Country Musume

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is a female pop group in the Hello! Project umbrella of singers (the more popular idols within H!P include Morning Musume, Aya Matsuura, Maki Goto, and others). The group was formed in 1999 and was billed as "Country Girls from Hokkaido". The initial group consisted of members and Hokkaido natives Rinne Toda, Azusa Kobayashi, and Hiromi Yanagihara.

Shortly after release of their first single in July 1999, Hiromi was killed in a car accident. After the tragedy, Azusa departed from the group and Rinne carried on as a soloist, releasing 2 singles under the "Country Musume" name by herself. In summer of 2000, Asami Kimura was added to the group and the duo released one more single.

Their popularity rose when Morning Musume's Rika Ishikawa, who's from Kanagawa and not Hokkaido, was lent into the group in April 2001. The trio, under the name "Country Musume featuring Rika Ishikawa (Morning Musume)", released 2 singles and an album. Early in 2002, Mai Satoda was recruited into the group. (Mai initially auditioned to be a Morning Musume member but was recruited into Country Musume instead.)

The quartet released one single before Rinne, the remaining original member, bid farewell at the end of 2002. Afterwards, Asami, Rika, and Mai released one more single.

In mid-2003, Country Musume had a major shift in its roster. Miuna Saito, who's from Shizuoka, was recruited into the group. Instead of Rika Ishikawa, the group will now feature Asami Konno and Miki Fujimoto from Morning Musume (both are Hokkaido natives). Under this new formation (named "Country Musume ni Konno to Fujimoto"), the quintet has released three singles as of date. In 2004 Country Musume (but not the featured singers) participated in Hello! Project's Folk Songs CD (fifth in the series), where various H!P artists sing covers of Japanese and Western folk songs.

Contents

1 Discography
2 Member Profiles

2.1 Current Members
2.2 Former members

Discography

Singles: # (23 July 1999) - Hiromi Yanagihara, Azusa Kobayashi, Rinne Toda; # (30 November 1999) - Rinne Toda; # (27 April 2000) - Rinne Toda; # (31 July 2000) - Rinne Toda, Asami Kimura; # (18 April 2001) - Rinne Toda, Asami Kimura, featuring Rika Ishikawa; # (17 October 2001) - Rinne Toda, Asami Kimura, featuring Rika Ishikawa; # (17 April 2002) - Rinne Toda, Asami Kimura, Mai Satoda, featuring Rika Ishikawa; # (13 November 2002) - Asami Kimura, Mai Satoda, featuring Rika Ishikawa; # (23 July 2003) - Asami Kimura, Mai Satoda, Miuna Saito, featuring Miki Fujimoto and Asami Konno; # (12 November 2003) - Asami Kimura, Mai Satoda, Miuna Saito, featuring Miki Fujimoto and Asami Konno; # (4 August 2004) - Asami Kimura, Mai Satoda, Miuna Saito, featuring Miki Fujimoto and Asami Konno

Album: # (12 December 2001) - Rinne Toda, Asami Kimura, featuring Rika Ishikawa

Member Profiles

Current Members

Asami (あさみ)
Real Name:
Birthdate: 02/22/84
Homeland: Hokkaido
Nickname: Asamichan
In H!P Groups: Country Musume, 7 nin Matsuri, Happy 7, 11 Water

Birthdate: 10/31/84
Homeland: Hokkaido
Nickname: Hitomichan
In H!P Groups: Country Musume, Sexy 8, 7 Air, ROMANS

Miuna (みうな)
Real Name:
Birthdate: 02/12/87
Homeland: Shizuoka
In H!P Group: Country Musume

- featured singer from Morning Musume

Birthdate: 02/26/85
Homeland: Hokkaido
Nickname: Mikitty
In H!P Groups: Country Musume, Morning Musume, Morning Musume Otomegumi, soloist, Gomattou, Odoru 11, 11 Water

- featured singer from Morning Musume

Birthdate: 05/07/87
Homeland: Hokkaido
Nickname: Konkon
In H!P Groups: Country Musume, Morning Musume, Morning Musume Sakuragumi, Tanpopo, Odoru 11, 11 Water

Former members

Hiromi (ひろみ)
Real Name:
Birthdate: 09/19/81
Homeland: Hokkaido
Notes: Died in a car accident shortly after release of 1st single in July 1999

Azusa (あずさ)
Real Name:
Birthdate: 01/30/77
Homeland: Hokkaido
Notes: Was forced to leave the group shortly after Hiromi's death due to some risque pictures of her, although the story at the time was that she was upset about Hiromi's death

Rinne (りんね)
Real name:
Birthdate: 02/06/81
Homeland: Hokkaido
In H!P Groups: Country Musume, 10 nin Matsuri, Odoru 11

- former featured member from Morning Musume

Birthdate: 01/19/85
Nickname: Charmy
Homeland: Kanagawa
In H!P Groups: Country Musume, Morning Musume, Morning Musume Otomegumi, Tanpopo, ROMANS, 3 Nin Matsuri, Sexy 8, 7 Air, Biyuuden
Notes: Graduated from Morning Musume in May 2005 to concentrate her work with Biyuuden.

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