JERO

JERO was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His mother was half-Japanese, and his Japanese grandmother got him interested in enka music from a young age. He first went to Japan at age 15 to participate in a Japanese language speech contest. In high school he was captain on the dance team. He enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in information science, and graduated in 2003. During this time, he went on a three month exchange to a university in Kansai, and during his stay was when he decided he would become an enka singer.

After graduating, he returned to Japan and worked as a teacher at an eikaiwa school in Wakayama-ken, as well as being a computer engineer in Osaka. In his spare time he appeared on NHK singing programs, and entered many karaoke competitions and winning an array of awards. In particular, he entered a karaoke competition sponsored by Sakamoto Fuyumi and won first place, which is what caught the eye of Victor and got him scouted. He practiced for two years, and finally in February 2008 debuted with the single Umiyuki. This single skyrocketed to success - selling in excess of 200,000 copies (something unheard of for an artists' debut release in the late 2000s).

JERO will follow up Umiyuki with a mini-album, COVERS, featuring covers of Enka standards mostly from the 1970s.

Categories: Artists | J-Urban | Enka | 1981 Births | English Fluent