IN: Ai Carina Uemura (Zhi Cun Ai karina, Uemura Ai Karina, born November 2, 1981), known mononymously as Ai (Japanese pronunciation: [ai], stylized as AI or A.I. ) is a Japanese-American singer and songwriter who was born in Los Angeles. Ai spent her childhood in both Kagoshima, Japan and Los Angeles. She debuted as a singer in 2000, later moving to Def Jam Japan and rising to fame with her album 2004 Ai.

Ai was born in Los Angeles in 1981. Her father was Japanese and her mother was half Italian-American and half Japanese. She moved to Kagoshima in Japan when she was 4, and went to elementary school and junior high school in Japan. Ai was motivated to become a singer in her early teens, after singing at a cousin's wedding, having many people ask her if she wanted to be a professional singer, and hearing a gospel performance at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles in 1993. After graduating from junior high school in Japan, Ai returned to Los Angeles for high school, enrolling at Glendale High School, however found high school difficult due to never formally studying English. After making it through the audition process, she switched to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, majoring in ballet. She became a member of the school's gospel choir. In 1998, she performed in a gospel choir at a Mary J. Blige concert at the Universal Amphitheatre, performing of "A Dream." In the same year, she appeared as a dancer in the music video for Janet Jackson's song "Go Deep." In 1999, she joined an Asian girl group called SX4, who were produced by George Brown of Kool & the Gang. Ai was a member of the group for two years, and later in 1999 the group were offered a record label deal. While on her summer holiday in Kagoshima, she performed Monica's "For You I Will" on a local radio station, which led to her being scouted by BMG Japan. She decided to take the offer, and after leaving SX4 and graduating from high school in June 2000, moved to Tokyo and debuted as a musician later in 2000.

what kind of music did she perform as a teenager?

OUT: gospel choir

IN: Tamar Estine Herbert (nee Braxton, born March 17, 1977), professionally known as Tamar Braxton, is an American singer, television personality and actress. Braxton had her first big break in music in 1990 as a founding member of the American R&B singing group The Braxtons, formed with her sisters. The Braxtons released their debut album, So Many Ways, as a trio in 1996.

On February 25, 2014, the remix of Robin Thicke's single "For the Rest of My Life" which features Braxton, was released as a digital single. Season 3 of Tamar & Vince premiered in October 2014, and it consisted of 10 episodes just like the previous seasons. On October 6, Braxton's new single "Let Me Know" featuring rapper Future peaked at #2 on the Billboard Trending 140 chart, less than an hour after its premiere on Braxton's official SoundCloud account and eventually reached #1 by 12:00 AM October 7. Billboard.com gave the song 4 out of 5 stars in its review of "The Best and Worst Singles of the Week" for the second week of October. At the same time, Braxton, and sisters Toni and Trina guest starred on their sister Traci's music video "Last Call". On May 27, 2015, the single "If I Don't Have You" was released. The song peaked at number 6 on the US Adult R&B Songs chart. Braxton's new album, Calling All Lovers, is set to be released October 2, 2015. On September 2, 2015, Braxton was revealed as one of the celebrities who will compete on the 21st season of Dancing with the Stars. She was paired with reigning champion, Valentin Chmerkovskiy. The single "Catfish" was released on September 10, 2015 along with the album Calling All Lovers available for pre-order on iTunes. On September 18, 2015, the single "Angels & Demons" was released. In October 2015, the group The Braxtons including Toni, Tamar, Traci, Trina and Towanda, will be releasing a new material titled Braxton Family Christmas as five members. The album was released on October 30 and pre-order on October 16th. On November 11, Braxton revealed that she would have to withdraw from the competition due to health problems. Braxton and Chmerkovskiy finished in fifth place overall. On November 21, Braxton Family Christmas debuted at number 27 on the US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, number 10 on the US R&B Chart and number 12 on US Top Holiday Albums on November 21, 2015. The album charted at number 4 on the US Heatseekers Albums on December 12, 2015. On December 7, 2015, Braxton received one Grammy nomination for "If I Don't Have You" at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards; Best R&B Performance from her latest album titled Calling All Lovers. In parallel, she had made a cameo on the successful TV series Being Mary Jane.

Was she involved with Dancing with the Stars?

OUT:
On September 2, 2015, Braxton was revealed as one of the celebrities who will compete on the 21st season of Dancing with the Stars.