Married name: Kuramochi Yuki (倉持有希)
Stage name: YUKI
Nicknames: Yukky, Yukiss, Sarah
Birthdate: February 17, 1972 (Age 40)
Blood type: A
Height: 156 cm (5'1")
Weight: 46 kg (about 101 lbs)
Yuki Isoya is a musician, singer, model, artist and writer born in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan on February 17, 1972 to her mother, Ryoko, and her father, Mou. She has an older sister, Yukari, and younger brother, Taminori. When she was born, her grandfather said "now there is hope" and gave her the name Yuki (有希), with the two characters in her name meaning "possessing hope" and "phenomenal thing" Yuki began singing and playing piano at 7 years old. When she was 13 she took up ballet and formed her own ballet dance group at 15. Writing poetry has been a huge hobby for Yuki ever since she was in middle school. She described it as the only outlet to deal with her pain throughout life and find her worth. In high school she was nicknamed a Japanese word meaning "Abnormal" by her female classmates. She went to an all girls school for middle and high school and later attended Hakodate Otani College, but dropped out in her junior year.
Yuki grew up in area rich with musical culture, where a lot of today's famous Japanese artists originated. Having grown up with the members of bands such as GLAY, Magokoro Brothers, Spitz, etc. she has had close relationships with these artists and done various collaborations with them. At the age of 18, she began writing her own songs by learning to play guitar and teaching herself how to incorporate melodies she had created in her mind onto it. It was at this time she met a young, aspiring musician who fell in love with her. He helped her learn the guitar and would take her to a nearby recording studio to record songs she had created.
After that Yuki was looking to start a band. At 19, she met Onda Yoshihito and in 1991 she formed Judy and Mary with him. Yuki explained the names Judy and Mary were meant to represent both sides of her personality. Mary being the sweet, innocent side, and Judy being the wild, rebellious side of her. After recruiting Fujimoto Taiji on guitar and Kohta Igarashi on drums, it wasn't until 1993 that they debuted on a major record label. After that, Takuya Asanuma replaced Fujimoto and became the permanent guitarist. Judy and Mary became one of the most influential bands in Japanese history, and still remains one of the most important inspirations to new artists. But in 2001 they broke up after a 10-year run, when the other members began to mistreat her and tensions rose. But Yuki said she needed to make music forever and continued her success and has become on the most notable female singers in Japan. In 2001 she directed a documentary called "Peace" that dealt with her band's break up where they all shared their final thoughts.
It was then, at age 29, Yuki married Yoichi Kuramochi, the Japanese musician YO-KING of Magokoro Brothers. She had hid her engagement to him for 2 years, but said she had been in love with him since she was young. The two were fans of each other and YO-KINGS song "Baby baby baby" was written about Yuki. They currently have 2 children. In 2003 she became pregnant with her first child, but sadly he died in 2005 of unknown causes and people began to start rumors. Yuki completely disappeared shortly after this and cancelled all her activity. Fans sent many heartfelt letters to her until she and her husband then finally returned and spoke out about their child's death. In 2006, she became pregnant again and gave birth in August. Then, to another son in February of 2009.
Yuki now enjoys a successful music career and busy life full of art and creativity. Yuki continues to top the music charts. Since her musical career began, 4 of her albums have reached Platinum, and 6 have reached Gold. All together she has 13 albums, 46 singles, and 14 live concert DVD’s. She has published a total of 6 books. 3 biographies have been written about her, and she has written 3 autobiographies which all feature her own illustrations and photography. Her fans have created an official club and produce their own magazine in which Yuki provides interviews for and even creates hand-written pages with doodles called "Yuki's Endless Nonsense" to be featured in it.
Yuki models for a visual project she created called "Sleep" that she began in 2007 and it features her lyrics interpreted into concept photography, and unique fashion which she also designs for these photo shoots. She also regularly appears on radio shows and television in Japan for interviews, performances, or to promote her new releases.Yuki continues to tour quite often, but has yet to begin an international tour.
Yuki now celebrates 20 years as a musician, 10 as a solo artist. Recently, in 2011, Yuki held a concert at the famous Tokyo Dome with an audience of 50,000 people. Because of this she became the first female singer to perform there as a band and as a solo artist.
There is much more information and details about Yuki's life in the Yuki Timeline
