Every Little Thing (also known as ELT by their fans) is a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

duo from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

who debuted in August 1996 with the release of their first single called " Feel My Heart". Their name is usually written in English, and only rarely in ''

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

''. They gained massive popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As of 2013, Every Little Thing has sold over 23 million copies of singles and albums throughout Japan. Their second studio album, ''

Time to Destination ''Time to Destination'' is the second studio album by the Japanese pop rock group Every Little Thing. It was released on April 15, 1998, through Avex Trax. The album was solely written, composed and arranged by Mitsuru Igarashi, while Avex cha ...

'', is the best-selling album of the band with over 3.5 million copies sold, and became the 10th best-selling album of all time in Japan. Every Little Thing was originally a trio but became a duo in 2000 with

Kaori Mochida is the lead singer of Japanese pop group Every Little Thing. Biography Mochida began her career as a child actress, appearing in magazines and TV commercials. She then became a member of the second generation of idol group The Kuro Buta All ...

as the singer and

Ichiro Ito is a guitarist in the Japanese rock band Every Little Thing. Ito also works in composition and, sometimes, arrangement of some of Every Little Thing's songs. Solo discography Albums * ''Diversity'' (2009) Other programs Ito Ichiro has mad ...

as the guitarist.

Mitsuru Igarashi is the former keyboardist and songwriter of Japanese pop group Every Little Thing. He founded the band in early 1996 with his old friend Ichirō Itō and then 18-year-old singer Kaori Mochida. He left Every Little Thing in April 2000 after ...

left ELT following the release of their third original album, ''

Eternity Eternity, in common parlance, is an Infinity, infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside tim ...

''.

Biography

Early careers

Ito began playing guitar in local bands around the US

Yokota Air Base , is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and United States Air Force (USAF) base in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo. It occupies portions of Akishima, Fussa, Hamura, Mizuho, Musashimurayama, and Tachikawa. The base houses 14,000 pers ...

Fussa, Tokyo is a city located in the western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 56,786, and a population density of 5600 persons per km². The total area of the city is . About one third of the city area is ...

, performing cover versions of songs by rock acts like

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...

to local sailors. He initially intended to play drums. Mochida made her debut as a baby in an advertisement for diapers as her mom hoped she would enter the entertainment business. In 1991, at the age of 13, she joined the eight-member girl group The Kuro Buta All-Stars. Though not successful, the experience convinced her to record a two track demo, featuring the two songs, "Mouichido" (The Kuro Buta All-Stars) and a cover song from 1970s/1980s singer-songwriter

Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and record producer. With over 16 million records sold, Takeuchi is one of the List of best-selling music artists in Japan#10 million to 19 million records, best-selling music artists in Japan and is deemed th ...

. She sent the demo to

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

, where Mitsuru Igarashi was a producer looking for a girl for a new duo with him as the keyboardist. Impressed by her strong yet sweet voice, Igarashi asked her to join as a duo, and then asked his guitarist friend

, then working as a studio receptionist, to help on the first single "Feel My Heart", created by Igarashi. Ito, over ten years Mochida's senior, has said that when first meeting the young Mochida wearing

gyaru (, ) is a Japanese street fashion, Japanese fashion subculture for young women, often associated with gaudy fashion styles and dyed hair. The term is a Japanese transliteration of the English slang word . In Japan, it is used to refer to you ...

style thick platform boots, he didn't even know how to strike up conversation.

Debut and success

The band released their debut single "Feel My Heart" on August 7, 1996. The single peaked at number 24 on the

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. Their first studio album, called '' Everlasting'' was a big success, selling nearly two million copies in

, and marking ELT as a popular group with a bright future. The band reached number 1 at the

charts for the first time with their fourth single, " For the Moment." Their second studio album, entitled ''

'', was released on April 15, 1998, and it became one of the best-selling albums of that year, with over 3.5 million copies sold. The album ended up being the band's best-selling album, as well as the 10th best-selling album of all time in Japan. This album also included their best-selling single, " Time Goes By", which reached nearly 1.15 million copies sold.

Departure of Igarashi and change in sound

Upon the release of the third studio album, ''

'', released in March 2000, Mitsuru Igarashi suddenly decided to leave the band. Ito later said that the decision was dropped on them without warning, right before a tour, and it forced them to change their sound. The remaining duo decided to tour acoustically for the next two years in order to find their feet, but also enjoyed more creative freedom over the songs. The single " Rescue me" was the last that Igarashi participated in and with the release of their 16th single, " Ai no Kakera" in October 2000, ELT transitioned their style from Igarashi's signature synthesized pop-rock sound to a more acoustic soft-rock sound. Their single " Fragile" released on New Year's Day 2001 became ELT's second biggest hit ever, vindicating their new direction, selling approximately 829,580 copies; its c/w song "Jirenma" was one of the ending songs for the anime movie ''

Initial D is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 volumes. The ...

