Kaori Iida

Kaori Iida (born August 8, 1981 in Hokkaidou, Japan) is a Japanese pop singer and former member/leader of the Hello! Project mothership group Morning Musume. Iida is very well known as the "tall, spacey one", helped in no small part by her nearly-permanent vacant expression and unusual height. But along with this, she also possesses the innate ability to strike the line between adorably awkward and gracefully elegant. Height has its advantages.

Iida was one of the five original members of the group, and was the last of the original five to graduate. She has the longest tenure of any Morning Musume member (original or otherwise.)

Kaori Iida Career

Iida was one of the five runner-ups in a 1997 contest to find a new female vocalist for the rock band Sharan Q. Tsunku, the producer, gave the five a challenge: sell 50,000 copies of their demo single in five days, and he would produce them as their own act. Iida and the other four met the challenge in four days. They were dubbed Morning Musume.

Due to the group's rising popularity, Iida was selected to form a subgroup with Aya Ishiguro and Mari Yaguchi, called Tanpopo. They sang more mature songs than their mother group. Ishiguro left Morning Musume (and, in the process, Tanpopo) in 2000, leaving them as a duet until later in the year, when Rika Ishikawa and Ai Kago were added to the lineup. Iida would "graduate" from Tanpopo (though not Morning Musume) in 2002.

Morning Musume's original leader, Yuko Nakazawa, graduated from the group in 2001. Iida became the leader, supported by Kei Yasuda as her sub-leader.

In 2003, Morning Musume was split in two: Sakuragumi and Otomegumi. Iida was placed in Otomegumi, and just like in Morning Musume, was the leader of that splinter unit until their hiatus in 2004.

Iida is the only member of the Hello! Project to have participated in all of the shuffle units, from their inception in 2000 until the final shuffle in 2005.

In early 2005, Iida graduated from Morning Musume, after a tenure of seven years. She continued to pursue her solo career (which she began in 2003.) This career includes four albums and two singles.

2007 saw the formation of Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai. Iida was chosen to participate in the group, once again as the leader of Morning Musume. However, she dropped out of the group after revealing that she was pregnant. She married the father, Kenji of the band 7HOUSE, on July 7, 2007.

Iida is currently on maternity leave. She gave birth to a baby boy on January 22, 2008. Iida announced on November 28, 2008, that her son died of chronic renal failure on July 27, 2008. She will return to show business in January.

Kaori Iida Releases

Albums

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Singles

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Photobooks

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