Kaori Iida 飯田 圭織 | |
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Also known as | Johnson, Kaorin |
Born | August 8, 1981 |
Occupation(s) | |
Years active | 1997–present |
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Labels | |
Website | Hello! Project.com |
Kaori Iida (飯田 圭織, Iida Kaori, born August 8, 1981) 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.
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 since been increasingly popular in Japan, has achieved a cult following in the Western world and is infamous for its fluctuation of memberships, with members "graduating" and joining frequently.
In 1998, Tsunku placed Iida into subgroup Tanpopo with Aya Ishiguro and 2nd generation Morning Musume member Mari Yaguchi, and they specialized in singing slower, more mature songs. Together they made four singles and an album. After Ishiguro graduated from Morning Musume and Tanpopo in January 2000, Iida and Yaguchi performed Tanpopo songs as a duet until Tsunku placed 4th generation Morning Musume members Ai Kago and Rika Ishikawa into the subgroup. Tanpopo's style was also given a revamping, with songs being more upbeat and pop-ish, but nonetheless still slower than Morning Musume. In this formation, Tanpopo released 3 more singles, a compilation album, and a compilation DVD.
After Morning Musume's then-leader Yuko Nakazawa graduated in the Spring of 2001, Iida took on the role as the group's leader. Additionally, when Morning Musume "split" into 2 subgroups in 2003—Iida was leader of Morning Musume Otomegumi. She is also known for keeping her hair long throughout her Morning Musume career and also for spacing out frequently.
In July 2002, Tanpopo, along with other Morning Musume subgroups Petitmoni and Minimoni, experienced changes in their membership - partly due to graduating Morning Musume members and partly to showcase the newer members. As a result, Iida (along with Mari and Ai K.) graduated from Tanpopo.
As with Hello! Project's shuffle groups, Iida was placed in punk-rock Aoiro 7 in 2000, folky festival style 10-nin Matsuri in 2001 and Odoru 11 in 2002, and ska-punk 11Water in 2003. She also participated in the 2004 summer shuffle group H.P. All Stars. In 2005, she participated in the shuffle group Puripuri Pink. She is the only member of Hello! Project to have participated in all the shuffle groups since the tradition started.
Additionally, Iida is pursuing a solo career as an artist and singer. Her solo musical career includes two albums outside of Hello! Project where she sings covers of French, Greek, and Italian songs (in their respective languages). She also has two singles in Japanese, released in advance of her impending graduation from Morning Musume—though still set in a Mediterranean-esque style; many Western fans of Morning Musume and Hello! Project have described the style of Iida's solo material as "Euro-enka". In Morning Musume, Iida mostly sang harmony with a few solo lines. Her signature song in Morning Musume is "Yume no Naka", from the group's first album. On December 29, 2004, Iida released her third album, this time within Hello! Project and in Japanese.
On January 30, 2005, Iida—the last First Generation member to still be in Morning Musume —graduated from the group to further pursue her solo singing and art careers. Mari Yaguchi took over her role as Morning Musume's leader upon Iida's graduation. Her tenure of over 7 years was the longest of any Morning Musume member, a record Iida would hold until January 2009 when fifth generation members Ai Takahashi and Risa Niigaki broke it. As of January 2009, she is one of only four members to remain in the group for over 7 years (4th generation member Hitomi Yoshizawa would later achieve this honor just weeks before her graduation in 2007 and 5th generation members Ai Takahashi and Risa Niigaki reached this mark in mid-September 2008). On December 21, 2005, Iida released Plein D'amour: Ai ga Ippai, her fourth album. This album featured songs in Japanese and many European cover songs in their original languages. This was her first album to be released since she graduated from Morning Musume.
