YuMiPuFF

Hailing from Kagoshima, Japan, Yumi is poised to take the Asian and Asian American pop scene by storm. Born into a musical family, Yumi began playing piano at the tender age 3 at the distinguished Yamaha Piano School. By six she was already competing with children twice her age.Upon moving to the United States as a youngster, she continued the musical tradition of her family taking up a host of other instruments holding court with youth-based symphonic orchestras in her area. Yumi's love for traditional music was combined with her discovery of Japanese pop music, opening up an entirely new chapter in the young artist's career.Influenced greatly by much of the Asian pop music that filtered over to the U.S. during her formative years, Yumi quickly developed a style and approached to pop music that was all her own. Infusing J-pop stylings with the American popular music she had come to enjoy with her own classical training led to a bit of a coup in the Japanese music scene.Eagerly courted by A&R reps from within the Japanese music industry, Yumi signed her first deal before even graduating high school with the KT music empire. Not one to fall into the trappings of the music industry, Yumi held off her professional career to complete her studies at Michigan State University.Upon graduation, the music bug hit hard again, and Yumi set out to the East Coast where she found that the American music industry was just as much abuzz about her talent as their counterparts in Japan. To date, Yumi has worked with some of the top producers in the mainstream hip-hop and R&B arena, a privilege that most young singers can only dream of.Yumi has recorded and worked closely with Larry Gates of the famed Trackmasterz production team that has worked with everyone from Nas and Jay-Z to Britney Spears and Fat Joe. Upon Gates' departure from the Trackmasterz team, however, Yumi's project seemed to be up in the air. However a chance meetring with Freddie L, an in-house producer for The Inc. (formerly Murder Inc. home of Ja Rule and Ashanti) has breathed new life and interest in this promising talent.Currently, co-managed by T.J. Duckett and working closely with ILLTHOUGHTZ MUSIC/ KUNG FU DISCO. Keep your eyes and more importantly your ears on this rising talent. With a strong J-pop influence, and the interest of American hip-hop royalty, Yumi just might be the first artist to break both the Asian and American pop scenes simultaneously.