About Aiko

Aiko Yanai (柳井 愛子, Yanai Aiko?, born November 22, 1975 in Suita, Osaka), better known as aiko, is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter. She is known for her cheerful disposition. Her music primarily consists of love songs and is particularly popular among young girls all over East Asia. Oricon published the results of a survey of 20,000 subscribers' favourite singers, and Aiko topped the list in both 2005 and 2006.

Emergence and career

Aiko studied popular music vocals at the Osaka College of Music, and after graduating in 1996, she became a DJ on FM OSAKA. She made her nationwide debut in July 1998 with her song "Ashita". Since then, she has had a successful career with her songs being used in television commercials and TV dramas.

After the release of her third single "Hanabi", Aiko became recognised nationwide, due to much television promotional coverage for every one of her subsequent commercial releases. Her second album, "Sakura no Ki no Shita" sold over one million copies, and her sixth single, "Boyfriend", became her best-selling CD single, and she achieved an appearance in NHK's 2000 Kohaku Uta Gassen. Incidentally, since the song's lyrics contain the word "tetrapot", similar to "tetrapod", a registered trademark, Aiko encountered controversy and brief legal problems since NHK is a public broadcasting station. However, the episode was resolved without any restriction being placed on the lyrics.

Aiko has previously been romantically linked with DJ Barbara Yone. She was also involved with fellow Japanese star Taichi Kokubun of the boy-band TOKIO. She has a slight feud with Japanese singer Zoxy Doll, who maligned Aiko in an interview with NTV. After the programme, complaints from Aiko's fans resulted in Zoxy Doll's BBS being closed, and Aiko expressed shock and upset at the comments in her blog.

Japanese manga artist Yukari Ichijo Ichijo based the character "Eiko", in Pride (2003-) on Aiko, and Aiko has several times expressed admiration for Ichijo.

Aiko has been chosen to do the insert song for "Hana Yori Dango Final" which premiers on 6/28/2008.