Yuna Ito

Biography

Yuna Ito (伊藤 由奈, Itō Yuna; born September 20, 1983) is an American-born former pop singer and actress who was active in Japan.
Ito made her musical debut in Japan with the single, "Endless Story×ENDLESS STORY6 September 2005 · Single · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1ENDLESS STORY5:052JOURNEY5:243ENDLESS STORY -Instrumental-5:054JOURNEY -Instrumental-5:22", 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×Truth6 December 2006 · Single · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Truth5:382Take Me Away4:493ENDLESS STORY -Little Big Bee Lovespell Remix-6:404Truth -Instrumental-5:38". In 2007, Ito released her debut album, Heart×HEART24 January 2007 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1WORKAHOLIC4:192ENDLESS STORY5:043losin'4:094Know-how5:225Precious5:456Tender is the Night4:177Fragile3:288Nobody Knows5:219Faith4:4310Stay for Love4:2111Truth5:3912Perfume4:5713Precious -wedding extended ver.-6:02, which debuted atop the Oricon chart.

Early life and education

Ito was born in Los Angeles, California to a South Korean mother and a Japanese father. She was raised in 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.
She has a daughter, Ellie, who was born in February 2023.

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×ENDLESS STORY6 September 2005 · Single · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1ENDLESS STORY5:052JOURNEY5:243ENDLESS STORY -Instrumental-5:054JOURNEY -Instrumental-5:22", 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×Precious3 May 2006 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Precious5:482I'm Free4:523Secrets3:404Precious -Instrumental-5:46", 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×stuck on you9 August 2006 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1stuck on you4:172These boots are made for walkin'3:313These boots are made for walkin' -STUDIO APARTMENT Impulse Groove-4:36", "Losin'", and "Truth×Truth6 December 2006 · Single · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Truth5:382Take Me Away4:493ENDLESS STORY -Little Big Bee Lovespell Remix-6:404Truth -Instrumental-5:38". 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×HEART24 January 2007 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1WORKAHOLIC4:192ENDLESS STORY5:043losin'4:094Know-how5:225Precious5:456Tender is the Night4:177Fragile3:288Nobody Knows5:219Faith4:4310Stay for Love4:2111Truth5:3912Perfume4:5713Precious -wedding extended ver.-6:02. 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×I'm Here14 March 2007 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1I'm Here4:422Reason Why4:383Faith -Teardance Remix-5:464I'm Here -Instrumental-4:41", which debuted at #15 on the Oricon chart.
The single following "I'm Here" was "Mahaloha×Mahaloha27 June 2007 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Mahaloha4:032Shining On4:063stuck on you -Reggae Disco Rockers Kiss & Tell Remix-4:594Mahaloha -Instrumental-4:04" (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×Urban Mermaid24 October 2007 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Urban Mermaid3:572Colorful4:573Mahaloha (Gira Mundo 'City Lights' Remix)6:214Urban Mermaid (Instrumental)3:56", 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×miss you3 September 2008 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1miss you5:032BREEEEEZIN!!!!!!!3:503Urban Mermaid -Bittersweet Movement Blood-I Riddimix-3:584miss you (Instrumental)5:03" was released on September 3, 2008 and was used as the theme song for Ito En Vitamin Fruit. "Miss You" inspired the cellphone novel Tenshi no Koi (天使の恋; lit. "Angel's Love"), 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 "Koi wa Groovy x2" (恋はgroovy×2; lit. "Love Is Groovy Groovy") 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 Christine Ito (伊藤 クリスティーン). Sony Music Japan created an official website for Christine and a blog.
Ito collaborated with hip-pop/reggae duo Spontania for their single "Ima Demo Zutto" (今でもずっと; lit. "Now and Forever"), which was released on January 28, 2009. Ito's thirteenth single "Trust You×trust you4 March 2009 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1trust you5:192Brand New World4:303恋はgroovy×2 -DJ-PASSION MORE PASSION REMIX-3:424trust you -ガンダム00 Version-1:325trust you -instrumental-5:19", became the fourth ending theme song for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season. The single was released on March 4, 2009 and became Ito's first Top 5 single since "Mahaloha×Mahaloha27 June 2007 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Mahaloha4:032Shining On4:063stuck on you -Reggae Disco Rockers Kiss & Tell Remix-4:594Mahaloha -Instrumental-4:04" in 2007.
On March 31, 2009 "Ima Demo Aitai Yo..." feat. Spontania (今でも会いたいよ...; lit. "I Still Miss You"), which was the answer song to Spontania's "Ima Demo Zutto", was released online through ringtone sites. Ito's third album titled Dream×DREAM27 May 2009 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1love you4:022今でも 会いたいよ・・・3:463Brand New World4:284恋はgroovy×23:365trust you5:186BAILA BAILA3:257BREEEEEZIN!!!!!!!3:508miss you5:039LOVE MACHINE GUN4:4610No one else3:5911Body10:06 was released on May 27, 2009. A single, "Let It Go×Let it Go11 November 2009 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Let it Go2Happy Days3Let it Go (instrumental)4Happy Days (instrumental)", 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's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing×I Don't Want To Miss A Thing28 July 2010 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1I Don't Want To Miss A Thing". After recording and releasing the song on July 28, the project announced a second poll. The song that got selected was Elvis Costello's "She". The song was released on August 25. A third song was Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry×Hard To Say I'm Sorry29 September 2010 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Hard To Say I'm Sorry3:42".
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 marked Ito's final release under her record company as of 2012.

2019–present

Yuna Ito appeared at the 40th anniversary event [GUNDAM 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.
Yuna Ito was in charge of the ending theme for the TV anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00. It was her first live performance in seven years in Japan. Both Gundam 00 and the cover of the Gundam song was shown.

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 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 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, which she did also on the show.