Yui
Yui's rise to Japanese stardom is as simple in retelling as it was difficult in execution, deserving a manga adaptation or a movie of its own. At 16, the music-loving Yoshioka Yui, who grew up without a father, followed the recommendation of a friend and switched from a normal high school to a private music school in Fukuoka. There she honed her performing and composing skills, dragging her guitar around with her everywhere she went and doing street performances, which also helped her in her battle with shyness. The battle was clearly won by 2003, when she participated in an audition organized by Sony Music, having to hold her ground against no less than 20,000 opponents and managing to score a record contract. This led to her only indie' single, It's A Happy Line, released in 2004. The A-side song was heard by the director of a prime time TV drama Fukigen na Gene ("Grumpy Gene") and impressed him enough to get Yui's music employed in the show. The success immediately earned Yui a place on Sony Music roster.
Being her own songwriter didn't prevent Yui from reaching chart success usually reserved for more convenient pop stars lending their faces to music created by someone else. Her first major label single Feel My Soul (also featured on Fukigen na Gene) sold 100,000 copies, and the debut LP From Me To You that followed in 2006 sold twice as much and reached #4 on the Oricon charts. In the same year Yui also launched her acting career, starring in the main role in Taiyou No Uta ("Midnight Sun") -- a sad and, of course, romantic story about a young musician with a terminal disease that prevents her from appearing in the sunlight. The movie even made it to the program of the world famous Cannes Film Festival. Two of Yui's songs also got picked for opening and closing credits of one of the most popular Japanese anime series, Bleach, and after this, it was only natural that her second LP, Can't Buy My Love, topped the Oricon charts in 2007, selling half a million copies. Since then, Yui provided songs for another TV drama and two movies, and played a sold-out show on Japan's number one music venue of Budokan. Her third album, I Loved Yesterday, is due in April 2008.
~ Alexey Eremenko, All Music Guide