In early 2007, Iida was chosen to be a member of Morning Musume Tanjō 10nen Kinentai (モーニング娘。誕生10年記念隊)—a unit created to celebrate Morning Musume's 10th anniversary as a group. Morning Musume Tanjō 10nen Kinentai also consists of Natsumi Abe, Maki Goto, Risa Niigaki and Koharu Kusumi. Their first single, Bokura ga Ikiru My Asia (僕らが生きるMy Asia), was released on January 24, 2007.
After the death of her son, she stated that in his memory, she will continue her career. She returned to the concert stage at the Hello! Project 2009 Winter Elder Club: Thank You for Your Love! series, her first performance in one year and four months. She also performed at the Hello Pro Award '09: Elder Club Sotsugyō Kinen Special concert on February 1, 2009, which celebrated her graduation from Hello! Project along with 21 other Elder Club Members. Beginning in April 2009, she was to be part of M-Line, the official Morning Musume graduate fan club. In 2010, it was announced Iida Kaori would join the group "Dream Morning Musume" alongside other former Morning Musume members.
On July 6, 2007, Iida's agency announced that she was ten weeks pregnant and would soon marry Kenji, a former member of the disbanded 7 House , a band formed by Tsunku. [1] Iida's wedding took place the next day. Iida began maternity leave after the Morning Musume 10th Year Anniversary Concert Tour: Summer '07 Thank You My Dearest on September 1, 2007. [2] [3] [4]
On February 3, 2008, Iida released a statement to her fan club that on January 22 at 10:30 am, she had given birth to a baby boy. [5] On November 8 of the same year, she announced that her son had died on July 27 from renal failure. [6] [7]
On December 25, 2012, Iida announced via her blog that she was pregnant with her second child. On May 14, 2013, Iida announced on her blog that she had given birth to a healthy boy. On May 2, 2017, she announced her third pregnancy. [8] On September 19, 2017, Iida gave birth to a baby girl.
No. | Album details | Charts |
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JP Oricon | ||
1 | Osavurio: Ai wa Matte Kurenai (オサヴリオ: 愛は待ってくれない)
| 29 |
2 | Paradinome: Koi ni Mi o Yudanete (パラディノメ: 恋に身をゆだねて)
| 64 |
3 | Avenir: Mirai (アヴニール: 未来)
| 105 |
4 | Plein d'amour: Ai ga Ippai (プラン・ダムール: 愛がいっぱい)
| 111 |
5 | ONDAS
|
# | Title | Release date |
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1 | Aegekai ni Dakarete (エーゲ海に抱かれて) | 2004-02-04 |
2 | Door no Mukō de Bell ga Natteta (ドアの向こうでBellが鳴ってた) | 2004-07-28 |
# | Title | Release date | ISBN |
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1 | Iida Kaori Shashinshū Kaori Kaori Kaori (飯田圭織写真集かおりKaori圭織) | 2002-05-02 | ISBN 4-8470-2708-6 |
2 | Aegekai Aida Shoko & Iida Kaori Shashinshū (エーゲ海―相田翔子&飯田圭織写真集) | 2004-01-28 | ISBN 4-04-894254-9 |
Morning Musume '23, formerly simply Morning Musume and colloquially referred to as Momusu, are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top-ten singles, having 64 of them.
Kei Yasuda is a Japanese singer, musician and actress under the Hello! Project. She was a member and co-leader of the Japanese girl group Morning Musume. 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.
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 since then been used to represent all female recording artists at Up-Front Promotion. Until 2014, their songs were primarily produced by Tsunku.
Ai Takahashi is a Japanese singer and actress formerly associated with the Hello! Project and is best known as the leader of Morning Musume and Hello! Project until 2011. She is also a former member of its popular subgroup Mini Moni.
Tanpopo was a sub-group of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1998 as Morning Musume's first sub-group. While the main group Morning Musume features predominantly upbeat songs with a fast tempo, Tanpopo featured slower tempo, sentimental and retro-style songs.
