Yui (born March 26, 1987), stylized as YUI or yui, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Born and raised in Fukuoka prefecture, she played live at various locations in her hometown before being noticed by Sony Music Japan when she was 17 years old, and released her debut single months later. Her singles, however, were only met with moderate success until the breakout "Good-bye Days", which charted for 44 weeks on Oricon and marked her as one of the Japanese music industry's rising stars. Since Yui's debut album, From Me to You, each of her soloist album releases has topped the charts, with at least one single reaching number one on the Oricon charts from 2007 until her second hiatus in 2012, including five straight from mid-2008 to late 2010.
Yui was born in Fukuoka, Japan. The Associated Press has reported that her full name is Yui Yoshioka. She grew up in a single-parent family, her father leaving her mother when she was three. Growing up, Yui asserted that she had always been close to music, as she would remember the beats from music she heard on the radio, and would be able to sing it. During elementary school, Yui thought she would like to become a singer. Self-described as shy and horrible at talking to others as a child, she would play outside by herself in mountains, rivers, by the sea and in rice paddies. During her third year in primary school, she was influenced by her mother to begin writing a journal of her feelings and tried to compose them into poems. By the time Yui attended high school, she began to write songs, thinking of that as being able to express herself little by little. While in high school, she worked part-time at a Chinese restaurant to help pay for tuition. Between music, school and work, however, she only had one or two hours of sleep, and believed she no longer had the time to realize her dreams of a music career. She subsequently became ill; however, it was at the hospital that she was overwhelmed with the desire to make music, and finally decided that school and music could not coexist. Soon after leaving the hospital, she got a chance to see her first live street performance. She expressed a desire to pursue a musical career to the band, Bianco Nero, at the end of the concert. The band advised Yui to join a private music school, juku. Despite the social norm of finishing school in Japan and discouragement from her teachers, Yui did not hesitate to drop out of high school and began to study guitar and songwriting at the music cram school "Voice" in her hometown of Fukuoka. Aspiring to become a professional, she took to street performing at Fukuoka's Tenjin Station. These street performances helped Yui to overcome her shyness.

Q: Where did she grow up?
A: Yui was born in Fukuoka, Japan.
What was her childhood like?
Yui asserted that she had always been close to music, as she would remember the beats from music she heard on the radio, and would be able to sing it. Yui asserted that she had always been close to music, as she would remember the beats from music she heard on the radio, and would be able to sing it. She grew up in a single-parent family, her father leaving her mother when she was three. Self-described as shy and horrible at talking to others as a child, she would play outside by herself in mountains, rivers, by the sea and in rice paddies. Growing up, Yui asserted that she had always been close to music,
Growing up, Yui asserted that she had always been close to music,