The invention provides light emitting diode illumination source having excellent properties as an illumination source such as a flat spectral distribution in the wavelength region from green to red and a sufficient emission intensity in the red region, comprising a light emitting diode having multiple peaks with a half-value width of 20 nm or more within a range from 480 to 700 nm in a spectral distribution, wherein the minimum of the intensities of the valleys between the peaks in the wavelength range from 480 to 700 nm is 65% or more of the maximum peak intensity in the same range, and an illuminator and a backlight for a liquid crystal display using the illumination source.