Morning Musume

Group Name: Morning Musume
Years Active: 1997 - Present
Age Range: 15 - 21



Morning Musume is at the forefront of Hello! Project as the lead group and indeed group with the longest and most colorful history. Formed in 1997 through the talent program AYASAN, Morning Musume has became a staple of Japanese pop music and has sold close to 20,000,000 copies in Japan alone.

Morning Musume were discovered through auditions to find a female vocalist for producer Tsunku’s group Sharan Q. Although the girls that would eventually form Morning Musume were not the winners of the audition they rose to popularity faster and to a far greater extent than the winner, Heike Michiyo.

As early as a few months after the group’s forming it became clear that Morning Musume would not stay a five-member group as members were added and other members left on a yearly basis. Each “generation” of members offered something to unique to the group and to this day Morning Musume remains fresh in it’s musical style and sound thanks to the ever changing face of the group.

Current Members:

* 5th Generation (2001-08-26)
o 高橋愛 (Takahashi Ai)
o 新垣里沙 (Niigaki Risa)

* 6th Generation (2003-01-19)
o 亀井絵里 (Kamei Eri)
o 道重さゆみ (Michishige Sayumi)
o 田中れいな (Tanaka Reina)

* 7th Generation (2005-05-01)
o 久住小春 (Kusumi Koharu)

* 8th Generation (2006-12-10 / 2007-03-15)
o 光井愛佳 (Mitsui Aika)
o ジュンジュン ((Junjun)
o リンリン (Linlin)

Previous Members:

* 1st Generation (1997-09-07)
o 福田明日香 (Fukuda Asuka) (1999-04-18)
o 石黒彩 (Ishiguro Aya) (2000-01-07)
o 中澤裕子 (Nakazawa Yuko) (2001-04-15)
o 安倍なつみ (Abe Natsumi) (2004-01-25)
o 飯田圭織 (Iida Kaori) (2005-01-30)

* 2nd Generation (1998-05-03)
o 市井紗耶香 (Ichii Sayaka) (2000-05-21)
o 保田圭 (Yasuda Kei) (2003-05-05)
o 矢口真里 (Yaguchi Mari) (2005-04-14)

* 3rd Generation (1999-08-22)
o 後藤真希 (Goto Maki) (2002-09-23)

* 4th Generation (2000-04-16)
o 辻希美 (Tsuji Nozomi) (2004-08-01)
o 加護亜依 (Kago Ai) (2004-08-01)
o 石川梨華 (Ishikawa Rika) (2005-05-07)
o 吉澤ひとみ (Yoshizawa Hitomi) (2007-05-06)

* 5th Generation (2001-08-26)
o 紺野あさ美 (Konno Asami) (2006-07-23)
o 小川麻琴 (Ogawa Makoto) (2006-08-27)

* 6th Generation (2003-01-19)
o 藤本美貴 (Fujimoto Miki) (2007-06-01)