MIREI
MIREI might be only 13 years old but she’s already taken R&B fans by storm. She’s performed at some of the hottest clubs in NYC, gained thousands of fans thanks to her exhilarating You Tube videos, recorded with some of the best producers in the game and topped it all off this past April by winning first place at the legendary Amateur Night at the Apollo. With a powerhouse, expressive voice, fierce dance moves and a personality that lights up the room, MIREI proves that even though she’s Japanese, she’s got American R&B in her soul.
A native of Osaka, Japan MIREI grew up surrounded by music. Her parents loved to sing and the family spent quality time at Karaoke boxes. MIREI started singing along when she was three and by the time she’d entered school was taking voice and dance lessons. Inspired by, among others Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera and Rihanna, MIREI discovered that not being able to speak the language didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the song. “Emotions are the same even if they aren’t translated,” MIREI explains.
In order to take her skills to the next level MIREI traveled to New York in the summer of 2011. “If you love American music you have to come to America!” She returned the following winter and began working with a NYC based Japanese manager who began taking MIREI to open mic nights at the Village Underground and the late Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson’s Sugar Bar. MIREI’s soulful vocals and incandescent personality wowed the crowds. As fate would have it one member of the audience was a producer at the Apollo and she invited MIREI to perform at the famously tough Amateur Night competition and despite all odds she grabbed first place. ”It was always my dream to sing for that audience. And to win was so exciting!” Buoyed by her success MIERI flew to LA and went into the studio with Kim Burse, the creative A&R director behind Beyoncé’s multiplatinum success, and Donnie Scantz (Chris Brown, Usher) who produced MIREI’s YouTube sensation “Leaving With Scars” as well as the new comer, Desmond/Bmarz produced the ballad “You’ll Be Leaving Me”. Having the chance to work with American producers of that caliber is as MIREI offers, nothing shy of amazing. It’s a long way from the Karaoke Bars of Osaka to the nightclubs of NYC. It’s an even longer journey from up and comer to star. One listen to MIREI and it’s clear she is a young woman whose talent is limitless.
