is a Japanese singer, best known as a member of the pop duo PUFFY, along with

Ami Onuki is a Japanese singer and a member of J-pop group PUFFY, along with Yumi Yoshimura. Career She has co-hosted several Japanese TV shows with the "cool" half of PUFFY, Yumi Yoshimura, including the talk show ''Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy'', part of a morni ...

Early life and career

She was born in

Neyagawa, Osaka 270px, Neyagawa Green City is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 228,802 in 111,545 households and a population density of 9,300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Neyagaw ...

, in 1975. She learned that there was a talent search underway in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. She successfully tried out and was paired with

to form the group PUFFY.

Personal life

From 1999 to 2002 she was married to singer

Takanori Nishikawa is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, voice artist, radio personality, and businessman. He performs under the stage name T.M.Revolution (TMR), which stands for , stemming from the famous '80s pop electronic band TM ...

(better known by his music alias

T.M. Revolution is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, voice artist, radio personality, and businessman. He performs under the stage name T.M.Revolution (TMR), which stands for , stemming from the famous '80s pop electronic band TM ...

). After the Japanese media accused Yoshimura of having an affair, Nishikawa filed for divorce. Yoshimura remarried a long-time friend and businessman on December 31, 2009. On August 1, 2012, Yoshimura gave birth to a baby boy. However, she and the unnamed businessman divorced on December 31, 2013, their fourth anniversary.PUFFY's Yoshimura Yumi divorces for the 2nd time
/ref> Between February and April 2003 she lived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and went to school to learn the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

. Yumi speaks Japanese, some English, some Spanish and a little French. She also speaks some Hungarian and Portuguese at the beginning of ''

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi ''Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi'' is an American animated television series created by Sam Register for Cartoon Network. Produced by Renegade Animation and Cartoon Network Studios, the series stars fictionalized and animated versions of the Japanese pop ...

.'' She has hosted the hit talk show ''

Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy ''Pa Pa Pa Pa Puffy'' (also known as ''Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa Puffy'', ) was a variety TV show which aired in Japan (TV Asahi) from 1 October 1997 to 27 March 2002, and re-aired as a PUFFY 10th anniversary broadcast for a short time in 2006. It was hosted b ...

'' alongside

in Japan, which aired from 1999 to 2002. On November 19, 2004, PUFFY's show ''

'' began airing on Cartoon Network in the United States. She is voiced by

Grey DeLisle Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress, comedian and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On Sept ...

in her animated form and she herself appears in the show's live action segments. She starred as Dendou-Jitensha in the 2002 film ''Mohou-han'' (Copycat Killer

She also starred as Ryoko Tajima in the 2004 film ''Inu to arukeba: Chirori to Tamura'' (Walking the Dog) and as Nozomi Akai in the horror film ''The Neighbor No. 13'' (Rinjin 13-gô), which was released in 2005.

Instruments

Yumi can play: *

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(

Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi is the 2nd single released by the Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi on October 7, 1996. It sold over 1.5 million copies and was their first #1 hit. They won "Japan Record Award for Best New Artist" in 1996. It is known in American releases as bei ...

) *

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(2001:a halfway of space odyssey - Watashi no Nozomi) *

Timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

(Jet Tour '98 -

Ai no Shirushi "Ai no shirushi" is the 6th single released by Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi. It was released on March 14, 1998. This song was written and composed by Masamune Kusano of band Spitz. Some of this song was played in the film Waterboys. They als ...

) *

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

(Cosmic*Wonder)

Solo songs

Yumi has also sung several solo songs:

AmiYumi

*Nagaiki Shitene (I Want You to Live a Long Time)

Solo Solo

*Tennen no Beauty (Natural Beauty) *Kyouki na Futari (Perfect Couple) *Hanabi (Fireworks) *V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N *Sorenarini (Hold Out As Long As You Can) *Ai no Aura (Aura of Love) *Watashi no Nozomi (My Hope)

Jet-CD

*Tetsugaku (Philosophy)

The Hit Parade

*Hi-Teen Boogie (Late-Teens Boogie)

Fever*Fever

*Nannari to Naru Deshou (Anything can become a habit)

Spike

*This is the Song of Sweet Sweet Season When Cherry Garcia Blossoms Bloom

Splurge

*Rakuda no Kuni (Camel Country, Cameland)

Solo single

On 2 July 1997, each member of PUFFY released their own solo single before their original solo album,

Solo Solo is a Japanese pop rock duo formed in Tokyo in 1995, consisting of singers Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura. In the United States, they adopted the name Puffy AmiYumi to avoid legal naming conflicts with Sean Combs, who also performed under the na ...

was released on the 6 August 1997.

Track listing

#V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N #Kyouki na Futari (Perfect Couple) #V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (Original Karaoke) #Kyouki na Futari (Original Karaoke)

References

External links

* *
Puffy AmiYumi World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshimura, Yumi 1975 births Living people Puffy AmiYumi members People from Neyagawa, Osaka Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists Musicians from Osaka Prefecture 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century women guitarists