BoA (Kwon Boa)

Boa Kwon (born November 5, 1986 in Guri, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea) is a South Korean singer, commonly known by her stage name BoA, and the letters of her first name have been backronymed to Beat of Angel. She has been active in both South Korea and Japan. Aside from Korean, she also speaks Japanese and conversational English.

At the age of thirteen, after two years of training, BoA released her debut album ID; Peace B on August 25, 2000. The album received positive reviews and climbed into the top ten chart, going on to sell 218,114 copies. Meanwhile, her Korean record label SM Entertainment made arrangements with Japanese company Avex Trax to launch her music career in Japan.

In early 2001, the singer released her first mini-album Jumping into the World. After this album was released, she took a hiatus from the Korean music industry to focus on the Japanese market. During this time she struggled to solidify her skills in Japanese.

BoA entered into the Japanese music industry soon after signing with Avex Trax. In 2001 she debuted with a Japanese version of ID; Peace B. The single reached #20 on the Oricon chart. ID; Peace B was followed by subsequent singles Amazing Kiss (#23), 気持ちはつたわる (Kimochi wa Tsutawaru) (#15), and Listen to My Heart (#5). The single Listen to My Heart became her first major success in Japan and went on to sell over 180,000 copies.

Her Japanese debut album, Listen To My Heart, was released on March 13, 2002. The album debuted at #1 on the Oricon chart in which the album charted for 91 weeks. It sold over 932,000 copies domestically and over 1,300,000 copies worldwide. A breakthrough in her career, her album was one of the few albums by Korean artists to enter the top five, and performed well despite the disputes and tensions between Japan and South Korea due to the 2002 FIFA World Cup. On the same day as the album's release, BoA's fifth single Every Heart-ミンナノキモチ- (minna no kimochi, everybody's feelings) was released. The song was the ending theme for the hit anime series InuYasha; the single peaked at #10 on the charts.

A month later, BoA released her second full studio Korean album, No.1. This album is her most successful Korean album to date, selling over 572,000 copies. The album peaked at #15 on the Japanese charts. In September of the same year her second mini album Miracle became another commercial success selling 327,000 copies. Later in the year she became the youngest artist ever to receive a "Artist of the Year" in South Korea.