Natsumi Abe

Natsumi Abe was born in Muroran, Hokkaidō, Japan, in August of 1981. In 1997, Abe was chosen to become a member of a new Japanese pop (or J-pop) group known as Morning Musume. For quite a few songs, Abe sang the lead, making her one of the most popular members of Morning Musume. Morning Musume began as an all-girl J-pop group, and throughout a number of changes in talent, has continued to be one of the most popular all-girl groups to ever grace Japan.

In January of 2004, Abe “graduated” from the group. This is the term that is used whenever a girl leaves the group to go on to pursue a solo career. She had released her first solo single, however, in August of 2003. It was entitled “22Sai no Watashi”, and was released only a few days after she turned 22. A short time later a full album was released, and many of the songs that were on the album were versions of Morning Musume songs that had been changed for a solo singer.

After her graduation from the group, Abe was kept very busy, working on the Hello! Project and on her solo project. Near the end of 2004, it was discovered that her poems and essays were copied and a full plagiarism scandal ensued. She pulled away from her career for awhile and due to that, one of her singles was delayed for awhile. She came back to singing in February of 2005, and in August her fifth single was released. Early in 2007 Abe, and a number of the other original members of Morning Musume, was chosen to be a part of Morning Musume Tanjō 10 nen Kinentai, which was a group created to celebrate the singing group being together for ten years.

Albums

• Hitoribocchi

· Released February 2004 · Peaked at #2 on the charts · Sold 79,483 copies

• 2nd Shimiwataru Omoi

· Released March 2006 · Peaked at #9 on the charts · Sold 23,972 copies

• 25 Vingt Cinq

· Released March 2007 · Peaked at #21 on the charts · Sold 12,825 copies

External Links

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