Third Stage''. their fourth album and first as a duo, ''4 Force'', was released on March 22, 2001. The album was their first not to top the Japanese Oricon charts, but still managed to sell more than a million copies and was awarded as "Album of the Year" at the

Japan Gold Disc Award The is an award presented by the Record music Industry Association of Japan in the field of music. The Japan Gold Disc Awards have multiple Grand Prix categories, including: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year (download and ...

s. In 2003 the band released their fifth album, ''

Many Pieces Many Pieces is the fifth album of the Japanese pop rock group Every Little Thing (ELT), released on March 19, 2003. Many Pieces showed a drastic change in ELT's music, because of the departure of synthesizers and the change in Mochida's vocals. Gr ...

'', which topped the Oricon charts. The album had five promotional singles prior to its release, including "Jump", the first attempt of Mochida in music composing, '' Untitled: 4 Ballads'', their number one EP which got platinum status in Japan, and also "Grip!", which was used as an opening theme of anime television series '' InuYasha''. In November 2004 the duo released their single "

Koibumi is a 1953 Japanese Drama (film and television), drama film and the first film directed by actress Kinuyo Tanaka. With her directing debut, Tanaka became the second female film director in Japan after Tazuko Sakane. The screenplay by Keisuke Kino ...

" that was a surprise for many, because it performed comparatively well on the charts, selling more than many of their previous singles. In 2005 they released only one single, the

song " Kimi no Te", and the acoustic compilation album '' Acoustic : Latte''. During Every Little Thing's 2004–2005 ''Commonplace Tour'', Mochida suffered from bronchitis which further affected her singing style during the tour as well as on their 7th album, '' Crispy Park'', released on August 9, 2006 (their 10th anniversary day). Mochida’s singing style has changed slightly on every album, going from a clear, soothing voice to a high and cuter voice. A 2006–2007 concert tour followed their tenth anniversary album release. Their 31st single, "

Swimmy is the 32nd single by the Japanese J-pop group Every Little Thing, released on August 30, 2006. It was the theme song of the drama ''Kekkon Dekinai Otoko , known in English as ''The Man Who Can't Get Married'', is a 2006 Japanese drama broa ...

", theme song for the drama series ''

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko , known in English as ''The Man Who Can't Get Married'', is a 2006 Japanese drama broadcast by Fuji TV. Originally consisting of one season, the show eventually received a direct sequel 13 years later called as and broadcast from October 8 to D ...

'', was released in October 2006.

Tenth anniversary and solo endeavours

For celebrating their tenth anniversary, Every Little Thing held a two-day special live at the

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wres ...

on March 6 and 7, 2006. Their 2008 album ''

Door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide securit ...

'' released on March 5, 2008 peaked at number 2 on the Oricon charts. Mochida has said of the album, that "I used to sing without thinking. But now I convey thoughts that are hard to explain when I communicate with people in my daily life. It's harder than before; but we reap much more joy." On November 20, 2008, it was announced that Mochida would be starting a solo career in 2009, but both she and Itoh would continue as a duo. In this period both members released solo material. Mochida released her first solo album, ''Moka'' on August 12, 2009, and also participated briefly in the special unit Caocao, along with Takao Tajima, member of

Original Love Original Love (オリジナル・ラブ) is a Japanese music band and project by Takao Tajima. The band was formed in 1986 with four members, but since 1995 they have been a solo project for Takao Tajima. They were nominated in the 1994 MTV V ...

. On August 5, 2009, Ito released a mini-album on his own titled ''Diversity'', which featured vocals of

Idoling!!! was a Japanese TV show with an attached female idol group created by Fuji TV. The concept of the group was to watch as the girls grow as idols and experience various things. Idoling's main source of exposure was their TV show, which aired s ...

, Ayuse Kozue, and others. In 2009, after nine years of departed ways, Every Little Thing began working again with former band member Mitsuru Igarashi. Igarashi composed and produced several songs on the band's ninth album ''Change'', released in March 2010, including its three promotional singles: "Dream Goes On", "Tsumetai Ame" and the album title song. In July, 2011, the band released their 41st single "

Sora/Koe is the 42nd single of the Japanese pop group Every Little Thing, released on July 13, 2011. The single contains two songs: "Sora" and its B-side, "Koe". Both songs are used as the ending theme for the ''Pokémon is a Japanese media franch ...

