is a
Japanese pop singer and actress, associated with
Hello! Project and best known as a founding member of the girl band
Morning Musume. She has also recorded with the Morning Musume side project band
Tanpopo and is currently a solo artist. During her time in the group, she was the tallest member (170 cm), earning her the nickname "Kaorin" & "Kao-tan".She is currently a member of
Dream Morning Musume.
Biography
Kaori Iida was one of 10 runners-up in a 1997 talent contest for a new Japanese rock idol. After the contest, musician and producer
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: that they sell 50,000 CDs of their song "Ai no Tane" in 5 days. The quintet accomplished that task in four and, thus, in 1997,
Morning Musume was born (and their first official single "Morning Coffee" was released in 1998). The group has since been increasingly popular in Japan, has achieved a cult following in the Western world and is infamous for its fluctuation of memberships, with members "graduating" and joining frequently.
In 1999,
Tsunku placed Iida into subgroup
Tanpopo with Aya Ishiguro and 2nd generation Morning Musume member
Mari Yaguchi, and they specialized in singing slower, more mature songs. Together they made four singles and an album. After Ishiguro graduated from Morning Musume and...
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