South Korean vocalist BoA is a rarity in that she is as big a
star in Japan, Asia's largest music market, as she is in her
homeland. Often recording multiple versions of her songs in
Korean, Japanese, and English, BoA has also won fans in China,
including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Singapore. As a teen pop
phenomenon who made her debut at age 14 in 1999, BoA has
inevitably been compared to Britney Spears. But her easy-on-the-
ears dance-pop and American-style R&B, including a regular
offering of ballads, means she is more often compared to
Japanese pop's biggest stars, Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada.
Born Kwon Boa on November 5, 1986, BoA's career owes as much to
serendipity as talent -- she followed her older brother to an
audition at the offices of record label SM Entertainment
(Korea's biggest record label and most reliable idol-makers),
and while the older brother was overlooked, his 11-year-old
sister was taken on. With an eye on nurturing a future pan-Asian
star, BoA was quickly enrolled in an internati