Natsumi Abe

**Natsumi Abe** born August 10, 1981 in Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan, is a Japanese singer and actress, and a former member of Morning Musume. In Morning Musume, she often took the lead in the songs, especially Furusato. As a soloist her combined CD and DVD sales exceed 700,000 copies in Japan alone. Abe Natsumi's highest selling single is 22sai no Watashi. She's a part of Hello! Project OG and Dream Morning Musume.

## History

### Early Life

Abe Natsumi was born on August 10, 1981 in Muroran, Hokkaido Prefecture.

### 1997-2000

Natsumi Abe was one of 5 runners-up in a talent contest for a new Japanese rock idol. After the contest, musician and producer Tsunku offered Abe and four of the other runners-up (Kaori Iida, 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" in 5 days. The quintet accomplished that task in four days, and thus, Morning Musume was born.

Morning Musume's first official single, "Morning Coffee," was released on January 28.

### 2001-2004

She released her first solo single, "22 Sai no Watashi," on August 13, just a few days after her 22nd birthday.

Abe also teamed up with Yosumi Keiko, a former member of Rokusenmon, as a so-called "mother and daughter" duo, and released a single to prepare her for her solo efforts. To date she has released two albums, one mini album, and ten solo singles.

On January 25, she graduated from Morning Musume to pursue a solo career.

On February 4, her first full length album, Hitoribocchi, was released, containing many solo versions of Morning Musume songs.

Near the end of the year, Abe Natsumi was accused of plagiarizing some poetry works which were included in her poetry collection books and recited in her radio program many times. The poems were published in the book NATCHI, which was released on June 1, 2000. Some of the works she published were from famous producer Komuro Tetsuya and the singer Aiko.

The song that was already recorded and supposed to be released as a single was Nariyamai Tambourine, wasn't released due to Abe being suspended. The song was eventually released in 2008 on Abe's best album.

### After Morning Musume

After the scandal, Abe started her career again in March, forming Nochiura Natsumi, a temporary unit that also included Maki Goto and Matsuura Aya.

In September, she became a member of the Hello! Project special unit DEF.DIVA together with Maki Goto, Rika Ishikawa, and Matsuura Aya. The single, "Takaramono," was also released in November credited as "Sen," who is the main character of the drama "Takaramono," played by Abe.

June saw Abe release "The Stress," a cover of the 1989 song by pop idol Chisato Moritaka.

In October, "Amasugita Kajitsu" was released, reaching 5th on the Oricon Chart, the highest place she achieved since "Koi no Telephone Goal" in 2004.

Abe was prosecuted after causing a traffic accident on October 6. According to police, she was making a right turn out of a car park on Sunday evening when she hit a motorbike. Abe was unhurt, but the motorbike rider suffered minor injuries to his elbow and back. At the time, Abe had her driver's license for less than a year and still had a learner's sticker on her car.

Natsumi was a part of Morning Musume's 10th anniversary special group, along with Kaori Iida. Maki Goto, Risa Niigaki and Koharu Kusumi.

On January 16, Abe collaborated with ℃-ute member Yajima Maimi for the single 16sai no Koi Nante.

On October 5, Abe performed in an event to mark the 30th anniversary of the Sunshine City building in Ikebukuro. She was joined by other artists who were popular in the 1980s, such as Hiroko Moriguchi and Ayumi Nakamura.

On March 31, Abe graduated from Hello! Project along with the rest of Elder Club.

From May 13 to June 21, Abe appeared in the musical Little Shop of Horrors playing the role of Audrey.

In September, it was announced that Abe Natsumi, Kei Yasuda, and Koharu Kusumi would be in Abe Naikaku, a stage play about the prime minister and politics.

She joined the special unit for former Morning Musume members called Afternoon Musume that promoted Georgia Coffee drinks.

On January 28, it was announced that Abe was part of the OG member group Dream Morning Musume.

Abe held a fan club tour from March 20-22, for 3 days and 2 nights at Hokkaido.

In May, it was announced that she would star in the drama adaptation of "Arakawa Under the Bridge."

Abe played Lucy in the musical Dracula, based on a musical from Graz, Austria. The musical ran from August 20 to September 18

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

On August 13, Abe released her first self-cover album titled Smile... ♥. This album include a re-arranged and re-recorded version of 10 songs that reflected Abe's history. With the announcement of this album, this was Abe's first solo work in 4 years, her last single being Ameagari no Niji no You ni which was released in September of 2010.

On June 17, Abe released her third original album, Dreams.

On November 14, Abe released her her 12th solo photobook, Fin no Hito.

On December 12, Abe performed at Fuji TV's 2015 FNS Kayousai.

On December 21, it was reported that Abe would be marrying actor Yamazaki Ikusaburo. They first met in July 2011, when they co-starred as a couple in the musical Arashi ga Oka (Wuthering Heights). A tabloid magazine reported a month afterwards in August that the two were dating, but both of their agencies denied they were in a relationship.

On December 29, Abe officially announced on her blog that she had gotten married to Yamazaki that day.

On January 17, it was announced Abe would be leaving the M-line club, along with Fujimoto Miki, as of March.

On February 16, Abe announced she was pregnant with her first child. She gave birth to a boy on July 26.

On May 10, Abe announced she is pregnant with her second child and was due to give birth in the fall.

On October 31, she and her husband made a joint announcement that their second son had been born.

On June 17, it was announced that Abe would return to entertainment for the first time in three years by voicing a role in Paw Patrol the Movie.

On December 27, Abe announced the birth of her third child.

## Appearance

Natsumi wears a teal top, teal skirt with white fluff and yellow boots. She has short, brown hair.

## Trivia

* Her official YouTube username is FurusatoComedian.