Yuko Nakazawa

**Yuko Nakazawa** born June 19, 1973, is a Japanese pop singer, actress, and TV-personality, best known as one of the original members of the all-female Japanese pop group Morning Musume. Currently, she is a solo artist with UP-FRONT CREATE. She was a part of Dream Morning Musume.

## History

### Early Life

Yuko nakazawa was born on June 19th, 1973 in Kyoto, Japan.

### 1997-2001

Nakazawa Yuko was one of five runners-up in a 1997 talent contest for a new Japanese rock idol. After the contest, musician and producer Tsunku offered Nakazawa and the four other runners-up (Natsumi Abe, Kaori Iida, Aya Ishiguro, and Asuka Fukuda) the chance to be taken under his wing under one condition: They must sell 50,000 CD's of their debut song, "Ai no Tane," within five days. The quintet accomplished that task in four days and thus Morning Musume was born. The group has since grown increasingly popular and is infamous for its fluctuating lineup, with members leaving and joining frequently.

Shortly after Morning Musume's formation, Nakazawa began a solo career, beginning with Enka-styled songs. She gradually moved to a more pop sound, but returned to Enka with her eleventh single, "Urara." Her solo work has allowed her voice to shine in a way it rarely did in Morning Musume, as she mostly sung harmonies with only a few solo lines.

Nakazawa was a regular featured singer on Hello! Project's "Folk Songs" series. She was also placed in Akagumi 4 in Hello! Project's 2000 summer shuffles.

Being the oldest of the 1st generation of Morning Musume — she was 24 at the time of formation and nearly 28 upon leaving the group — Nakazawa held the role of the group's leader until her graduation on April 15, 2001. She has cited her reasons for leaving as being her age (she was 14 years older than the youngest member of the group, then 13 year old Ai Kago, at the time of her departure) and her desire to pursue other things by the time she was 30.

### After Morning Musume

She participated in H.P. All Stars along with most of the rest of Hello!Project.

In Hello! Project's 2005 summer shuffles she was placed in Puripuri Pink.

On April 11, 2005, she became a performer oo Tchunen, a TV program on the Mainichi Broadcasting System, on Mondays.

Nakazawa has done some work in Japanese dramas such as Beauty 7 and Home Maker, performed in various plays, and continued in her solo singing career at a steady pace with reasonable success. She still worked closely with Morning Musume and hosted their weekly show Hello! Morning (first regularly, then occasionally), until its end in early 2007.

Nakazawa Yuko was the special guest for Morning Musume’s first performance in Paris at Japan Expo on July 2, 2010.

In September 2010, She joined a unit called Afternoon Musume (along with some others from Dream Morning Musume: Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, Kei Yasuda, Mari Yaguchi, Makoto Ogawa, Miki Fujimoto) to promote Georgia Coffee drinks.

On January 28, 2011, It was announced that Nakazawa was part of the OG member group Dream Morning Musume and that they would be releasing the groups first album, called "Dorimusu ①," on April 20th, 2011.

In August, 2011. it was announced that Nakazawa would be in a film titled “TWILIGHT FILE 8: Fighting Okan.”

On December 6, 2011 It was announced she would be getting married the following Spring. Nakazawa would move to Fukuoka to be with her husband. Although Nakazawa continued pursuing her career, her activities were reduced since she would be traveling back and forth between Tokyo and Fukuoka. However, she continued to participate in special concerts and events as much as she could.

On March 31, she announced that she registered her marriage.

On June 19, during her birthday live, Nakazawa announced that she was 5 months pregnant.

On November 25, Nakazawa gave birth to a baby girl.

In May, it was announced that Nakazawa would release an essay book titled Musume. kara Haha e (From a Musume to a mother) on June 19th.

On October 1, Nakazawa, along with many other UP-FRONT PROMOTION members were transferred to UP-FRONT CREATE.

On December 31, Nakazawa participated in the Hello! Project COUNTDOWN PARTY 2013 ~GOOD BYE & HELLO!~ and performed with other OG members

On December 7, Nakazawa announced that she was pregnant with her second child.

On May 7 Nakazawa gave birth to her second child, a boy.

On November 1, it was announced that the first generation members of Morning Musume and the current members of Morning Musume '17 would form a collaborative unit named Morning Musume 20th.

On December 13, Nakazawa and the four other original members of Morning Musume performed on a live stage together for the first time in 18 years on the second night of Fuji TV's 2017 FNS Kayousai.

On March 31, Nakazawa performed with several other Morning Musume OG members in the Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! and Morning Musume 20th Anniversary!! Premiums of the Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! Hello! Project Hina Fes 2018 at Pacifico Yokohama.

On July 28 and 29, Nakazawa performed as an OG guest in the Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! Hello! Project 2018 SUMMER concerts in Fukuoka.

On December 1, Nakazawa performed at the COTTON CLUB to commemorate the 20th anniversary since her solo debut. It was later released on DVD in 2019 with the title Nakazawa Yuko LIVE at COTTON CLUB ~Shinshi wa Ima Demo Mini ga Osuki!~.

On June 9, Nakazawa held a birthday live in Fukuoka, titled Nakazawa Yuko Birthday Live 2019 ~Yookinshatte ne!~, to commemorate her 47th birthday. Later that year she held a christmas live in Tokyo, titled Nakazawa Yuko Chotto Dake Hayai Happy X’mas Show in Tokyo.

In December, Nakazawa hosted a corner on RBK Radio called "Quiz Nakazawa Yuko" where she answered questions from fans.

In early May, Nakazawa joined instagram.

On July 24, Nakazawa did an interview with TVQ, talking about her life since she moved to Fukuoka including her maternity, job and daily life. It was available on the networks official site and their YouTube channel for a limited time.

On August 22, Nakazawa was on 24jikan Terebi in Fukuoka with Haraguchi Akimasa.

On June 20, Nakazawa held a dinner show called Nakazawa Yuko Birthday☆Casual Dinner Show 2021～Thanks to everyone～.

On August 2, Nakazawa was a guest MC at Fukuoka Mama Project. It was an online zoom event.

In February, Nakazawa held two live events called Nakazawa Yuko SPECIAL ☆ Live 2022 One heart.

In June, Nakazawa held a live event, called Nakazawa Yuko Birthday Talk Event ~49 years old me~.

In August, Nakazawa held her annual birthday live.

## Appearance

Yuko is seen wearing teal shirt with white fluff, teal and navy skirt and teal, black and grey boots. She has brown hair.

## Trivia

Her official YouTube username is NakazawaOfficial Est. 1973.