Fairies (band)

Fairies
Fairies on July 26, 2013
Background information
Origin	Japan
Genres	J-pop pop dance-pop teen pop bubblegum pop
Years active	2011–present
Labels	Sonic Groove (Avex Group)
Associated acts	M Three
Website	rising-pro.jp/artist/fairies/
Members	Rikako Inoue Sora Nomoto Momoka Ito Mahiro Hayashida Miria Fujita Miki Shimomura
Past members	Kawane Kiyomura

Fairies (フェアリーズ^?) are a Japanese girl group, formed in 2011. They are managed by the talent agency Rising Production and produced by the Avex record label Sonic Groove.

Fairies were formed by talent agency Vision Factory (now Rising Production), famous for successful artists such as Namie Amuro, MAX and Speed. The concept behind was "a world class talented group that is able to compete overseas", and they were chosen from 100 candidates who were attending dance schools affiliated with Vision Factory, coming from 13 regions of Japan. The group name was open for suggestions from the public through a special corner in Nippon TV programme Sukkiri!!, and "Fairies" was chosen with the explanation that their dancing form resembled a group of fairies fluttering.

The group debuted with the double A-side single "More Kiss / Song for You" on September 21, 2011. At the 53rd Japan Record Awards, held on December 30, 2011, Fairies were named the best newcomer of the year, receiving the Best New Artist award. Among other nominees, they beat 2NE1 and Super Girls. At the time of receiving the award, Fairies' average age of 13.6 was the lowest for this award, a record shared with °C-ute that won in 2007.

On January 17, 2013, member Kiyomura announced that she would be "restraining" from activities with Fairies in order to concentrate on her studies, leaving the remaining six to continue. Although the group had been using the name "Fairies" in Latin script until then, from February onwards it was changed to Japanese on all their official sites and single jacket covers. However, no announcement was ever made about which was the official notation.