Boa Kwon Japanese Idol

Boa Kwon: Japanese Idol

Boa Kwon (born November 5, 1986 in Guri, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea) is a South Korean singer, commonly known by her stage name BoA (Beat of Angel). She is active in South Korea and Japan. Her Korean record label, SM Entertainment, has positioned her to become a cross-cultural idol in East Asia and parts of Southeast Asia.

She has released a total of ten full-length albums, three mini-albums, two compilation albums, two remix albums, and over thirty singles in total in both Japan and South Korea. Sold in many parts of Asia, her total record sales have passed the ten-million mark.

She is fluent in her native tongue Korean, Japanese, and speaks conversational English. She is currently learning Mandarin Chinese. BoA has re-recorded several of her songs in Mandarin Chinese and written the lyrics for several of her Korean and Japanese songs. She has also translated some of her songs from Japanese to Korean and vice-versa and then re-recorded them again. BoA is one of the most commercially successful artists in both South Korea and Japan and is one of the leading stars of the "Korean wave" or "Hallyu". BoA has re-signed an extended contract with SM Entertainment until 2012 for which she will receive 100,000 shares of SM Entertainment.

Background information Birth name 권보아 (Kwon, Boa) Born November 05, 1986 (1986-11-05) (age 20) Origin Guri, South Korea Genre(s) J-pop, K-pop, C-pop, Pop Occupation(s) Singer Instrument(s) Singing, Piano Years active 2000-present Label(s) SM Entertainment Avex Trax Associated acts SMTown Website BoA official website (Korean) BoA official website (Japanese)

Early years BoA was born and raised in South Korea in a Catholic nuclear family. At the age of eleven, she accompanied one of her brothers to a talent search held by Korean record label, SM Entertainment, which was searching for an international icon. After her parents agreed to let her pursue a career in music, BoA received training in singing, dancing, and foreign languages in preparation for her Korean debut. BoA attended Yangjung Elementary School, Sahmyook Middle School, and Korean Kent Foreign School.

ID; Peace B and LISTEN TO MY HEART era At the age of thirteen, after two years of training, BoA released her debut album ID; Peace B on August 25, 2000. The album received positive reviews and climbed into the top ten chart, going on to sell 218,114 copies. Meanwhile, her Korean record label SM Entertainment made arrangements with Japanese music giant Avex Trax to launch BoA's music career in Japan.

In early 2001, BoA released her first mini album, Jumping into the World. After this album was released, BoA took a hiatus from the Korean music industry to focus on the Japanese market. The months prior to release of her first Japanese single were spent entirely in Japan, and BoA was only allowed to speak Japanese in order to solidify her mastery of the language.[citation needed] BoA has described this period as one of the loneliest times in her life.

BoA entered into the Japanese music industry soon after signing with Avex Trax. In 2001 she debuted with a Japanese version of ID; Peace B. The single reached #20 on the Oricon chart. ID; Peace B was followed by subsequent singles Amazing Kiss (#23), 気持ちはつたわる (Kimochi wa Tsutawaru) (#15), and LISTEN TO MY HEART (#5). The single LISTEN TO MY HEART became her first major success in Japan and went on to sell over 180,000 copies.

Her Japanese debut album, LISTEN TO MY HEART, was released on March 13, 2002. The album debuted at #1 on the Oricon chart in which the album charted for 91 weeks. It sold over 932,000 copies domestically and over 1,300,000 copies worldwide. A breakthrough in her career, her album was one of the few albums by Korean artists to enter the top five, and performed well despite the competitive tension between Japan and South Korea due to 2002 World Cup. On the same day as the album's release, BoA's fifth single Every Heart-ミンナノキモチ- (minna no kimochi, everybody's feelings) was released. The song was the ending theme for the hit anime series InuYasha; the single peaked at #10 on the charts.

A month later, BoA released her second full studio Korean album, NO.1. This album is her most successful Korean album to date, selling over 572,000 copies (excluding overseas sales). The album peaked at #15 on the Japanese charts.In september of the same year BoA released her 2nd mini-album (2.5 album) Miracle and sold 327,000 copies.Later in the year she became the youngest artist ever to receive a Daesang (equivalent to a Grammy) for "Artist of the Year."

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http://idolasia.blogspot.com/2007/04/boa-kwon-korean-idol.html.

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Boa Kwon: Japanese Idol