Boa

Kwon Bo-ah (Korean: 권보아, born November 5, 1986), known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, record producer and actress active in South Korea and Japan. Dubbed the "Queen of K-pop", BoA has been recognized as one of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers throughout her career.Born and raised in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, she was discovered by SM Entertainment talent agents when she accompanied her older brother to a talent search in 1998 and was trained for two years. Since her debut in August 2000, BoA has released nineteen studio albums, including nine in Korean, nine in Japanese, and one in English. On television, she appeared as a judge on the reality competition show K-pop Star (2011–2013), as an actress on the television drama Listen to Love (2016), and as a host for the second season of Produce 101 (2017). BoA's multilingual skills (she speaks Japanese and English along with native Korean and has recorded songs in Mandarin) have contributed to her commercial success throughout East Asia. With the release of her debut Japanese studio album, Listen to My Heart (2002), BoA became the first Korean pop star to break through in Japan following the fall of barriers that had restricted the import and export of entertainment between the countries since the end of World War II. She is the only foreign artist to have three albums sell more than one million copies in Japan and is one of only three artists to have six consecutive number-one studio albums on the Oricon charts since her debut, the others being Ayumi Hamasaki and Koda Kumi.