melody.

melody. was born in 1982 in Hawaii where she grew up until she arrived in Japan at the age of 19. Her mother is a Okinawan native, so the singer's Japanese is as fluent as her English language. She uses her real first name since her parents were music lovers and called her in relation to their passion. It's maybe also under her parents' advice that she started attending a music school at a young age, studying voice training, jazz dances, piano, and classic ballet. The young girl wished to soon make her debut as a singer in the Japanese market.

However, it's only in 2003 that this dream begins to be fulfilled with the release of her debut single, Dreamin' Away. Even if this first try didn't climb high in Oricon charts -- reaching 33th place -- it was welcomed by radio stations which offered a good airplay rotation. They were certainly seduced by this very fresh pop-R&B track, giving melody. the opportunity to finally sell more than 20,000 of this first song.

For her following single, Simple As That / Over The Rainbow, which was released fourth months later, melody. tried advertising partnerships. Simple As That was used as the theme song for a month-long television show while the B-side, Over The Rainbow, was used for illustrating a Mitsubishi cars range campaign. However, these tie-up didn't really help with the sell this new release.

It's around the end of the year that the popularity of the singer actually grew when she was noticed by the famous band m-flo. She was invited to be featured beside Yamamoto Ryohei on the energetic single miss you. Being the second female singer of the "m-flo loves" concept -- a concept born after m-flo's former singer left the band -- she received more interest from mass-media. It was also by her involvement with the band's concerts as a charm asset that she seduces numerous fans, attracted by her cuteness and her freshness on stage. The single miss you reached eighth on the Oricon charts, selling more than 59,000 copies.

Taking advantage of this new mass-media interest and new audience, melody. releases a new single at mid-November, Crystal Love, a pop-rock-dance mix. The real proof of the young woman's new popularity was the release of her debut-album, Sincerely. The album, released on January 22, 2004, was written with the collaborations of many artists, included numerous tracks sung completely in English, and mixing different musical influences from rock to hop-hop. The release became a long-time success entering third place on the Oricon charts and selling more than 87,000 copies.

In April of the same year, the young singer won her first regular radio show on JFN Network, "melody. Flow's On". The following month, she also released her first PV collection on DVD, FIRST VISUAL ISSUE -CLIPS AND MORE- Sincerely Yours. In May, to show her bilingualism, she released a new single available in two versions: one with the track Believe me sung in Japanese and the limited edition with the same track sung in English.

To present day, melody.'s best selling singles were from 2005. Next to You, released in January, sold 22,000 copies and reached fourteenth on the Oricon charts. realize / Take a Chance, which was released in August, was a luminous and energetic pop track used as the theme song for the TBS drama "Dragon Zakura", which greatly helped to sell the single. The single reached sixth on the Oricon charts where it stayed for 14 weeks and sold more than 127,000 copies. Currently, realize / Take a Chance is melody.'s best selling single.

That same year, the young singer also gave her first huge live performances at BIGLOBE presents Spicy Time festival during five dates across the country. In October, again melody. joined m-flo members on stage for seven dates on their tour, winning new fans in the audience. The young woman ended the year on stage by participating in the MTV COOL CHRISTMAS 2005 at Yokohama.

In 2006, links between melody. and m-flo continued to increase when DJ Taku produced her seventh single, see you... Two months later, the singer released her second album, Be as one, also available for the first time on a limited edition including a bonus DVD. With near 78,000 copies sold, melody. confirmed that she is capable of being an album-seller. In June, the singer opened her official fanclub, Ohana, the same day of launching her first three-date tour, Be as one TOUR 2006. melody. also took the opportunity of performing lives during the summer festivals at the DEEP SUMMER! BEAT SUMMIT!, for example. She went on in October and November with a promotional live tour at Japanese universities before giving birth to a new "R&B touch" single, Lovin' U and to the DVD of her 2006 tour.

melody. had quite a busy year in 2007 which started with the release of her single Finding My Road, used as the theme for a SUBURU TV commercial in which the singer starred in. During March and April, she tried a seven-date tour, the melody. CLUB TOUR '07 mel-mode Night. At the same time, the new m-flo's album COSMICOLOR became available, which included a melody. feature titled STUCK IN YOUR LOVE. This song was used in a Japanese version under the title "BoRn 2 luv U" on melody.'s new single released in June, Love Story. The main track was an addition written by one of her sisters, who also works in musical industry under the nickname KURIS. To-date, this is the lowest selling release with less than 11,000 copies sold. Her following third album READY TO GO! sold more than 45,000 copies and included a cover of Peter Cetera's success, Glory of Love.

The year 2008 is looking promising with the title track for melody.'s single Hanaka to be used for the TBS dorama "Daisuki!!".

Considering this talented young singer who has been around for about half a decade, melody. is definitely one artist worth watching out for.