Valentine’s RADIO吉川友 (You Kikkawa)

吉川友 (You Kikkawa)

You Kikkawa (吉川友; Kikkawa You) (also sometimes referred to as Kikkawa Yuu/Yuu Kikkawa), was born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan on May 1, 1992, and is a singer and actress. You had done minor theater work and originally auditioned to become an eighth generation member of the mega popular female idol group Morning Musume, but was ultimately rejected. However, she was accepted to be a trainee, under the company’s now defunct trainee program Hello Pro Egg in 2007.

She originally made her debut voicing Kobeni Hanasaki (花咲 こべに) – a character who appeared in the third season of きらりん☆レボリューション (Kirarin☆Revolution) – alongside then Up-Front colleague and Morning Musume member Koharu Kusumi, who voiced the titular character Kirari Tsukushima (月島 きらり). The character was a member of the show’s girl group, MilkyWay, which also starred Kusumi as well as another Hello Pro Egg trainee Sayaka Kitahara who played Noel Yukino. The group would make real life appearances at concerts as their characters and released music for the show as well.

Kikkawa would make her solo debut with the single きっかけはＹＯＵ！(The Reason is YOU!) in April of 2011 under Up-Front Agency. Kikkawa would leave Up-Front, as well as their record label Zetima, after the release of her 10th single in 2016, after almost a decade, and signed with Universal Music Japan.