Morning Musume
, formerly simply and colloquially referred to as , are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an amount of 64. Morning Musume was formed in 1997 by rock singer-songwriter turned record producer Tsunku, who later composed the vast majority of the group's songs over the decade. They are the lead group of Hello! Project that specialises in upbeat, pop-oriented music coupled with dance performance. The group produced several splinter groups, and often collaborates with other Hello! Project acts, including Country Musume, Berryz Kobo, Cute, Melon Kinenbi, and v-u-den. The group's name can be translated as "Morning Girls" or "Morning Daughters"; as the name suggests, it consists of members mostly in their late adolescence and early 20s. History 1997-1998: Formation and beginnings Japanese producer Tsunku started the group in 1997 throu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Morning Coffee (song)
is a song by J-pop idol group Morning Musume, released as their first official single on January 28, 1998 as an 8 cm CD. It sold a total of 200,790 copies. In 2004, it was re-released as part of the ''Early Single Box'' and again in 2005 as a 12 cm CD. The lead vocalist of the single was Natsumi Abe. Early on, Tsunku had decided that Kaori Iida was going to be the lead vocalist. Before the recording on the second day, Tsunku changed his mind and told the group that he was going to change the lead vocals to Abe instead. A re-arranged and re-recorded version of this song was featured as the B-side for Morning Musume's 14th single, " Souda! We're Alive". It is the group's only major-label single to exclusively feature the original members, as the second generation would join before the release of " Summer Night Town". It is also their first and only single to be released by the defunct Up-Front Group-affiliated label One Up Music and distributed through Warner Music ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Country Musume
was a Japanese female idol music group that is a part of Hello! Project. On November 5, 2014, Country Musume was renamed .『カントリー娘。』改め『カントリー・ガールズ』について " (in Japanese). November 5, 2014. History Country Musume era Country Musume was formed in 1999 and was termed as "Country Girls from ." The initial group consisted of native members of Hokkaidō, Rinne Toda, Azusa Kobayashi, and Hiromi Yanagihara. Before the release of their first single in July 1999, Hiromi Yanagi ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cute (Japanese Idol Group)
, was a Japanese girl group associated with Hello! Project and produced by Tsunku. Cute consisted of Maimi Yajima, Saki Nakajima, Airi Suzuki, Chisato Okai, and Mai Hagiwara, who were all members of Hello! Project Kids prior to the group's formation. The original member line-up also consisted of fellow Hello! Project Kids members Megumi Murakami and Erika Umeda, as well as Hello! Project trainee Kanna Arihara, prior to their departure. After releasing a string of independent hits, Cute made its major debut in 2007 with "Sakura Chirari" and that year won the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist. In 2008, the group was nominated for the main Japan Record Award, the Grand Prix, its song being named one of the year's best songs. All_of_the_group's_major_label">major-label_single_(music).html" "title="major_label.html" ;"title="WP:REALTIME.html" ;"title="acts must be presented in a way that will remain unchanged with the passage of time, see WP:REALTIME">acts must be presented in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ai No Tane
is the unofficial debut single of Japanese pop idol group Morning Musume, released under a defunct Up-Front Group-affiliated independent label on November 3, 1997. It is sometimes called the "zeroth single"— being the "first single" and so on. It was later included in many other Morning Musume releases: in their first official single "Morning Coffee"; their first album, ; and their first "Best of" compilation, ''Best! Morning Musume 1''. An instrumental for this song was included in the bonus karaoke disc in the ''Early Single Box''. History In 1997, Sharan Q organized a talent search competition named under the show ''Asayan''. After the competition, producer and Sharan Q vocalist Tsunku offered Yuko Nakazawa, Aya Ishiguro, Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, and Asuka Fukuda—five of the ten losers of the competition—the chance to be taken under his wing on one condition: to sell 50,000 copies of their debut single, which turned out to be "Ai no Tane." The girls agree ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Asuka Fukuda
(born December 17, 1984) is a Japanese pop singer, and she was a member of Japanese girl group Morning Musume from 1997 until April 18, 1999. Her only album with the group is the 1998 release ''First Time (Morning Musume album), First Time''. She was the first ever Hello! Project member to graduate. Overview In 1997, Fukuda joined Morning Musume along with Yuko Nakazawa, Aya Ishiguro, Natsumi Abe, and Kaori Iida. Although she was the youngest member at that time, she was the first to graduate in April 1999. Her last single with Morning Musume was Memory Seishun no Hikari. In 2005, she was working as an assistant at her father's nightclub "Philippine" in Tokyo. On November 9, 2011, her long-awaited comeback album ''Double Fantasy'', as a part of Peacestone, was released. In 2017, she appeared for the first time in 18 years with other former members of Morning Musume for the recording and music video of "Ai no Tane; 20th Anniversary Version". In January 2018, she also appeared i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kaori Iida
is a Japanese pop singer and actress, associated with Hello! Project and best known as a founding member of the girl band Morning Musume. She has also recorded with the Morning Musume side project band Tanpopo and is currently a solo artist. During her time in the group, she was the tallest member (168 cm), earning her the nickname "Kaorin" & "Kao-tan". She is currently a member of Dream Morning Musume. Biography Kaori Iida was born in Hokkaidō. She was one of 10 runners-up in a 1997 talent contest for a new Japanese rock idol. After the contest, musician and producer Tsunku offered Iida and four of the other runners-up (Natsumi Abe, Yuko Nakazawa, Aya Ishiguro, and Asuka Fukuda) the chance to be taken under his wing on one condition: that they sell 50,000 CDs of their song "Ai no Tane" in 5 days. The quintet accomplished that task in four and, thus, in 1997, Morning Musume was born (and their first official single "Morning Coffee" was released in 1998). The group has s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yuko Nakazawa
