Emyli was born, to music-loving parents, in Japan on April 23, 1988.
As a young girl she studied in American schools, which gave her a real feel for the English language. At the age of three, she began studying ballet and, when she reached the age of five, took a chance on hip-hop dance as well. It was only at eleven years old that she began vocal training. Her taste for R&B quickly made itself known through singers such as Alicia Keys, one of her idols. Her musical family had been found.
Emyli made her entrance to the Japanese music industry at age fifteen, through a new talent searching convention where she covered Alicia Keys's Fallin' and Stevie Wonder's Lately. The young girl quickly signed with BGM Japan and her first single, Rain, was released in June 2003. Even if this first release was quite confidential, satisfactory sales allowed her to continue the venture and, two months later, she released Someday, her second single, followed by her debut-album, Flower of Life, two weeks later. She also participated in VOICE OF LOVE POSSE's only single, a special project produced by IMAI Kôsuke, which brought together many Japanese urban artists such as ZEEBRA, LISA, AI, DJ KAORI, MICHICO and BENNIE K.
Even if her releases weren't especially successful, they did give her the opportunity to draw attention from m-flo, a band who was always searching for new emerging talents in the Japanese music world. The duet invited her to perform on The Other Side of Love, the B-side on the band's let go single in November of 2004. For this release, Emyli was credited as "Sister E," a tribute to "Sister M", or Sakamoto Miu, Sakamoto Ryuichi's sister, who was set to sing the song.
As proof of her rising popularity, the following year saw more collaborations with m-flo, this time for two more singles. In February, Emyli sang alongside rapper Diggy-MO' on the single DOPAMINE and, in July, she joined YOSHIKA on Loop In My Heart. m-flo also asked her to perform live with them at several festivals such as ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2005, a-nation and Tokyo Girls Collection. After a two-year break, Emyli began more work on her solo carrier with s new single, Come Home, which was released under the 30TH label. She also changed the way her name was written, dropping the all capital version for a more feminine look.
Possible seduced by her vocal performances during the summer festivals, m-flo's members asked her to participate in their BEAT SPACE NINE TOUR 2005 as well as their record label's event, ARMITAGE NIGHT 2005, and their tour final in South Korea. During this live, alongside her mentors, she performed songs that she had been featured in previously in, but also stood in for BENNIE K, Monday Michiru and kahimi karie on tracks that they had been featured in.
In 2006, m-flo once again performed at several festivals and requested that Emyli join them to sing along with other artists that they regularly collaborated with. As in previous years, Emyli also covered for absent female artists. Emyli also tried other collaborations during this time, including one with Korean band Shinhwa on their Inspiration #1 album. In October, she released a new maxi-single, Don't Vanish Yourself, under a new label, Seventh Code.
In 2007, the singer continued her solo activities with two singles, Day By Day and TEKITO Lover, featuring VERBAL from m-flo, released in April and July. She also remained faitfhful to the famous band by taking part in all the dates on m-flo's tour that same year. In August, Emyli revealed a new track, My Love, during a mini-live organized at an Apple Store though it has yet to be released. In October, she started a weekly radio show, "FIVE STARS," in which other UP-FRONT WORKS artists also participate, on Inter FM, where she regularly has a role as a DJ.
In February of 2008, a new best-of m-flo album was released. This album included a track called love comes and goes, which brought together recurrent participants in the "m-flo loves" project and features Emyli's voice as well as those of Ryohei, YOSHIKA, Hinouchi Emi and LISA. That same month, she also performed her first solo live for a show entitled Sweet nineteen Drops at Pacific Heaven.
