Morning Musume
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As the story goes, Morning Musume was actually the losing act in a televised audition contest. In 1997, Tsunku held auditions for a female "Rock Vocalist" on the popular TV show, "Asayan." The winner would presumably be the next big thing on the pop music scene. Among the contestants was a group of five girls: Yuuko Nakazawa, Natsumi Abe, Kaori Iida, Aya Ishiguro, and Asuka Fukuda. They didn't win, but they must have caught Tsunku's eye, because as it turned out, the actual winner of the contest didn't seem to be a big hit with the public, so Tsunku rose to a new challenge: to mold the contest's losers into a super-hot pop sensation! However, before he would commit to producing the group, he gave them a challenge: they had to sell 50,000 copies of their original single, entitled "Ai no Tane," in five days, if he was to take them under his wing. In a genius publicity stunt, the girls pushed themselves to the limit, soliciting family, friends, and strangers on the street with their CD. Of course, they met their goal and by early 1998, they had made their official debut as a Tsunku-produced group. In May of '98, the group expanded to eight members, with the addition of Mari Yaguchi, Kei Yasuda, and Sayaka Ichii. Their first album was released in July of 1998, appropriately entitled, "First Time." After the release of a few more singles, one of the original members, Asuka Fukuda, decided to leave the group, thus beginning the fluctuaction of members for which the group has gained a reputation. Morning Musume's popularity continued to grow, yet Tsunku felt the group needed to take a "step up." He held an open audition with the goal of adding two more members, but ended up choosing only one, then thirteen-year-old Maki Goto.
With the release of one of their most popular singles, "LOVE Machine," in September '99, Maki proved to be incredibly popular. In January 2000, another of the original members, Aya Ishiguro, "graduated" from the group, and married Shinya from the popular J-rock band, Luna Sea. Tsunku's goal had apparently been to have the group consist of ten members, so he took Aya's departure as an opportunity to hold another round of open auditions, in search of three new girls. In the last weeks of March 2000, the auditions were televised as Tsunku narrowed down the contestants to the final ten, and then chose the lucky new Musume-to-be. But surprise--! He picked four new girls, rather than three: Rika Ishikawa, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Nozomi Tsuji, and Ai Kago. They made their debut with the group's next big hit, "Happy Summer Wedding." Shortly thereafter, Sayaka Ichii bid the group farewell, bringing Morning Musume to the number Tsunku had envisioned, ten members. After their Spring 2001 concert, Yuko Nakazawa departed, and four more members were added: Risa Niigaki, Makoto Ogawa, Ai Takahashi, and Asami Konno.
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