BerryZ Koubou

Berryz Koubou (Berryz Workshop) is a Japanese pop group within the Hello! Project unit with 7 members, formed in 2004 by producer and musician Tsunku. The group originally started with 8 Hello! Project Kids, but Maiha Ishimura left the group in October 2005. Their ages range from 17 to 19 of which Risako Sugaya is the youngest and Saki Shimizu the oldest member. To date Berryz Koubou have released six albums, plus two mini-albums, one best album and 25 singles. They also did 4 stage plays: Gekiharo 1, 3, 5 and 7. Besides, five members have taken the leading roles in some movies that featured Hello! Project members. Berryz Koubou were in the group of Hello! Project members who featured the Volleyball World Championship in Japan in 2006. On April 1, 2007, Berryz Koubou held a concert at Saitama Super Arena, becoming the youngest female group ever to perform there. On December 31, 2007, Berryz Koubou performed for the first time at NHK network’s 58th Kouhaku Uta Gassen, along with °C-ute and Morning Musume. On October 4, 2008, Berryz Koubou won Best New Artist Award at Asian Song Festival in Korea. On March 3, 2009 the group celebrated their 5th anniversary. Also in 2009 during their “Berryz Kobo Concert Tour 2009 Haru ~Sono Subete no Ai ni~” the group also celebrated their 100 concert tour date. In April 2011, Berryz koubou is set to perform at Sakura-Con 2011, an anime convention in Seattle, Washington, USA. This will be the first performance by Berryz Kobo in the United States of America.