Ua is not a Japanese name - it's a Swahili word that means "flower" or "kill." Despite the name, Ua is from Osaka and is Japanese. She made her debut in June 1995 with a four-song mini-album called Horizon that immediately established her as a unique talent on the Japanese music scene. Ua's earthy, sensual vocals offer a decided contrast to the ferrets-on-helium squawking of idol-style female singers. Her exotic looks also separate her from the "kawaii" (cute)...

Ua is not a Japanese name - it's a Swahili word that means "flower" or "kill." Despite the name, Ua is from Osaka and is Japanese. She made her debut in June 1995 with a four-song mini-album called Horizon that immediately established her as a unique talent on the Japanese music scene. Ua's earthy, sensual vocals offer a decided contrast to the ferrets-on-helium squawking of idol-style female singers. Her exotic looks also separate her from the "kawaii" (cute) crowd. Ua began her musical career by singing in clubs in her native Osaka and was spotted by a production company's talent scouts who were impressed with her raw power as a vocalist. Her first album, 11, was released in 1996 and was immediately hailed as a landmark album that showed how much Japanese pop had matured and grown. The album featured slow, sensual club-influenced grooves and Ua's smoky, spacy vocals, with lyrics that were often oblique and downright mystical. Since then Ua has followed a very individual course, joining Blankey Jet City alumnus Kenichi Asai in the band Ajico in 2001 before going back to being a solo act, and then turning her attention to children's songs. Ua remains one of the J-pop scene's most intriguing and unpredictable artists.