Risa Niigaki is a Japanese actress and singer. She was a fifth-generation member of the Japanese pop group Morning Musume. She joined Morning Musume in 2001 along with 3 others- Ai Takahashi, Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa. She grew up in Yokohama after moving there at the age of six. She was one of the longest serving members of Morning Musume, and was the leader of the group from October 2011 to her graduation on May 18, 2012.
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, 2009, she graduated from Hello! Project with the rest of the Elder Club. Ogawa is currently a member of idol band Dream Morning Musume.
"Osaka Koi no Uta" was the twenty-sixth single of J-pop girl group Morning Musume, from the group's seventh album Rainbow 7. It was released on April 27, 2005 under the Zetima label, and went on to sell a total of 59,287 copies. The single reached a peak of #2 on the weekly Oricon chart, charting for five weeks. The Single V, released on the same day, went on to sell a total of 30,324 copies. The Single V reached a peak of #6 on the weekly Oricon chart, charting for four weeks.
"Koko ni Iruzee!" is the sixteenth single of J-pop idol group Morning Musume and was released October 30, 2002 under Zetima Records with the catalog number EPCE-5182.
"Go Girl (Koi no Victory)" (Go Girl 〜恋のヴィクトリー〜, Go Girl (Koi no Victory)) "Go Girl (Love's Victory)" is the twentieth single of JPop group Morning Musume and was released November 6, 2003. It sold a total of 145,340 copies, spent 15 weeks in the Japanese top 200 and peaked at number four. The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for physical sales of over 100,000 units.
"Ai Araba It's All Right", commonly abbreviated to "AiAra", is the twenty-first single of J-pop group Morning Musume; both the single itself and the Single V were released on January 21, 2004. It sold a total of 108,368 copies, reaching a peak of #2 on the weekly Oricon charts and charting for seven weeks, while the Single V reached a peak of #6 and charted for eight weeks on the Oricon DVD charts. The single placed 89th on the overall year's chart for 2004. The single also marked the graduation of one of the founding members of Morning Musume, Natsumi Abe, who also went on to have a solo career within Hello! Project. The limited edition comes with a 52-page photobook featuring the members and comes in the special packaging what Hello Project solo singers and bands have used before.
"Roman (My Dear Boy)" (浪漫 〜MY DEAR BOY〜, "Romance (My Dear Boy)") is the twenty-second single of idol group Morning Musume and was released May 12, 2004. It sold a total of 87,255 copies. The single peaked at #4 on the weekly Oricon charts, charting for six weeks.
Rainbow 7 (レインボー7) is the seventh album by the J-pop idol group Morning Musume. It is the first album to feature 7th generation member Koharu Kusumi and first album after graduation of Kaori Iida and Rika Ishikawa and departure of Mari Yaguchi. It was released on February 15, 2006.
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"Motto" is the second single of the subgroup Tanpopo. It was released on March 10, 1999, as an 8 cm CD and reached number seven on the Japan Oricon charts. A remix version of this song was made and was featured on the group's first album, Tanpopo 1.
"Tanpopo" is the third single of Hello! Project subgroup Tanpopo. It was released on June 16, 1999 as an 8 cm CD. It reached number ten on the Japan Oricon charts. Unlike other Tanpopo singles, the song was first featured in Tanpopo 1 before it was released as a single.
Seinaru Kane ga Hibiku Yoru is the fourth single of Morning Musume subgroup Tanpopo. It was released on October 20, 1999, as an 8 cm CD, and peaked at #2 on the weekly Oricon charts, charting for twelve weeks and selling 86,090 copies in its first week. The first press edition contained a special trading card.
Otome Pasta ni Kandō is the 5th single by the Hello! Project girl group Tanpopo. It was released on July 5, 2000 under the Zetima label with the catalog number EPCE-5060. "Otome Pasta ni Kandō" is also featured on the album All of Tanpopo as the opening track. In the single's first week it sold 154,960 copies, selling 349,900 copies overall. The single peaked at #3 on the Oricon weekly charts, charting for eleven weeks. The single is the first release from the group's "second generation".
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