Morning Musume '14

Morning Musume
Morning Musume in 2016
Background information
Native name	モーニング娘。
Also known as	Momusu 早安少女組。
Origin	Tokyo, Japan
Genres	J-pop electropop EDM dance-pop
Years active	1997 (1997)–present
Labels	Zetima
Associated acts	Hello! Project shuffle units Country Musume Dream Morning Musume GAM Guardians 4 Hangry & Angry Kira Pika Mini Moni Morning Musume Sakuragumi Morning Musume Otomegumi Morning Musume Tanjō 10nen Kinentai Ongaku Gatas Petitmoni Tanpopo V-u-den W Hello! Project Mobekimasu Berryz Kobo Cute Erina Mano S/mileage Juice=Juice Country Girls Kobushi Factory Tsubaki Factory Sashining Musume
Website	www.helloproject.com/morningmusume
Members	Mizuki Fukumura (2011–) Erina Ikuta (2011–) Haruna Iikubo (2011–) Ayumi Ishida (2011–) Masaki Sato (2011–) Sakura Oda (2012–) Haruna Ogata (2014–) Miki Nonaka (2014–) Maria Makino (2014–) Akane Haga (2014–) Kaede Kaga (2016–) Reina Yokoyama (2016–) Chisaki Morito (2017–)
Past members	Haruka Kudo (2011–2017) Kanon Suzuki (2011–2016) Riho Sayashi (2011–2015) Sayumi Michishige (2003–2014) Reina Tanaka (2003–2013) Aika Mitsui (2006–2012) Risa Niigaki (2001–2012) Ai Takahashi (2001–2011) Linlin (2007–2010) Junjun (2007–2010) Eri Kamei (2003–2010) Koharu Kusumi (2005–2009) Miki Fujimoto (2003–2007) Hitomi Yoshizawa (2000–2007) Makoto Ogawa (2001–2006) Asami Konno (2001–2006) Rika Ishikawa (2000–2005) Mari Yaguchi (1998–2005) Kaori Iida (1997–2005) Ai Kago (2000–2004) Nozomi Tsuji (2000–2004) Natsumi Abe (1997–2004) Kei Yasuda (1998–2003) Maki Goto (1999–2002) Yuko Nakazawa (1997–2001) Sayaka Ichii (1998–2000) Aya Ishiguro (1997–2000) Asuka Fukuda (1997–1999)

Morning Musume '18 (モーニング娘。 '18, Mōningu Musume '18.), formerly simply Morning Musume (モーニング娘。, Mōningu Musume.) and colloquially referred to as Momusu (モー娘。, Mōmusu.), is a Japanese female idol group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an amount of 50, and they have sold over 21 million copies in Japan alone.

Morning Musume was formed in 1997 by rock singer-songwriter turned record producer Tsunku, who later composed the vast majority of the group's songs over the decade. They are the lead group of Hello! Project that specialises in upbeat, pop-oriented music coupled with dance performance. The group produced several splinter groups, and often collaborates with other Hello! Project acts, including Country Musume, Berryz Kobo, Cute, Melon Kinenbi, and v-u-den. The group's name can be translated as "Morning Girls" or "Morning Daughters"; as the name suggests, it consists of members mostly in their late adolescence and early 20s. The average age of the group members has remained more or less unchanged since its original formation because the group maintains a "school-like" system for their continuous line-up changes, with older members "graduating" and new, usually younger, members selected from nationwide auditions admitted to the group almost annually.

* All colour values are approximate.

Japanese producer Tsunku started the group in 1997 through an audition for a female rock vocalist for his band Sharan Q. The audition was held on the Japanese TV show Asayan. The winner was Michiyo Heike, later to become a soloist under what would eventually become known as Hello! Project. Tsunku decided to form a girl group consisting of five of the runners-up: Natsumi Abe, Yuko Nakazawa, Kaori Iida, Asuka Fukuda, and Aya Ishiguro. They were issued a challenge to sell 50,000 copies of their demo single, "Ai no Tane", with just five days of promotion events. They managed the feat in four promotion days (spread out over November 1997) in a very grassroots manner, and Tsunku began his mission to create the most famous all-girl group in Japan.