Boa Kwon (born November 5, 1986 in Guri, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea) is a South Korean singer, commonly known by her stage name BoA. She is an active singer in both South Korea and Japan. Her Korean record label, SM Entertainment, has positioned her to become a cross-cultural idol in East Asia and parts of Southeast Asia.
She has released a total of ten full-length albums, three mini-albums, two compilation albums, two remix albums, and over thirty singles in total in both Japan and South Korea. Sold in many parts of Asia, BoA's records have passed ten-million copies.
BoA is fluent in her native tongue Korean, Japanese, and speaks conversational English. She is currently learning Mandarin Chinese. BoA has re-recorded several of her songs in Mandarin Chinese and has written the lyrics for several of her Korean and Japanese songs. She has also translated some of her songs from Japanese to Korean and vice-versa and then re-recorded them again. BoA is one of the most commercially successful artists in both South Korea and Japan and is one of the leading stars of the "Korean wave" or "Hallyu". BoA has re-signed an extended contract with SM Entertainment until 2012 for which she will receive 100,000 shares of SM Entertainment.
