mink(Real name:
Lee Mink; 이밍크, born February 15 1984 - ,
Cheonghak-dong,
Incheon,
South Korea) is a female Korean
pop singer active in Japan. Upon traveling to Japan in her early teens to continue her education, she was discovered after she submitted a
demo to
Avex Trax, one of Japan’s leading
J-pop labels. Her initial success occurred in Japan with the release of her first two albums. mink was born and raised in Korea, however she does not sing in Korean. She also had not shown her face on her albums, instead replacing her pictures with an
anime-like character until 2008's
mink II ~endless love~ album. She had previously shown herself in her music videos, however.
In 2005, her song "Beautiful" was used for the film
The Movie and featured on her debut album.
In 2006 her song "Glory of Life" was released and licensed to Rhythm Zone/King Street Records and
remixed by
Chris Cox,
John Creamer and
Stephane K. "Glory of Life" hit the number one position on the U.S.
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. A second single "4 Love" was scheduled to be released to the U.S. in April 2006, but was later canceled (although it was still released in Japan). mink is the one of the first Asian Artists to have any sort of number one single in the US, some others being
Kumi Koda (with "Trust Your Love") and
Utada Hikaru (with "Devil Inside").
In April 2006, mink's "Eternal...
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