Kylee Saunders (born 25 May 1994), sometimes known

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

ously 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 Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). It is bordered to the north and west by Tempe, to the north by Mesa, to the west by Phoenix, to the ...

, 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 Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

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 A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

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 ''Heroman'' (stylized as ''HEROMAN'') is a Japanese manga and anime series created by Marvel's Stan Lee and Bones. The manga was published in Square Enix's magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' from August 2009 to October 2011, with its chapters ...

''. She also performed as one of the opening acts for the 2010

Summer Sonic Festival The , also known as Supersonic, is an annual two- or three-day rock festival held at the same time in Osaka and Chiba, Japan. The majority of the bands playing in Osaka the first day go to Chiba the following day and vice versa. The line-up cont ...

, 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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' 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 Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show ''Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee''. Gifford is a ...

, 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 Samuel Tsui (born May 2, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter and video producer. He rose to fame as an internet celebrity known for doing covers and musical medleys of songs by pop artists. He has since released original songs and expanded t ...

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 *

2010 * Girl Pop Factory *

2011 * NBC's ''

TODAY Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' 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 Japan Expo is a convention on Japanese popular culture - the largest of its kind in the world - taking place in Paris, France, although it has branched out into a partnership festival - Kultima - and expanded to include some European and US pop c ...

(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 YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

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