BoA

Kwon Bo-ah (Korean: 권보아; born November 5, 1986), known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, dancer, producer and actress. One of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers, she has been dubbed the "Queen of K-pop". Born and raised in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, BoA was discovered by SM Entertainment talent agents when she accompanied her older brother, a music video director, to a talent search in 1998. She was trained for two years and made her debut in August 2000. BoA has released twenty studio albums, including ten in Korean, nine in Japanese, and one in English. On television, she appeared as a judge on the reality competition show K-pop Star (2011–2013), as an actress on the television drama Listen to Love (2016), as a host for the second season of Produce 101 (2017), and as a coach for the third season of The Voice of Korea (2020). BoA's ability to sing in multiple languages, such as Japanese, English, and Mandarin, helped her find commercial success beyond South Korea, in China, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore. With the release of her debut Japanese studio album, Listen to My Heart (2002), BoA became the first South Korean pop star to break through in Japan following the fall of barriers that had restricted the import and export of entertainment between the countries since the end of World War II. She is the only foreign artist with three albums that have sold more than one million copies in Japan and one of only three female artists with six consecutive number-one studio albums on the Oricon charts since her debut, the others being Japanese singers Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada.