Kaori Iida

**Kaori Iida** is a Japanese pop singer and actress. She is currently a soloist in UP-FRONT CREATE. She was a part of Hello! Project and is best known as a founding member of the pop group Morning Musume. She has also recorded with the Morning Musume sub-group Tanpopo. She was a member of Dream Morning Musume.

She is known for keeping her hair long throughout her Morning Musume career and also for "spacing out" frequently.

## History

### Early Life

Kaori Iida was born on August 8, 1981 in Muroran, Hokkaido Prefecture.

### 1997-2000

In 1997, Iida Kaori was one of 10 runners-up in a talent contest for a new Japanese rock idol. After the contest, Tsunku offered Iida and four of the other runners-up (Natsumi Abe, Yuko Nakazawa, Aya Ishiguro, and Asuka Fukuda) the chance to be taken under his wing... on one condition: They sell 50,000 CD's of their song "Ai no Tane" within 5 days. The quintet accomplished that task in 4 days and formed Morning Musume. The group has since been increasingly popular in Japan, having achieved a cult following in the Western world and is infamous for its fluctuating memberships, with members "graduating" and joining frequently.

In 1999, Tsunku placed Iida into sub-group Tanpopo with Aya Ishiguro and 2nd generation Morning Musume member Mari Yaguchi. They specialized in singing slower, more mature songs. Together they made four singles and one album. After Ishiguro graduated from Morning Musume and Tanpopo in January 2000, Iida and Yaguchi performed Tanpopo songs as a duet until Tsunku placed 4th generation Morning Musume members Ai Kago and Rika Ishikawa into the sub-group. Tanpopo's style was also given a revamping, with songs being more upbeat and pop-ish, but nonetheless still slower than Morning Musume. In this formation, Tanpopo released 3 more singles, a compilation album, and a compilation DVD.

### 2001-2005

Hello! Project's first shuffle units were created in March 2000 and Iida Kaori was made a member of the punk-rock themed group, Aoiro 7 (青色7; Blue 7).

After Morning Musume's then-leader, Yuko Nakazawa, graduated in the Spring of 2001, Iida took on the role as the group's leader.

Hello! Project's 2001 Shuffle Units debuted in July 2001 and Iida Kaori was made a member of 10nin Matsuri (10人祭; 10 Person Festival; pronounced じゅうにんまつり,Juunin Matsuri).

In July 2002, Tanpopo, along with other Morning Musume sub-groups Petitmoni and Minimoni, experienced changes in their membership - partly due to graduating Morning Musume members and partly to showcase the newer members. As a result, Iida (along with Yaguchi Mari and Kago Ai) graduated from Tanpopo.

Hello! Project's 2002 Shuffle Units debuted in July 2002 and Iida Kaori was made a member of Odoru♡11 (おどる♡11; Dancing♡11).

Additionally, Iida pursued a solo career. Her solo career includes two albums outside of Hello! Project where she sings covers of French, Greek, and Italian songs (in their respective languages). She also has two singles in Japanese, released in advance of her impending graduation from Morning Musume—though still set in a Mediterranean-esque style; many Western fans of Morning Musume and Hello! Project have described the style of Iida's solo material as "Euro-Enka." In Morning Musume, Iida mostly sang harmony with a few solo lines. Her signature song in Morning Musume is "Yume no Naka," from the group's first album.

Hello! Project's 2003 Shuffle Units debuted in July 2003 and Iida Kaori was made a member of 11Water.

In September 2003, Morning Musume was "split" into 2 sub-groups—Iida was made leader of Morning Musume Otome Gumi.

In May, it was announced that Iida would be graduating from Morning Musume. She would be graduating during the 2005 spring tour.

There was only one Shuffle Unit formed in December 2004, the H.P. All Stars, and it was comprised of all the then-current talents of Hello! Project. Iida Kaori is the only member of Hello! Project to have participated in all Shuffle Units since the tradition started.

On December 29, Iida released her third album, this time within Hello! Project and in Japanese.

On January 30, 2005, Iida graduated from Morning Musume to further pursue her solo career. Mari Yaguchi took over her role as Morning Musume's leader upon Iida's graduation. Her tenure of over 7 years was the longest of any Morning Musume member, and as of January 2014, she is one of seven members to remain in the group for over 7 years.

In June 2005, Iida Kaori was made a member of the Shuffle Unit Puripuri Pink. This was the last year that a Shuffle Unit was created.

On December 21, 2005, Iida released Plein D'amour ~Ai ga Ippai~, her fourth album. This album featured songs in Japanese and many European cover songs in their original languages. This was her first album to be released since she graduated from Morning Musume.

### After Morning Musume

In early 2007, Iida was chosen to be a member of Morning Musume Tanjō 10-nen Kinentai, a unit created to celebrate Morning Musume's 10th anniversary as a group. Morning Musume Tanjō 10-nen Kinentai also consisted of Natsumi Abe, Maki Goto, Risa Niigaki and Koharu Kusumi. Their first single, Bokura ga Ikiru MY ASIA (僕らが生きるMy Asia), was released on January 24, 2007.

On July 6, 2007, Iida's agency announced that she was ten weeks pregnant and getting married to Kenji, a former member of the disbanded 7 House, a band formed by Tsunku; Iida's marriage took place the next day. Iida went on a maternity leave, which began after the Morning Musume 10th Year Anniversary Concert Tour ~Summer '07 Thank You My Dearest~ on September 1, 2007.

On February 3, 2008, Iida released a statement to her fan club that she had given birth to a baby boy on January 22, 2008 at 10:30 am. Tragically, it was announced on November 28, 2008 that her son had died on July 27, 2008 from renal failure. He was hospitalized immediately after being born due to kidney problems, and Iida spent her time going to and from the hospital to visit him. But in April, he was released from the hospital, and she began spending her days looking after him at home.

After the death of her son, she stated that in his memory, she would continue her career. She returned to the concert stage at the Hello! Project 2009 Winter Elder Club-Thank you for your LOVE! series, her first performance in one year and four months. She also performed at the Hello Pro Award '09 ~Elder Club Sotsugyō Kinen Special~ concert on February 1, 2009, which celebrated her graduation from Hello! Project along with 21 other Elder Club Members.

Beginning in April 2009, she joined M-Line, the official Morning Musume graduate fan club.

In September of 2010, an event for Morning Musume’s 1st generation members: Yuko Nakazawa, Iida Kaori and Abe Natsumi was announced. The members were set to give a small performance and give fans a chance to interact with them at a small venue and listen to them sing many of the songs they sang when they first joined Morning Musume. The events took place on the following dates: January 13 at Yamano Hall – 15:00 / 18:50 and November 20 at the El Theater – 14:20 / 17:50.

Also in September, she joined the new unit, Afternoon Musume to promote Georgia coffee drinks seven other OG members.

On November 1st, 2010, It was announced that she would do a live Christmas special titled "Kaori Iida Christmas Live 2010 Ce Soir，tu es mon Pe’re Noe¨l　a｀ moi ~Konya wa Anata ga Santa Claus~". The live took place on December 23 at 14:15 and 18:30.

January 27, 2011, Iida Kaori announced on her blog that she would be holding two small live events in February. She said that she would be performing love songs at Vinoteca Stage and they will be love themed for Valentine’s Day. The event dates would be held on February 8 and on February 14.

On January 28, 2011, It was announced that Iida 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.

On December 25, 2012, Iida announced on her blog that she was pregnant with her second child. Iida reported, "I’ve entered my stable period and I’m due next spring! Day after day, I wasn’t feeling very well… but now, I’m very healthy and recently, I feel small movements in my stomach. I love our child and I’m looking forward to its everyday growth." She continued, "It will become lively from now on, but please continue to support me."

On May 14 2013, Iida announced on her blog that she had given birth to her second child, a boy. The baby weighed 2.9kg, and was reported to be healthy.

On October 1, she was transferred to UP-FRONT CREATE.

On July 20, 2016, Iida released her fifth solo album and her first release since 2005, titled ONDAS.
In 2017, the unit Morning Musume 20th was formed to celebrate Morning Musume's 20th anniversary. The unit was formed by the five original members, including Iida, and the fourteen members of Morning Musume '17.

In 2017, Kaori gave birth to her third child, a baby girl.

In January, it was announced that Iida would hold an event called Iida Kaori FC Event, her first in three years.

On June 19, Iida, along with Yasuda Kei and Tsuji Nozomi, attended an online event called "Mou Sugu Papa no Hi ~Papa to Mama no Iiwake!! Dousoukai Special~" (もうすぐパパの日!~パパとママのいいわけ!!同窓会スペシャル!~). It was streamed live on YouTube. It is tied up to the release of Tsunku's new childrens' book "Nee, Mama? Boku no Onegai!".

On December 1, Iida posted on her official instagram that she would attend the event Theatre Story Time ~Oyako de Miru Ehon no Sekai~ on January 10, 2021 as a guest reader. It is an event where children's favorite picture books are expressed in theater, live music, dance, and storytelling.

On July 2, Iida appeared alongside Yasuda Kei and Ishiguro Aya on TBS 爆笑！ターンテーブル2時間SP (Bakushou! Turntable 2-jikan SP).

On March 24, it was announced that Iida Kaori would be a regular on the new HBC program Kita ni Koishita! as an MC. The program features talents from Hokkaido, with the first two episodes featuring Tsubaki Factory member Tanimoto Ami as the guest. It began airing every Saturday starting on April 15.

## Appearance

Kaori is seen wearing a white shirt with a navy cardigan over it, navy trousers and olive shoes. She has black hair.

## Trivia

* Her YouTube official username is Kaori Iida.
	+ She is one of seven characters whose usernames show their full names. The others are Haruna Ogata, Risa Niigaki, Lee Revkins, Julie Jones, Slider Petrolski and Miki Fujimoto.