美空ひばり
Together with fellow Japanese female entertainers Rumiko Koyanagi and Mari Amachi, Minami laid the foundations of the modern Japanese idol. Minami, Koyanagi and Amachi were dubbed . Before them, Hibari Misora, Chiemi Eri, and Izumi Yukimura were promoted in the same fashion. In 1973, Amachi, Koyanagi, and Minami were followed by Momoe Yamaguchi, Junko Sakurada and Masako Mori, who were known as .