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Country Musume

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Country Musume (2006)

Country Musume (カントリー娘。) is a part of Hello! Project. The theme of the group is "country girls from Hokkaido".

Members

Original members (1999):

Joined 2000:

Joined 2002:

Joined 2003:

Morning Musume

2001 - 2003 (Country Musume ni Ishikawa Rika / 1st Generation):

2003 - 2006 (Country Musume ni Konno to Fujimoto / 2nd Generation):

History

Country Musume (1999)

Country Musume was formed in 1999, by Tsunku and Japanese talent and fellow Up-Front Agency artist, Tanaka Yoshitake (Tanaka was the group's original producer). The 4-week audition cycle was unusual since it didn't only consist of the traditional voice and dance lessons, but also a physical challenge: consisting of working at the Hanabatake farm in southern Hokkaido. The purpose of the physical challenge was to show how responsible the girls were and how well they work as a team to fit the "country girls from Hokkaido" image, since Hokkaido is seen as the countryside of Japan--and the audition was open to all of Japan, not just Hokkaido. Thus, producer Tanaka called for the physical challenge to see who can live up to a "Hokkaido" image.

At the end of the audition, three members were selected: Toda Rinne (from Hokkaido), Kobayashi Azusa (from Tokyo), and Yanagihara Hiromi (from Chiba). Following the trend of their sister group, Morning Musume, Kobayashi, as the oldest member, was given the title as leader of the group. After working on their debut single with plenty of support from other singers such as Moritaka Chisato and Nakazawa Yuko, they were able to successfully record and complete the promotion video. However, tragedy would strike the group soon after their work seemed to be finished. On July 17, 1999, Hiromi died in an automobile accident, just days before their first single was released, at the age of 19. Hiromi's family was given the decision to whether Country Musume should continue their work and release their single as scheduled, to which they approved. A month later, Azusa decided to leave the group for personal reasons. After a two-month hiatus, Rinne started performing as a solo act, but under the Country Musume name. After two singles, she went from being a solo artist to a group leader, as she was joined by a new member, Kimura Asami in 2000.

Country Musume ni Ishikawa Rika promoting the single Hajimete no Happy Birthday! (2001)

However, by the end of the year, producer Tanaka decided to give Tsunku the producer's position of the group, due to his difficulty in finding more members to join Rinne and Asami. The first change that Tsunku made was to "lend" members of Morning Musume into the group. In April 2001, Ishikawa Rika was added and the group became known as Country Musume ni Ishikawa Rika. This was to be a temporary change at first (the plan was to cycle Morning Musume members), but soon decided to keep Ishikawa in the group due to the group's sudden rise in popularity. Early in 2002, Tsunku made yet another change by adding Satoda Mai, a finalist from the Morning Musume 4th generation audition (who was from Hokkaido). Later that same year, Rinne graduated from the group and Hello! Project to pursue a career within Up-Front Agency as a stage actress. Asami became the new leader of the group.

In summer 2003, Saitou Miuna (of Shizuoka) joined Country Musume, and Rika's time in the group was over. Tsunku revived the idea of cycling Morning Musume members through the group. This time, Hokkaido-natives Konno Asami and Fujimoto Miki were selected. The group was then called Country Musume ni Konno to Fujimoto.

In 2005, Country Musume performed in the Hello! Project 2005 Winter ~A HAPPY NEW POWER!~ concert tour as a part of Hello! Project Akagumi. Country Musume also toured with v-u-den and Inaba Atsuko in 2005.

On November 25, 2006, it was announced that Asami and Miuna would be graduating from Country Musume and Hello! Project together on January 28, 2007, at the final performance of Hello! Project 2007 Winter ~Shuuketsu! 10th Anniversary~. Since Konno and Fujimoto have also since graduated from Morning Musume, they are no longer "lent" to Country Musume. Thus, Satoda Mai is currently the only member, and continues to work under the Country Musume name. This is the second time that Country Musume consists of only one member.

Discography

Albums

Singles

DVDs

Concert DVDs

Photobooks

Minimoni. & Country Musume. ni Konno to Fujimoto (Morning Musume.) in Hello! Project 2004 Winter AYA MATSUURA & COUNTRY MUSUME. - Hello! Project 2005 Natsu no Kayou Show '05 Selection! Collection!

  • [2004.03.13] ミニモニ。&カントリー娘。に紺野と藤本（モーニング娘。） in Hello! Project 2004 Winter (Minimoni. & Country Musume. ni Konno to Fujimoto (Morning Musume.) in Hello! Project 2004 Winter) (With Minimoni) amazon.co.jp
  • [2005.10.??] AYA MATSUURA & COUNTRY MUSUME。―Hello!Project2005夏の歌謡ショー 05’セレクション!コレクション! (AYA MATSUURA & COUNTRY MUSUME. - Hello! Project 2005 Natsu no Kayou Show '05 Selection! Collection!) (With Matsuura Aya) amazon.co.jp

External Links

v • d • e
Hello! Project: Country Musume
Topics: Songs · Images · Morning Musume · Country Girls
Members
Toda Rinne · Yanagihara Hiromi† · Kobayashi Azusa · Asami · Ishikawa Rika (Morning Musume) · Satoda Mai · Miuna · Konno Asami (Morning Musume) · Fujimoto Miki (Morning Musume)
Singles
01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07 · 08 · 09 · 10 · 11
Albums
Video Releases
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