Kylee Saunders (born 25 May 1994), sometimes known mononymously as Kylee, is an American singer who is signed with

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

's DefStar Records label.

Early life and career

Kylee Saunders was born in Chandler, Arizona, to a Japanese mother and British American father. Her father inspired her to become a singer. She has a younger sister and a younger brother. When she was eleven years old, she passed an audition to perform the national anthem at the opening of an

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

game, earning a standing ovation. This performance earned her the interest of music producers, and she was signed onto the independent label RX-Records. Saunders attended Stoller Middle School in Portland, Oregon, until 2007, when she returned to Arizona. She then attended Hamilton High School and in 2016 graduated from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

with a bachelor's degree. On October 17, 2008, her first single, "Vacancy", was released by RX-Records in the United States as a digital single. "Vacancy" was featured as the ending theme to the Sony Computer Entertainment anime series '' Xam'd: Lost Memories''. On March 24, 2010, Saunders released her first major-label single under

's label DefStar Records, titled , which was featured as the theme song to the 2010 film ''

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is a 2010 Japanese teen drama film directed by Hans Canosa and based on the 2007 young adult novel of the same name by Gabrielle Zevin. The film stars Japanese actress Maki Horikita, Japanese actors Kenichi Matsuyama and Yuya Tegoshi, and Ameri ...

'', a Japan-America co-production in which she also gave a cameo performance. Her second major-label single, "Missing/It's You", was slated for release on July 7, 2010, with "Missing" being the second opening theme song to the Bones and

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

anime '' Heroman''. She also performed as one of the opening acts for the 2010 Summer Sonic Festival, playing on the Urban/Dance Stage. This was followed by her single "Everlasting", which was used as the theme song for the second episode of the ''

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is a novel by popular Japanese author Harutoshi Fukui (''Shūsen no Lorelei'', ''Bōkoku no Aegis'', '' Samurai Commando: Mission 1549''). The novel takes place in Gundam's Universal Century timeline. Character and mechanical designs are ...

'' OVA series. Saunders appeared on NBC's '' Today'' in the United States on May 13, 2011, where she was interviewed by

Hoda Kotb Hoda Kotb ( ; arz, هدى قطب, ''Hudā Quṭb''; ; born August 9, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist, television personality, and author. She is a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show ''Today'' and co-host of its entertainment ...

and Kathie Lee Gifford, before she performed her fourth major single "Never Give Up". Kylee performed at Otakon 2011 on July 31, 2011, in Baltimore, Maryland, her US concert debut. Her fifth major single, "Crazy for You", was released on October 5, 2011; the song was used in Japanese online clothing retailer Nissen's 2011 fall collection television commercial. Saunders released her debut album, ''17'', on November 23, 2011. She also did a duet with Sam Tsui in May 2013. She was married August 2017.

Discography

The RX-Records era (2008–2009)

Single

EP

The DefStar Records era (2009–)

Singles

Digital singles

EPs

Studio albums

Album appearances

Live performances

2009 * Hurley NIGHTS Vol. 0 * Summer Sonic Festival 2010 * Girl Pop Factory * Summer Sonic Festival 2011 * NBC's '' TODAY'' show *

Otakon Otakon ( ) is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. It stands for Otaku Convention. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to ...

* Minami Wheel * Girls Award by CROOZ blog 2011 Autumn/Winter *

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

2012 * Otodama Sea Studio (Japan) * MTV ZUSHI FES 12 supported by RIVIERA (Japan) * J-POP Summit Festival (USA) * Inazuma Rock Fes (Japan) 2013 * Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (USA) * Japan Day @ Central Park (USA) * Japan Expo (France) * J-POP Summit Festival (USA) 2014 * Playlist Live (USA) * J-POP Summit Festival (USA)

Covers on YouTube

Kylee started a covers project on YouTube.

Management

Kylee is managed in the US and Japan by Antinos Management America.

References

External links

* by DefStar Records * by RX-Records {{DEFAULTSORT:Kylee 1994 births Living people American expatriates in Japan American musicians of Japanese descent American people of British descent Defstar Records artists Japanese women singers Japanese people of British descent Singers from Arizona Stanford University students 21st-century American singers 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century American women singers