is a Japanese singer, musician and actress under the

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 ha ...

. She was a member and co-leader of the Japanese

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 wh ...

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, Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles ...

. Yasuda, along with Mari Yaguchi and Sayaka Ichii, were the second generation of singers to be recruited into Morning Musume. Morning Musume had only released one official single, Morning Coffee, prior to their joining. Yasuda was also a member of Japanese pop group

Dream Morning Musume is a Japanese female pop group, consisting of 10 former members of the Japanese girl group Morning Musume. It was created in 2011. As with Morning Musume, the group is managed by the Up-Front Agency and produced by Tsunku. During the announce ...

Biography

Yasuda was born in

Futtsu 260px, Futtsu City Hall is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 42,476 in 18,115 households and a population density of 210 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Futtsu is l ...

, Chiba, and attended Kimitsu Shogyo (Commercial) High School in Futtsu City, Chiba Prefecture, but dropped out to pursue her dreams in the entertainment industry. She worked in a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

restaurant in her hometown, until 1998. She was chosen to be in the second generation of Morning Musume. After they joined, Morning Musume went on to produce one album and three more singles until

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''. She was the first ever Hello! Pro ...

decided to leave to pursue her studies. Yasuda was given almost all of Fukuda's lines in future performances of these early songs. She had also collaborated with other Morning Musume members in special projects during these early days. One of the more notable ones was when she co-wrote and co-sang with Natsumi Abe the song "Sanpo" for a radio contest. It became wildly popular and a petition was circulated to make it an official single, though that never happened. Yasuda and Ichii sang a particularly catchy duet known as "Otome no Shinrigaku" (Girl's Psychology) on Morning Musume's second album. In response to the popularity, Tsunku decided to group them together with the third generation member, Maki Goto to create the Morning Musume subgroup

Petitmoni was a sub-unit of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1999 as the second sub-group of Morning Musume. History Founded November 1999, the group initi ...

(also known as Pucchimoni) in 1999. Their first single, "Chokotto Love," sold over a million copies. After Ichii left Morning Musume and Petitmoni, fourth generation member

Hitomi Yoshizawa is a Japanese former singer and actress. In 2000, Yoshizawa debuted as a 4th generation member of the idol girl group Morning Musume and became their leader in 2005 until leaving the group in 2007. Following her departure, Yoshizawa continued to ...

joined the subgroup. Yasuda had taken on the role of leader for Petitmoni and the group continued to produce three singles and an album. After Morning Musume's then-leader

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 Kyo ...

left in 2001, Yasuda (who was the oldest member of the group at the time) became a co-leader along with

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. ...

. Yasuda left in mid-2003 at the same time when Morning Musume's 6th generation became full-fledged members. Tsunku commented that this one-time sixteen-member formation will be the largest Morning Musume. During her good-bye concert, Yasuda sang a remixed rock version of "Never Forget," which was also Fukuda's good-bye song. Additionally, as a special gift, Tsunku gave Yasuda a CD of her own solo version of " As for One Day," her last single with Morning Musume. Following Yasuda's leaving, Iida became the leader of Morning Musume and Yaguchi became sub-leader. The Petitmoni leadership was handed over to Yoshizawa, and two members were added (fifth generation Morning Musume member

Makoto Ogawa is a Japanese singer and actress, best known as a former member of Japanese girl group Morning Musume. She joined the group in August 2001 along with fellow fifth generation members Ai Takahashi, Risa Niigaki, and Asami Konno. On March 31, 2 ...

and Coconuts Musume's

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! Proj ...

) and Goto left. This new line up of Petitmoni never had another release, but a few of their songs were featured on compilation albums. Yasuda was still in the

after leaving the group, and acted in dramas outside of H!P. Within H!P, she has collaborated with Nakazawa and other H!P artists on two Folk Songs albums, performed and MC'd Abe's first solo concert, sang backup on Goto's single "Daite Yo! Please Go On," and hosted Morning Musume's weekly TV show '' Hello! Morning'' until

Rika Ishikawa , is a Japanese actress and model associated with Hello! Project and best known as a former member of the pop group Morning Musume. She was the leader of the Japanese pop idol trio v-u-den until June 2008. She has performed as a solo singer, as a ...

took that position. Yasuda participated in the

H.P. All Stars 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 ...

single "All for One & One For All" and the Puripuri Pink shuffle unit. Puripuri Pink was a new type of shuffle unit, since it was the first unit to feature former Morning Musume members, who were usually not included in the shuffles. During a promotional appearance on Utaban in 2004, Yasuda revealed that she has been learning how to play the flute. Yasuda graduated from

on March 31, 2009, along with the rest of the H!P Elder Club. In 2010, it was announced that Kei Yasuda would be joining other former-Morning Musume members for the new group "Dream Morning Musume."

Personal life

On May 29, 2013, Yasuda announced that she had married chef Kozaki Yoichi. On July 27, 2017, she has announced that she is pregnant with her first baby.

Musical groups

(1998–2003) *

* Kiiro 5 *

10-nin Matsuri was a Japanese idol project group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. Beginning in 2000, the Shuffle Unit project was a yearly collaboration among existing Hello! Project acts, where members were recombined ...

Odoru 11 was a Japanese idol project group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. Beginning in 2000, the Shuffle Unit project was a yearly collaboration among existing Hello! Project acts, where members were recombined ...

Puripuri Pink was a Japanese idol project group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. Beginning in 2000, the Shuffle Unit project was a yearly collaboration among existing Hello! Project acts, where members were recombined i ...

(2011–)

References

External links

Official blog

Kei Yasuda official funclub page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yasuda, Kei 1980 births People from Futtsu Hello! Project solo singers 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers Japanese women pop singers Japanese actresses Living people Morning Musume members Dream Morning Musume members Petitmoni members Actors from Chiba Prefecture Musicians from Chiba Prefecture