". Both songs were used as theme songs of the 2011 ''Pokémon'' movie. On September 21, 2011, the band released their tenth album, ''Ordinary'', which debuted at number 2 on the Oricon charts. As of 2013 they are on tour promoting their On N On single which portrays a timeline of their current performance history. Concert information and dates available at Avex trex official site, https://web.archive.org/web/20121224083337/http://www.avexnet.or.jp/elt/live.html

Members

Current members

- vocalist, songwriter *

- guitarist, composer, arranger

Former member

- keyboardist, producer, songwriter (1996–2000)

Support members

* Genya Kuwajima - keyboardist (1996–2001) * Keiichi "K-1" Kodo - drummer (1996–2001) * Takeshi Asada - bassist (1996–2001) * Kaoru Kato - guitarist (1996–2007) * Tsunehiko Yashiro - keyboardist (2000–2001) * Masafumi "Massy" Hayashi - keyboardist (2001–2014) * Taka Yamaguchi - drummer (2001–2012) * Tanahashi "UNA" Nobuhito - band manipulation, live arrangement (2001–2004) * Satoshi "Anthony" Yamada - bassist (2002–2005) * Yasunari "Nam-Nam" Nakamura - band manipulation, live arrangement (2004–2011) * Naoki Kasahara - bassist (2005-current) * Tomoji Sogawa - band manipulation, live arrangement (2011–2014) * Koji Matsukawa - drummer (2013–2014) * Taisei Iwasaki - keyboardist, guitarist, live arrangement (2015-current) * Makoto Tanaka - keyboardist (2015-current) * Ken Higeshiro - drummer (2015-current) * Megumi Yamaguchi - Chorus (2015-current) * Fire Horns - Wind (2015-current)

Discography

*'' Everlasting'' (1997) *''

'' (1998) *''

'' (2000) *'' 4 Force'' (2001) *''

'' (2003) *'' Commonplace'' (2004) *'' Crispy Park'' (2006) *''

'' (2008) *''

Change Change, Changed or Changing may refer to the below. Other forms are listed at Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of t ...

'' (2010) *''

Ordinary Ordinary or The Ordinary often refer to: Music * ''Ordinary'' (EP) (2015), by South Korean group Beast * ''Ordinary'' (album) (2011), by Every Little Thing * "Ordinary" (Alex Warren song) (2025) * "Ordinary" (Two Door Cinema Club song) (2016 ...

'' (2011) *''

Fun-Fare ''Fun-Fare'' is the eleventh studio album by Japanese music duo Every Little Thing. It was released on February 19, 2014, by Avex Trax. Background This is the band's first album in two and a half years, and includes singles from "Landscape", w ...

'' (2014) *'' Tabitabi (2015)

Concerts and tours

*May 31, 1998 - August 4, 1998: Concert Tour'98 Time to Destination *April 1, 2000 - June 3, 2000: Concert Tour Spirit 2000 *May 19, 2001 - July 22, 2001: Concert Tour 2001 4 Force *December 30–31, 2001: Count Down Live 2001-2002 HORSE *December 19, 2002: 2002 Christmas Special Concert *May 10, 2003 - July 8, 2003: 2003 Tour Many Pieces *December 23–24, 2003: X'mas Acoustic Live 2003 *October 17, 2004 - April 8, 2005: Commonplace Tour 2004 - 2005 * *October 7, 2006 - January 25, 2007: Concert Tour 2006 - 2007 Crispy Park *March 6–7, 2007: Every Little Thing

10th Anniversary Special Live at Nippon Budokan ''10th Anniversary Live at Nippon Budokan'' is a live DVD by Japanese duo Every Little Thing, released on August 8, 2007, by Avex Trax. This footage was taken from the 2-day concert held at the Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply ...

*April 12, 2008 - June 15, 2008: Concert Tour 2008 Door *December 7–8&11, 2008: Every Little Thing X'mas Concert 2008 *December 23–24, 2009: Every Little Thing Premium Christmas Concert 2009 *October 22, 2009 - March 28, 2010: Concert Tour 2009 - 2010 Meet *December 7, 2010 - December 23, 2010: Premium Christmas Concert Tour 2010 *October 1, 2011 - April 1, 2012: Every Little Thing 15th Anniversary Concert Tour 2011 - 2012 "Ordinary" *February 18–19, 2012: Every Little Thing 15th Anniversary Premium 2 days ~naEverLasTing 2012~ *January 26, 2013 - June 15, 2013: Every Little Thing Concert Tour 2013 -On And On- *February 22, 2014 - July 6, 2014: Every Little Thing Concert Tour 2014 -Fun Fare- *October 17, 2015 - April 2, 2016: Every Little Thing 20th Anniversary Best Hit Tour 2015 - 2016 ~Tabitabi~

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Japanese musical duos Japanese pop music groups Japanese pop rock music groups Avex Trax artists Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups from Tokyo Female-fronted musical groups Male–female musical duos