Kumi Koda

Kumiko Kda , known professionally as Koda Kumi , is a Japanese singer from Kyoto, known for her urban and RampB songs. Having debuted in 2000 with the single Take Back, Koda gained fame for her seventh single, Real Emotion1000 no Kotoba, the songs of which were used as themes for the video game Final Fantasy X2. Her popularity grew with the release of her fourth studio album Secret , her sixteenth single Butterfly , and her first greatest hits album Best First Things , reaching the numberthree, numbertwo and numberone spot respectively.

Koda was born into a family of musicians. Her grandfather was a Shakuhachi master and her mother was a Koto teacher she is the older sister of Misono, current solo artist and former lead singer of Day After Tomorrow. Inspired by her mother, who performed in karaoke bars, Koda, from a young age, had aspirations of becoming a singer. Her school years were unhappy she described her junior and high school years as obscure times, as she was ridiculed due to her fatness, shortness, ugliness, and other factors related to her appearance. During her second year of high school Koda auditioned in Avexs Dream Audition, where she came in second out of 120,000160participants. She was then signed onto the Avex sublabel Rhythm Zone. Kodas first semibiographical book, Kodashiki was officially described as a story about a girl who was filled with inferiority complex pursuing her way.

Source: Wikipedia