Younha

Go Youn-ha (born April 29, 1988), known mononymously as Younha, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer.

Younha was born in South Korea on April 29, 1988, where she began to play the piano at the age of 5.

She started singing in elementary school and later began to teach herself Japanese after watching the popular Japanese drama, Gokusen.

As a teenager, Younha said she went to as many as 20 auditions with South Korean record labels but was rejected because she wasn't "pretty enough to become a star."

As a result, she dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue a singing career in Japan.

Younha later attended Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, where she majored in Japanese.

She began her career in 2004 in Japan, where she was nicknamed the "Oricon Comet" for her success on the Japanese music chart.

After arriving in Japan in January 2004, Younha released her debut single, "Yubikiri," that September, followed by the Japanese version of the song in October.

Despite the fact the song was included on the soundtrack of the Fuji TV drama, Destiny of Love, it was not a success.

'"Houkiboshi" to Go!

Younha'

Younha found mainstream success with her second Japanese single, "Houkiboshi," which was included on the soundtrack of the anime series Bleach.

The song debuted on the Oricon daily chart at #18 and peaked at #12, making Younha the second South Korean artist, after BoA, to break into the Oricon top 20.

Less than 2 months after the success of Houkiboshi, she released "Motto Futari de", to little fanfare, with minimal promotion, and Younha made no TV appearances to promote the single live.

Her third single, "Touch / Yume no Tsuzuki", with a tie-in to the Touch live action movie adaptation, with Touch as the theme song, was significantly more successful, and brought her back into the Oricon Top 20, matching the success of "Houkiboshi".

The single debuted at #15, and peaked at #11 on the Daily chart.

After releasing four singles, Younha released her first album entitled Go! Younha with moderate success.

It reached the #10 spot on the Oricon daily charts, and #12 on the weekly charts.

However, Younha's next three singles, "My Lover", "Te wo Tsunaide" and "Ima ga Daisuki", despite various tie-ins such as Bleach GC: Tasogare Ni Mamieru Shinigami, Jyu Oh Sei (獣王星) and Jang Geum's Dream, failed to replicate the success from her earlier efforts, all ranking in the lower half of the Oricon Top 100.

In the meantime, Younha enrolled in Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and began her debut in Korea, releasing a digital Korean single album titled "Audition".

Many performances of this song were shown on Korean TV, and the single received much promotion, as a result, "Audition" charted well for over 3 months on all Korean charts.

Despite the lackluster performance of her last 3 Japanese singles, Younha was chosen to sing an opening theme song for Kiba.

The song "Hakanaku Tsuyoku" (儚く強く) was used as the second opening theme for the show.

In 2006, she debuted in South Korea, where she is regarded as one of the country's best singer-songwriters.

The single was released on January 17, 2007, and due to the nature of its tie-in, charted much higher than her last 3 releases, peaking at #36 - but also marked her last single with Epic Records.

Exactly two months after "Hakanaku Tsuyoku", Younha returned to Korea to release her first Korean album entitled The Perfect Day to Say I Love You (고백하기 좋은 날, Gobaekhagi Jo-eun Nal).

The album was a success, peaking at #1 on the charts.

The first song promoted from the album was "Password 486", for which she won the SBS Inkigayo Mutizen award twice.

A music video was made for "Password 486", which stars fellow Stam artist Yoon Ji-hoo.

The album also features a collaboration with Wheesung.

On July 14, 2007, Younha appeared on the Korean GomTV MSL Grand Finals (a StarCraft tournament) and performed in the opening ceremony.

The second song promoted was "Love Condition", accompanied with a repackage of her debut album.

While no music video was made, the song was performed live a number of times, and had modest success on the charts.

At the 2007 MKMF held on November 17, 2007, Younha won the Best New Solo Artist award.

With her increasing success, Younha released a version of Go! Younha rerecorded in Korean.

The album, with minor track list changes, is titled Comet (혜성, Hyeseong) and was released on October 23, spawning two hit singles, the title track "혜성 (Hyeseong)" and "At First Sight".

Riding the success experienced in Korea, her very first Korean single "Audition" was re-released on March 14 as a physical CD, limited to 10,000 copies.

Epic Records quietly released a "best of" Japanese album/music video DVD of Younha's work to date, SONGS -Teen's Collection-, on March 26, 2008, signaling the end of her contract with the record label, due to the recent poor performance of her singles, and her focus on the Korean music industry.

On August 28, 2008, Younha followed up her last few successful albums with her sophomore effort, titled Someday.

The album went on to spawn two hit singles, "Telepathy", and "Gossip Boy".