Leo Ieiri

Overview

Leo Ieiri (家入レオ, Ieiri Reo; born 13 December 1994) is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, who grew up in Fukuoka. She made her debut on 15 February 2012 with the single "Sabrina" and won Best New Artist at the 54th Japan Record Awards that same year. She is signed to Three Hundred Entertainment (after Kenon) and releases through Victor Entertainment on the Colourful Records label. "Sabrina" was used as the third ending theme of the anime series Toriko, and "Silly" was the theme song of the TV drama adaptation of "Nのために" (For N).

Career

Before debut

At 13, hearing Yutaka Ozaki's "15 no Yoru" made her want to become a singer, and she joined Ongaku-juku Voice, a music school run by producer Yoshihiko Nishio. In spring 2011 she moved to Tokyo alone, against her parents' wishes, writing songs and performing live while attending high school.

2012–2016

• 15 Feb 2012: Debut with "Sabrina".
• 24 Oct 2012: First album LEO reached No. 2 on the weekly Oricon chart for two consecutive weeks and sold over 150,000 copies in total.
• 30 Dec 2012: Won Best New Artist at the 54th Japan Record Awards for "Shine".
• 2013: First nationwide tour (4 cities), followed by a second tour, "Kimi ni Todoke", in November.
• Feb 2014: Second album a boy. Its music video includes an animated section by Tezuka Productions in which an anime version of Ieiri, modeled on Kimba the White Lion, meets characters from that series. Her third tour, including her first hall shows, ran for 14 shows in 14 cities and drew 17,000 people.
• 2015: Third album 20 (25 Feb) and a 15-venue tour; "Kimi ga Kureta Natsu", her 10th single, won a Television Drama Academy Award for Best Drama Song.
• 2016: Fourth album WE (6 Jul) and a 20-venue live tour from September. She also sang "Brand New Tomorrow," the theme song of the Japanese version of The Secret Life of Pets.

2017–2020

• 2017: Best album 5th Anniversary Best (15 Feb); her first solo concert at Nippon Budokan, a long-held goal, on 30 April; acting debut in the TV Tokyo drama Shinjuku Seven in October.
• 2018: Fifth album TIME (21 Feb) and a 12-venue tour.
• 2019: Sixth album DUO (17 Apr); a 20-show tour across 19 cities drew 40,000 people, with the final at Makuhari Messe, her first solo concert there.
• 2020: First EP Answer (13 May). A planned live house tour was cancelled due to COVID-19, and she held a streaming live on 30 August.

2022–present

• 2022: 10th Anniversary Best (16 Feb); digital single "Lemon Soda" (17 Aug); first stage appearance with her school friend, voice actress Momo Asakura, on 17 December.
• 2023: Seventh album Naked (15 Feb).
• 2024: Collaboration single "Kibō no Namae" with Momo Asakura (21 Feb); the YAON SPRING TREE concerts at Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall (16–17 Mar); "Waltz," theme of the drama Miss Target, released 22 May as her first CD single in about three years; eighth album My name (2 Oct) and a nationwide tour from 12 October to 13 December.
• 2025: Sang the national anthem before Game 1 of the Pacific League Climax Series Final Stage on 15 October. Her TOUR 2025 bulb ran 24 October–27 November; at the final at LINE CUBE SHIBUYA, Kosuke Saito (UNISON SQUARE GARDEN / TenTwenty) made a surprise appearance to perform the new song "Mirror feat. Kosuke Saito."
• 2026: Ninth album 31, named after her age, released 26 August and fully produced by Ryosuke "Dr.R" Sakai, who also worked on the single "Mirror." The TOUR 2026 -Log:31- visits 11 cities from 12 September.

Musical style and background

Ieiri studied piano as a child and sang in a school choir. She wrote her first lyrics at age five and has written songs with producer Yoshihiko Nishio since she was 13. She cites Yutaka Ozaki, YUI, Ken Hirai and Avril Lavigne as influences, and names Koji Tamaki as an artist she admires. Her difficult childhood, spent for a time moving between relatives' homes, deeply shaped her life and music; the lyric in "Bless You" about love being cruel was a phrase she recited to calm herself as a child. Her stage name comes from the film Léon: The Professional and from Leo of Kimba the White Lion, because her eyes resemble a lion's.

Awards

• iTunes Japan Sound of 2012 ("ripe")
• Billboard Japan Music Award New Artist of the Year 2012
• 54th Japan Record Awards: Best New Artist and New Artist Award
• 27th Japan Gold Disc Award: Best 5 New Artists
• 55th Japan Record Awards: Excellence Award ("Taiyō no Megami")
• 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards: Best Asian Artist Japan
• Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Drama Song for "Silly" (83rd) and "Kimi ga Kureta Natsu" (86th)
• 30th Japan Gold Disc Award: Best 5 Songs by Download ("Kimi ga Kureta Natsu")