was a

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

formed by

Up-Front Promotion is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

in 1999 and associated with

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but ...

. It was promoted as the "girls from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when

Ayaka Kimura , born October 30, 1981 and known professionally as , is a Japanese actress and former singer. From 1998 to 2008, Nagate was part of Hello! Project as a member of the Japan-based girl group Coconuts Musume. History Nagate joined Hello! Proje ...

graduated from Hello! Project.

Members

* 1998–2008 – * 1998–2004 – Mika Todd * 1998–2001 – Danielle DeLaunay * 1998–2000 – Chelsea Ching * 1998–2000 – April Barbaran * 2000–2002 –

Lehua Sandbo Lehualani Ehukai Nahina (née Sandbo) (born February 7, 1983, in Haleiwa, Hawaii, United States) is a former singer of Norwegian, Hawaiian, Filipino, Irish, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry. Better known by the stage name , she joined Hello! Projec ...

History

While in Hawaii,

Tsunku , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer, record producer, and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Sharam Q. As a songwriter, Tsunku is the primary producer for Morning Musume and other Hello! Project acts, such as Co ...

's fellow band-mate from

Sharam Q was a Japanese rock band composed of lead singer , on guitar, on drums and on keyboards. Biography They debuted with in 1992. They were not an instant hit initially, but their fourth single broke the top 50 of the Oricon charts. Eventu ...

, Makoto, discovered the five girls who were to become Coconuts Musume. He had requested that Tsunku pick up the act, and in 1999, Coconuts Musume debuted on a Japanese television program,

Asayan ''Asayan'', originally known as was a talent search variety show that aired on TV Tokyo from 1995 to 2002. Some idols that were originally discovered through Asayan auditions produced by Tsunku, formed groups that worked under the umbrella group ...

. The group originally consisted of

Mika Todd was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 1999 and associated with Hello! Project. It was promoted as the "girls from Hawaii". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when Ayaka Kimura graduated from Hello! Project ...

, Chelsea Ching,

Danielle DeLaunay Danielle is a modern French female variant of the male name Daniel, meaning "The God(dess)" in the French language. The name "Daniel" originates from the Hebrew Bible and is associated with the prophet Daniel. In Hebrew, the name is composed of t ...

, and April Barbaran, with Chelsea taking lead vocals. After two singles, Chelsea and April left the group due to the difficulties of adjusting to life as a

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

idol (neither spoke any Japanese when the group was formed) and to pursue other careers, such as modeling.

was then recruited as a member, and the group made two more singles until DeLaunay, who also had difficulties adjusting, left to pursue a career in theater. After DeLaunay left, the group switched from the

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

label to the

Zetima is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

label. Between " Watashi mo 'I Love You'" of Sony Music Entertainment in Japan and "

Jōnetsu Yuki Miraisen is a Japanese word and may refer to: * "Jōnetsu" (Kinki Kids song), a 2001 single by Japanese singing duo Kinki Kids * "Jōnetsu" (Miliyah Kato song), a 2005 single by Japanese singer Miliyah Kato (and a cover of the Ua song) * "Jōnetsu" (Ua so ...

" of Zetima, sales increased by almost a quarter according to

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

charts. After one more single, Sandbo, too, retired from the group, went on to the American pageant circuit, and eventually married and gave birth to a daughter. The remaining duo, Todd and Kimura, never released anything else under the Coconuts Musume name, though they contributed to Hello! Project compilations, performed songs (including English covers) during Hello! Project concerts, and became Japanese spokespersons for Dole pineapples. They also appeared on and hosted various radio and television shows separately. Todd became famous as a member of

Minimoni was a sub-unit of the Japanese idol girl groups Morning Musume and Coconuts Musume. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. The group was founded by Morning Musume members Mari Yaguchi, Nozomi Tsuji, and ...

, but retired in 2004 to study singing in California. Meanwhile, Kimura was part of Romans and

Petitmoni was a sub-unit of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1999 as the second sub-group of Morning Musume. Members First generation * Kei Yasuda * Say ...

's third generation. At this time, Kimura was the only member left in Coconuts Musume; however, she was still referred to within Hello! Project as "Coconuts Musume Ayaka". On April 30, 2008, it was announced on Hello! Project's official website that Kimura was retiring to pursue a career in acting, thus disbanding Coconuts Musume.

Discography

Singles

Videos

Appearances

Television

* Bishōjo Kyōiku ( Ayaka's Surprise English Lesson) *

Bishōjo Kyōiku II In Japanese popular culture, a , also romanized as ''bishojo'' or ''bishoujo'', is a cute girl character. characters appear ubiquitously in media including manga, anime, and computerized games (especially in the ''bishojo'' game genre), and al ...

(Ayaka's Surprise English Lesson)

Musicals

* Love Century -Yume wa Minna Kerya Hajimaranai- * Ken & Merī no Meken Kon On-stage *

Sayonara no Love Song ''Sayonara'' is a 1957 American romantic drama film directed by Joshua Logan, and starring Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, James Garner, Martha Scott, Miyoshi Umeki, Red Buttons, Miiko Taka and Ricardo Montalbán. It tells the story of an Ameri ...

* Fushigi Shōjo Tantei Kyara & Mel

Radio

Kiss the Coconuts A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, Passion (emotion), passion ...

(Mika and Ayaka) * Blend Kiss (Ayaka with Country Musume)

Books

* 2002-05-01 – * 2002-08-05 –

References

External links

Official Hello! Project profile

on the Up-Front Works official website

on Tsunku.net {{Authority control Japanese girl groups Japanese idol groups Japanese pop music groups Hello! Project groups Musical groups from Tokyo Musical groups from Hawaii Japanese electropop groups