IU (Korean: 아이유), who was born as Lee Ji-eun (Korean: 이지은, May 16, 1993) is a South Korean singer and actress. Her stage name IU, is derived from "I and You" which symbolizes that we can become one through music.
IU debuted on a Korean music program called M! Countdown in September 18, 2008. On September 24, 2008, she released her first mini-album, Lost and Found, in which the most famous song was the title track, "Missing Child." However, the album was not commercially successful.
In 2009, she released her first full album, “Growing Up”. She found success in mainstream with single “Boo” and within three weeks of release it went up to the #1 contenders for SBS Inkigayo.