Melody.
| Melody | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Melody Ishihara |
| Born |
February 24, 1982 Honolulu, Hawaii, United States |
| Genres | J-pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, TV host |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2003-2008 |
| Labels | Toy's Factory |
Melody (born February 24, 1982) (stylized melody.) is an American-born former Japanese pop singer and television host. She debuted in February 2003 with the song "Dreamin' Away", under Toy's Factory. In October 2008, Melody announced on her blog ending her career as a music artist to focus on pursuing a career as a fashion designer.
Melody was born to Japanese parents in Honolulu, Hawaii. When she was young, she would occasionally watch shows that involved J-pop, and she has also listed Celine Dion, TLC, and Destiny's Child as inspirations. She took ballet and piano as well as vocal training. When she was 16, she worked as a Hawaiian model for Japanese commercials. While she was a high school student at Punahou, she had a secret audition with record producer Tetsuya Komuro, who was forming an international unit, but when they wanted her to join the next day, she negotiated to wait until she graduated. At the age of 19, she moved to Japan to pursue a singing career. After some time with Komuro's company, where she was allocated to various groups in development, she eventually left and signed with Toy's Factory.
Her debut song, "Dreamin' Away", was released in February 2003 where it peaked at number 33 on the Oricon weekly charts and stayed charted for eight weeks. In June, she released the single "Simple as That" along with a cover of "Over The Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz; the latter was used in a commercial for Mitsubishi Motors. The single reached number 19 on Oricon. In October, she was a featured artist along with Ryohei in m-flo's song "Miss You", which reached number eight on Oricon.
She is also known for singing the single "Realize" which was the theme song for a TV drama series called Dragon Zakura, which debuted sixth on the Oricon charts. Her single "Lovin' U" was used in a Raycious commercial in 2006. The single included "Our Journey", which was the theme song for the 2006 movie Gen Yu Den starring Rena Tanaka, who also co-wrote the lyrics to the song. Melody made an appearance in a Japanese Subaru Forester commercial in 2007, in which her single "Finding My Road", was used as promotion. In April 2007, she started hosting the English-language Japanese music show J-Melo on NHK World TV. Her single, "Love Story", written by her sister Christine (KURIS), was used in the drama series Kodoku no Kake - Itoshikihito Yo in the summer of 2007.
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