was a Japanese pop-singing and dancing group that spawned the careers of
Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro ( ; ; born September 20, 1977) is a retired Japanese singer. She rose to prominence as a Japanese idol, teen idol, and transitioned into a leading Pop music, pop artist due to her versatility across music styles and visual presentatio ...
and some members of the girl group
MAX
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
. The group was active between 1991 until 1996.
History
Pre-debut
The group was originally part of a larger 15-member group Club Heart including the future lead singer of Super Monkey's, Namie Amuro. Their name was changed to Super Monkey's before their debut which was on September 16, 1992. In a magazine interview, Amuro revealed that the Super Monkey's were supposed to debut as a
co-ed
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
group with 5 female members and two male members. The concept was changed and the Super Monkey's made their debut as a five-piece all-girl group with members Namie Amuro,
Anna Makino,
Hisako Arakaki,
Nanako Takushi, and
Minako Ameku.
Super Monkey's (1992–93)
The Super Monkey's officially debuted on September 16, 1992, with the double A-side single, "
Koi no Cute Beat / Mister U.S.A." on the
Toshiba EMI label. The group was promoted as a teen idol group with an American pop music sensibility. Their debut single was a moderate hit debuting within the top 30 of the
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...
charts. Makino, who was considered their leader, left the group in December of that year. She was replaced by Rino Nakasone. She was announced as a new member of the group in magazine promotions, and was scheduled to perform publicly with the group at the
Sapporo Snow Festival in February 1993, but couldn't, due to
appendicitis
Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...
. She left the group without recording any material. She was not replaced following her departure.
Super Monkey's 4 (1993-94)
The group released their second single, "
Dancing Junk" in May 1993 under a new name, Super Monkey's 4. It was not as successful as their first release. Following the release of the single, the group took part in an ensemble singing unit, PJG, for
NHK
, also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee.
NHK ope ...
music show, Pop Jam, with several other
teen idols
The Teen Idols were a pop punk band originally from Nashville, Tennessee. They were formed in 1992 by Phillip Hill and originally broke up in 2003. The band reunited in 2008 in Chicago, Illinois, with a retooled lineup before breaking up again ...
. A third single, "
Aishite Muscat" was released in November that year and peaked in the top 70. The group's former leader
Anna Makino briefly returned to the group, making an appearance in a Lotte Muscat Chewing Gum commercial.
Namie Amuro with Super Monkey's (1994–96)
As Amuro began to gain notoriety from acting and modeling gigs, the group name was changed again to Namie Amuro with Super Monkey's. The group became regulars of the
karaoke
is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone.
Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...
television program, ''Yoru mo Hippare'' in April 1994. They released their fourth single, "
Paradise Train" in July 1994. The single was the group's worst performing single failing to reach the top 100. The single has no official ranking as Oricon only monitored the top 100 releases at the time. Hisako Arakaki left the group shortly after the release of the single and was replaced by two new members.
Reina Miyauchi and
Ritsuko Matsuda joined the group in late October 1994 and made their official debut with the group on January 25, 1995, with the release of their fifth single, "
Try Me ~Watashi o Shinjite~." The song, a Japanese language cover of Lolita's "Try Me", was a major hit peaking within the top 10 and selling over 700,000 copies. It was the first of three singles produced by
Max Matsuura
, better known by his stage name , is a Japanese record producer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Avex Group, one of the largest music labels. He is known mainly for discovering and developing new artists into stars (most notab ...
.
After the success of the single, Matsuura suggested that Amuro could become a solo act while the other members of the Super Monkey's formed a new girl group. In April, the single "Taiyou no Season" was released and accredited solely to Amuro although the background vocals were performed by the other members of Super Monkey's. Those other members, Nanako, Minako, Reina, and Ritsuko formed the group
MAX
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
, named after Matsuura, and signed to fledgling dance label,
Avex Trax
is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group.
History
Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...
. They released their debut single, "
Koi Suru Velfarre Dance ~Saturday night~" in May. Super Monkey's released their final single together, "
Stop the Music" in July. As
MAX
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
, they released their debut album, ''
Dance Tracks Vol.1'' in October. Days following the release of their debut album, Amuro released her first single under the helm of producer,
Tetsuya Komuro
is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is recognized as the most successful producer in Japanese music history and has introduced contemporary electronic dance music to the Japanese mainstream. He was also a former owner of t ...
, "
Body Feels Exit".
Post-disbandment
Following the disbandment of the group, lead vocalist Namie Amuro began a solo career, joining former band members MAX at Avex Trax. Paired with producer Tetsuya Komuro, Amuro went on to become one of the most successful Japanese musical acts in history. Her status as a fashion icon was solidified after the emergence of the Amura boom made her a cultural phenomenon. Following the success of her breakthrough album, ''
Sweet 19 Blues'' (1996), the Super Monkey's former label, Toshiba EMI, released a
greatest hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
compilation, ''
Original Tracks Vol.1'' (1996). MAX continued to release their own material after the official disbandment of the Super Monkey's. However, they continued to perform with Amuro under the Super Monkey's name for her first two singles with Avex, "
Body Feels Exit" and "
Chase the Chance". MAX retired the Super Monkey's name and completely parted ways with Amuro after her 1996 show at
Chiba Marine Stadium. MAX eventually came into their own success that same year with the release of their third single, "
Tora Tora Tora". The group would go on to surpass the success of the Super Monkey's selling several million albums and attaining a number one single with "
Give me a Shake" released in 1997. Both Amuro and MAX have continued to be active recording artists over a decade following the group's break up.
Original member Anna Makino returned to Okinawa Actors School following her departure from the group. She became chief dance instructor at the school before leaving her position in 2002 to open another dance school for children diagnosed with
down syndrome called Love Junx.
Hisako Arakaki who left the group in 1994 also returned to Okinawa to become an instructor at the school. She would join and become the leader of
B.B. Waves, the school's own dance unit that fostered the talents of future school graduates,
Speed
In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...
,
Rina Chinen,
Da Pump,
D&D,
Yu Yamada
is a Japanese model, actress and singer best known from her modeling work with ''CanCam'' magazine.
Personal life
On March 14, 2012, Yamada married Japanese actor Shun Oguri, and is a mother of four children, as of April 2020, according to re ...
and
Meisa Kuroki
Satsuki Shimabukuro (Japanese: 島袋 さつき, ''Shimabukuro Satsuki'', Born on 28 May 1988 in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan), better known by her stage name Meisa Kuroki (Japanese: 黒木 メイサ, ''Kuroki Meisa''), is a Japanese actress, mod ...
.
In 2006, Amuro, Makino, Arakaki and Ameku came together for an original Super Monkey's reunion piece in a pamphlet for Amuro's "
Live Style 2006" tour. Takushi did not participate.
Discography
Albums
''•
Dance Tracks Vol.1'' (1995)
• ''
Original Tracks Vol.1'' (1996)
Singles
• September 16, 1992 : ''
Koi no Cute Beat/Mister U.S.A''
• May 26, 1993 : ''
Dancing Junk''
• November 5, 1993 : ''
Aishite Muscat''
• July 20, 1994 : ''Paradise Train''
• January 25, 1995 : ''
Try me (Watashi o Shinjite)''
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References
{{Authority control
Japanese girl groups
Japanese idol groups
Japanese pop music groups
Namie Amuro
Musical groups from Okinawa Prefecture
Universal Music Japan artists