Born on October 2, 1985, the multilingual singer began her career at age 15 after winning a singing contest and being awarded a recording contract in Japan in 2001. Initially, she performed as a member of the J-pop group Mirai. Several years later, she made her solo debut at age 19 with the album A Girl Meets Bossa Nova (2005), an English-language collection of bossa nova classics intended for the Japanese market. While Ong performed other music in later years, her bossa novas proved especially popular, warranting the release of A Girl Meets Bossa Nova, Vol. 2 (2006). ~ Jason Birchmeier