Yui Horie

Stage Name:Yui Horie 堀江 由衣 (horie yui)
Birth name :堀江 由子 (Horie Yoshiko)
Also known as Hocchan (ほっちゃん ,Hocchan), YUIEL
Born :September 20, 1976
Origin: Tokyo, Japan
Genre(s): :J-Pop
Years active: 1997–Present
Label(s) Starchild:Associated acts
Aice5, Kurobara Hozonkai
Website :http://www.starchild.co.jp/artist/horie/

Yui Horie (堀江 由衣 ,Horie Yui, born on September 20, 1976) is a popular Japanese singer and voice actress. Horie's real name is Yoshiko Horie (堀江 由子 ,Horie Yoshiko), and she is sometimes affectionately nicknamed "Hocchan" (ほっちゃん ?) by her Japanese fans. She is not to be confused with YUI, another J-Pop singer.

She hosts a radio show called "Horie Yui no Tenshi no Tamago" (堀江由衣の天使のたまご ,"Yui Horie's Angel Eggs") and is the founding member of the singing group, Aice5. She is also a member of the band Kurobara Hozonkai, with the name YUIEL. Her hobbies include shoulder massage, reading and cooking.

Biography

Horie was born in Katsushika, Tokyo, Japan. As a child, she was a huge fan of the anime series Dirty Pair and has later stated that the series was her first inspiration to become a voice artist.
She debuted in 1997 in a video game Voice Fantasia and for several years had minor roles in various anime. She landed her first leading role as Haruka in Kurogane Communication. The turning point in her career wasn't till the year 2000, when she won the role of Naru Narusegawa in the popular anime Love Hina. Other notable and defining career moments were taking the role of Tohru Honda in the anime Fruits Basket in 2001, and releasing her 1st music album (Mizutamari ni Utsuru Sekai) in 2000. She has since become one of the most popular anime voice actresses in Japan.

Horie formed a temporary unit called Yamato Nadeshiko with the popular seiyū Tamura Yukari in 2001. They released two singles , Mou Hitori no Watashi (もうひとりの私) and Merry Merrily - the latter of which was an insert song in the Love Hina Christmas Special.

In October, 2005 she founded Aice5, a J-Pop group consisting of 4 other seiyūs, to help launch their careers. Aice5 was officially disbanded on the September 20, 2007.

She has collaborated with a few other artists, such as UNSCANDAL in 2005 and Kurobara Hozonkai (黒薔薇保存会) a Japanese Goth band in 2007.

She was employed by Arts Vision until mid-2007 due to a scandal within the agency's top management, at which point she left to become a freelance seiyū unaffiliated with any talent management firm

She has published 6 independent musical albums. Nearly all of them incorporate at least one track from an anime she has worked with. She currently releases music under the Starchild label (a subdivision of King Records)

Her radio show is "Horie Yui no Tenshi no Tamago" (堀江由衣の天使のたまご ) and can be listened to on the station JOQR (文化放送 ?)(AM 1134 kHz) at 0:30am on Mondays .