a major single.

The music in Fukigen na Gene was eventually based on her songs "Feel My Soul" and "It's Happy Line."

On February 23, 2005, Yui released her first major debut single "Feel My Soul."

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 movie Hinokio), "Life" (5th ending theme for the Bleach anime), and "Tokyo" did not chart as high as "Feel My Soul", and were only moderately successful in comparison.

Yui released her debut album on February 22, 2006, titled From Me to You, a moderate success that debuted at number 4 on the Oricon charts, charting for 121 weeks.

Yui made her acting debut in the full-length feature film Song of the 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.

She had a unique way of approaching her role, such as imagining unscripted conversations between other characters and hers as well as staying in her character's room and fitting the aberrant sleeping patterns of her character to give herself a sense of her role.

Since Yui's debut album, From Me to You, each of her soloist album releases has topped the charts, with at least one single reaching number one on the Oricon charts from 2007 until her second hiatus in 2012, including five straight from mid-2008 to late 2010.

She is popular in Japan and in surrounding countries, ranking number one in 2011 Count Down TV "Dearest Female Artist" and Music Station "Artist You Most Want to Marry" polls, as well as Radio Television Hong Kong's "Most Popular Japanese Artist".

Born and raised in Fukuoka prefecture, she played live at various locations in her hometown before being noticed by Sony Music Japan when she was 17 years old, and released her debut single months later.

Her singles, however, were only met with moderate success until the breakout "Good-bye Days", which charted for 44 weeks on Oricon and marked her as one of the Japanese music industry's rising stars.

After retiring from music as a soloist in 2012, she formed the band Flower Flower in 2013.

Yui was born in Fukuoka, Japan.

The Associated Press has reported that her full name is Yui Yoshioka.

She grew up in a single-parent family, her father leaving her mother when she was three.

Growing up, Yui asserted that she had always been close to music, as she would remember the beats from music she heard on the radio, and would be able to sing it.

During elementary school, Yui thought she would like to become a singer.

Self-described as shy and horrible at talking to others as a child, she would play outside by herself in mountains, rivers, by the sea and in rice paddies.

During her third year in primary school, she was influenced by her mother to begin writing a journal of her feelings and tried to compose them into poems.

By the time Yui attended high school, she began to write songs, thinking of that as being able to express herself little by little.

While in high school, she worked part-time at a Chinese restaurant to help pay for tuition.

Between music, school and work, however, she only had one or two hours of sleep, and believed she no longer had the time to realize her dreams of a music career.

She subsequently became ill; however, it was at the hospital that she was overwhelmed with the desire to make music, and finally decided that school and music could not coexist.

Soon after leaving the hospital, she got a chance to see her first live street performance.

She expressed a desire to pursue a musical career to the band, Bianco Nero, at the end of the concert.

The band advised Yui to join a private music school, juku.

Despite the social norm of finishing school in Japan and discouragement from her teachers, Yui did not hesitate to drop out of high school and began to study guitar and songwriting at the music cram school "Voice" 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.