was a

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements b ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

formed by Up-Front Promotion in 1999 and associated with

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but has s ...

. It was promoted as the "girls from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when

Ayaka Kimura , born October 30, 1981 and known professionally as , is a Japanese actress and former singer. From 1998 to 2008, Nagate was part of Hello! Project as a member of the Japan-based girl group Coconuts Musume. History Nagate joined Hello! Pr ...

graduated from Hello! Project.

Members

* 1998–2008 – * 1998–2004 – Mika Todd * 1998–2001 –

Danielle DeLaunay Danielle is a modern French language, French female variant of the male name Daniel, meaning "God is my judge" in the Hebrew language. Variants *Dana – Czech language, Czech, German language, German, Romanian language, Romanian Polish language, ...

* 1998–2000 –

Chelsea Ching Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament cons ...

* 1998–2000 –

April Barbaran was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 1999 and associated with Hello! Project. It was promoted as the "girls from Hawaii". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when Ayaka Kimura graduated from Hello! Project. ...

* 2000–2002 – Lehua Sandbo

History

While in Hawaii,

Tsunku , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer, record producer, and songwriter. He is the lead singer of the rock band Sharam Q. As a songwriter, Tsunku is the primary producer for Morning Musume and other Hello! Project acts, such as Coconut ...

's fellow band-mate from Sharam Q,

Makoto is a unisex Japanese name although it is more commonly used by males. As a noun, Makoto means "sincerity" (誠) or "truth" (真, 眞). People Given name * Makoto (musician) (born 1977), drum and bass artist *Makoto (Sharan Q) ( まこと), ...

, discovered the five girls who were to become Coconuts Musume. He had requested that Tsunku pick up the act, and in 1999, Coconuts Musume debuted on a Japanese television program, Asayan. The group originally consisted of

, Mika Todd,

, and

, with Chelsea taking lead vocals. After two singles, Chelsea and April left the group due to the difficulties of adjusting to life as a

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

idol (neither spoke any Japanese when the group was formed) and to pursue other careers, such as modeling. Lehua Sandbo was then recruited as a member, and the group made two more singles until DeLaunay, who also had difficulties adjusting, left to pursue a career in theater. After DeLaunay left, the group switched from the

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

label to the Zetima label. Between " Watashi mo 'I Love You'" of Sony Music Entertainment in Japan and " Jōnetsu Yuki Miraisen" of Zetima, sales increased by almost a quarter according to

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

charts. After one more single, Sandbo, too, retired from the group, went on to the American pageant circuit, and eventually married and gave birth to a daughter. The remaining duo, Todd and Kimura, never released anything else under the Coconuts Musume name, though they contributed to Hello! Project compilations, performed songs (including English covers) during Hello! Project concerts, and became Japanese spokespersons for Dole pineapples. They also appeared on and hosted various radio and television shows separately. Todd became famous as a member of

Minimoni was a sub-unit of the Japanese idol girl groups Morning Musume and Coconuts Musume. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. The group was founded by Morning Musume members Mari Yaguchi, Nozomi Tsuji, ...

, but retired in 2004 to study singing in California. Meanwhile, Kimura was part of Romans and Petitmoni's third generation. At this time, Kimura was the only member left in Coconuts Musume; however, she was still referred to within Hello! Project as "Coconuts Musume Ayaka". On April 30, 2008, it was announced on Hello! Project's official website that Kimura was retiring to pursue a career in acting, thus disbanding Coconuts Musume.

Discography

Singles

Videos

Appearances

Television

Bishōjo Kyōiku In Japanese popular culture, a , also romanized as ''bishojo'' or ''bishoujo'', is a cute girl character. ''Bishōjo'' characters appear ubiquitously in media including manga, anime, and computer games (especially in the ''bishojo'' game genre ...

( Ayaka's Surprise English Lesson) *

Bishōjo Kyōiku II In Japanese popular culture, a , also romanized as ''bishojo'' or ''bishoujo'', is a cute girl character. ''Bishōjo'' characters appear ubiquitously in media including manga, anime, and computer games (especially in the ''bishojo'' game genre ...

(Ayaka's Surprise English Lesson)

Musicals

Love Century -Yume wa Minna Kerya Hajimaranai- Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the lov ...

Ken & Merī no Meken Kon On-stage Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in t ...

Sayonara no Love Song ''Sayonara'' is a 1957 American Technicolor drama film starring Marlon Brando in Technirama. It tells the story of an American Air Force fighter pilot during the Korean War who falls in love with a famous Japanese dancer. The picture won four ...

* Fushigi Shōjo Tantei Kyara & Mel

Radio

* Kiss the Coconuts (Mika and Ayaka) * Blend Kiss (Ayaka with Country Musume)

Books

* 2002-05-01 – * 2002-08-05 –

References

External links

Official Hello! Project profile

on the Up-Front Works official website

on Tsunku.net {{Authority control Japanese girl groups Japanese idol groups Japanese pop music groups Hello! Project groups Musical groups from Tokyo Musical groups from Hawaii Japanese electropop groups