is a Japanese pop and enka singer, and actress, best known as one of the original members of the all-female J-pop group Morning Musume. She is also a member of Japanese pop group Dream Morning Musume. Biography Yuko Nakazawa was born in Kyoto Prefecture. She was one of five runners-up in a 1997 talent contest for a new Japanese rock idol. After the contest, musician and producer Tsunku offered Nakazawa and the four other runners-up (Natsumi Abe, Kaori Iida, Aya Ishiguro, and Asuka Fukuda) the chance to be taken under his wing under one condition: they must sell 50,000 CDs of their debut song "Ai no Tane" with five days of live promotion. The quintet accomplished that task in four and thus Morning Musume was born. The group has since grown increasingly popular, it maintains a "school-like" system for their continuous line-up changes, with older members "graduating" and new, usually younger, members selected from nationwide auditions admitted to the group almost annually. In 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Natsumi Abe
is a Japanese singer and actress, a former member of Morning Musume, and currently a member of Dream Morning Musume. Biography Career She was born in Muroran, Hokkaidō, Japan. On August 13, 2003, she released her first single, "22 Sai no Watashi," which means "Me, 22 years old," just a few days after her 22nd birthday. Her first full-length album, ''Hitoribotchi'', was then released on February 4, 2004, containing many solo versions of Morning Musume songs. In August 2005, her fifth single, "Koi no Hana," which means "Flower of Love," was released, and she also became a member of the Hello! Project special unit Def.Diva together with Maki Goto, Rika Ishikawa and Aya Matsuura in October. The single "Takaramono" was also released in November credited as "Sen", who is the main character of the drama "Takaramono", played by Abe. In the spring of 2006, Abe released a new single, "Sweet Holic", together with a new album, "2nd ~Shimiwataru Omoi~". June 2006 saw Abe release "The Stre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michiyo Heike
, (born (same reading) on April 6, 1979, married name unknown) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter from Osaka Prefecture and raised in Nabari, Mie. She first become known after her appearance on the Japanese talent show ''Asayan'' in the late 1990s, becoming the first member of the future "Hello! Project". Heike currently goes by the simply Michiyo. History Pre-debut Heike applied while attending Mie Prefectural Nabari Nishi Senior High School as a junior. The audition for their first singer produced by Sharam Q was held from April through August 1997, by a former Japanese talent show ''Asayan'' on the TV Tokyo network, which was later broadcast. Out of around 9,900 applicants, she was eventually chosen as the winner of the audition by Sharm Q under the initiative of their leader Hatake. Michiyo, however, was "sealed" or seclude herself from media for training until her debut under the direction of Tsunku of Sharam Q. During this two-month seclusion time, Tsunku gave a chance t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Asayan
''Asayan'', originally known as was a talent search variety show that aired on TV Tokyo from 1995 to 2002. Some idols that were originally discovered through Asayan auditions produced by Tsunku, formed groups that worked under the umbrella group, later to be named as the Hello! Project. Morning Musume and Chemistry were formed from idols that made a debut in Asayan, but also solo artists like Ami Suzuki and Yumi Matsuzawa is a Japanese singer from Fujimi, Saitama. She is best known for her debut release, "You Get to Burning", the opening theme for ''Martian Successor Nadesico'', as well as the movie version's theme song "Dearest" and the song "Chikyuugi", the ope ... debuted in the show. Cast MC * ** ** * * Narration * * * Japanese variety television shows 2002 Japanese television series endings 1995 Japanese television series debuts TV Tokyo original programming {{Japan-tv-prog-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sharam Q
was a Japanese rock band composed of lead singer , on guitar, on drums and on keyboards. Biography They debuted with in 1992. They were not an instant hit initially, but their fourth single broke the top 50 of the Oricon charts. Eventually, the single got a lot of attention since it was used in the DNA^2 anime series, breaking into the top 10. The next single , also broke into the top 10. "Zurui Onna" is the 84th best-selling single in Japan of all-time. Their 11th single, , topped the charts in 1996. In 1997, the band held an audition on the evening show ''ASAYAN'' to find a new female vocalist. While the audition eventually yielded winner Michiyo Heike, the competition would be the impetus for the formation of Morning Musume. Runners-up Yuko Nakazawa, Natsumi Abe, Kaori Iida, Aya Ishiguro, and Asuka Fukuda took up Tsunku's offer after the competition to form a group he would personally produce if they could sell 50,000 copies of their debut independent single ''A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Morning Musume
, formerly simply and colloquially referred to as , are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an amount of 64. Morning Musume was formed in 1997 by rock singer-songwriter turned record producer Tsunku, who later composed the vast majority of the group's songs over the decade. They are the lead group of Hello! Project that specialises in upbeat, pop-oriented music coupled with dance performance. The group produced several splinter groups, and often collaborates with other Hello! Project acts, including Country Musume, Berryz Kobo, Cute, Melon Kinenbi, and v-u-den. The group's name can be translated as "Morning Girls" or "Morning Daughters"; as the name suggests, it consists of members mostly in their late adolescence and early 20s. History 1997-1998: Formation and beginnings Japanese producer Tsunku started the group in 1997 throu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |