Yuko Nakazawa 中澤 裕子 | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Yū-chan |
| Born | June 19, 1973 |
| Occupation(s) | |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | Hello! Project.com |
Yuko Nakazawa (中澤 裕子, Nakazawa Yūko, born June 19, 1973) is a Japanese pop and enka singer, and actress, best known as one of the original members of the all-female J-pop group Morning Musume. She is also a member of Japanese pop group Dream Morning Musume.
Yuko Nakazawa was born in Kyoto Prefecture. She was one of five runners-up in a 1997 talent contest for a new Japanese pop idol. After the contest, musician and producer Tsunku offered Nakazawa and the four other runners-up (Natsumi Abe, Kaori Iida, Aya Ishiguro, and Asuka Fukuda) the chance to be taken under his wing under one condition: they must sell 50,000 CDs of their debut song "Ai no Tane" with five days of live promotion. The quintet accomplished that task in four and thus Morning Musume was born. The group has since grown increasingly popular, it maintains a "school-like" system for their continuous line-up changes, with older members "graduating" and new, usually younger, members selected from nationwide auditions admitted to the group almost annually.
In 1998, shortly after Morning Musume's formation, Nakazawa began a solo career, beginning with enka styled songs. She gradually moved to a more pop sound, but has recently gone back to enka with her eleventh single, "Urara." Her solo work has allowed her voice to shine in a way it rarely did in Morning Musume, as she mostly sung harmonies with only a few solo lines.
Nakazawa has been a regular featured singer on Hello! Project's "Folk Songs" series. She was also placed in Akagumi 4 in Hello! Project's 2000 summer shuffles and Puripuri Pink in Hello!Project's 2005 summer shuffles, as well as participating in H.P. All Stars along with most of the rest of Hello!Project in 2004.
Being the oldest of the 1st generation of Morning Musume—she was 24 at the time of formation and nearly 28 upon leaving the group—Nakazawa held the role of the group's leader until her graduation on April 15, 2001. She has cited her reasons for leaving as being her age (she was 14 years older than the youngest member of the troupe, then 13-year-old Ai Kago, at the time of her departure) and her desire to pursue other things by the time she was 30.
Since then, Nakazawa has done some work in Japanese dramas such as Beauty 7 and Home Maker, performed in various plays, and continued in her solo singing career at a steady pace with reasonable success. She worked closely with Morning Musume and hosted their weekly show Hello! Morning (first regularly, then occasionally), until its end in early 2007.
It was announced on October 19, 2008, by Hello! Project that Nakazawa, along with the rest of Elder Club will graduate from Hello! Project on March 31, 2009.[1] On February 1, 2009, during the "Hello Pro Award '09 ~Elder Club Sotsugyō Kinen Special~" concert held at Yokohama Arena, Nakazawa passed on her leadership position in Hello! Project to Ai Takahashi of Morning Musume.[2]
In 2010, it was announced Yuko Nakazawa will be joining the new group, "Dream Morning Musume" alongside other former-Morning Musume members.
In March 2012, it was announced that Nakazawa had married an information technology company president one year her senior in a private ceremony.[3] They have two little boys.
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For releases as a member of Morning Musume, see Morning Musume discography. |
| # | Title | Release date | Peak rank | Short description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio albums | ||||
| 1 | Nakazawa Yūko Dai Isshō (中澤ゆうこ 第一章) |
December 12, 1998 | #59 |
|
| 2 | Dai Nisshō ~Tsuyogari~ (第二章～強がり～) |
July 22, 2004 | #31 |
|
| Folk Songs Series | ||||
| 1 | Folk Songs | November 29, 2001 | #9 |
|
| 2 | Folk Songs 2 | May 22, 2002 | #20 |
|
| 3 | FS3 Folk Songs 3 | October 23, 2002 | #17 |
|
| 4 | FS4 Folk Songs 4 | May 21, 2003 | #25 |
|
| 5 | FS5 ~Sotsugyō~ (FS5～卒業～) | February 25, 2004 | #36 |
|
| Other albums | ||||
| – | Guilty Pleasures 3[4] (Scott Murphy) |
December 3, 2008 | #20 |
|
| – | Legend[5] | December 10, 2008 | #182 |
|
| # | Title | Release date | Peak rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Karasu no Nyōbō" (カラスの女房) | October 5, 1998 | #19 |
| 2 | "Odaiba Moonlight Serenade" (お台場ムーンライトセレナーデ) | December 2, 1998 | #29 |
| 3 | "Junjō Kōshinkyoku" (純情行進曲) | June 9, 1999 | #24 |
| 4 | "Shanghai no Kaze" (上海の風) | July 12, 2000 | #18 |
| 5 | "Kuyashi Namida Porori" (悔し涙ぽろり) | February 15, 2001 | #13 |
| 6 | "Futari Gurashi" (二人暮し) | August 1, 2001 | #13 |
| 7 | "Tokyo Bijin" (東京美人) | August 28, 2002 | #14 |
| 8 | "Get Along with You" | May 21, 2003 | #30 |
| 9 | "Genki no nai Hi Komoriuta / Nagaragawa no Hare" (元気のない日の子守唄／長良川の晴れ) |
February 11, 2004 | #42 |
| 10 | "Do My Best" | May 26, 2004 | #52 |
| 11 | "Urara" (うらら) | September 27, 2006 | #32 |
| 12 | "Danna-sama" (だんな様) | October 10, 2007 | #57 |
| # | Title | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Folk Days ~Ichii Sayaka with Nakazawa Yuko~ (Folk Days～市井紗耶香with中澤裕子～) | February 28, 2002 |
| 2 | Nakazawa Yuko Singles M Collection 1 (中澤裕子シングルMクリップス①) | November 27, 2002 |
| 3 | Shishi wa Mini ga Osuki ~At Studio Dream Maker~ (紳士はミニがお好き！～At Studio Dream Maker～) | January 22, 2003 |
| 4 | FS3 Live | February 26, 2003 |
| Title | Start date | End date | TV station |
| Beauty 7 (ビューティ7) | 2001–07 | 2001–09 | Nippon Television |
| Mukai Arata no Dōbutsu Nikki ~Aiken Rossinante no Sainan~ (向井荒太の動物日記～愛犬ロシナンテの災難～) |
2001-01 | 2001–03 | Nippon Television |
| Ginza no Koi (ギンザの恋) | 2002-01 | 2002–03 | Nippon Television |
| Gokusen (ごくせん) | 2002–04 | 2002–06 | Nippon Television |
| Densetsu no Madame (伝説のマダム) | 2003 | Nippon Television | |
| Kochira Hon Ikegami Sho (こちら本池上署) | 2004-01 | 2004-03 | TBS |
| 2004–10 | 2004–12 | ||
| 2005–06 | 2005–09 | ||
| Home Maker (ほーむめーかー) | 2004-04 | 2004–06 | TBS |
| Getsuyou Golden (月曜ゴールデン) | 2007-04-23 | TBS | |
| Title | Start date | End date | TV station |
| Hello! Morning (ハロー!モーニング。) | 2000–03 | 2007–03 | TV Tokyo |
| Idol wo Sagase! (アイドルをさがせ!) | 1999-01-05 | 1999-12-28 | TV Tokyo |
| 2001–04 | 2002-03-26 | ||
| M no Mokushiroku (Mの黙示録) | 2001-10-07 | 2004-09-28 | TV Asahi |
| Hello Land (ハローランド) | — | Fuji Television | |
| NHK Junior Special (NHKジュニアスペシャル) | — | NHK | |
| Osaka Hatsu Genki Dash! Doyah (大阪発元気ダッシュ!Doyah) | 2001 | 2005-02-12 | NHK |
| Cchu~Nen (っちゅ～ねん!) | 2005-04 | 2006-03 | Mainichi Broadcasting System |
| Chichin Puipui (ちちんぷいぷい) | 2006-04-11 | 2006-09-26 | Mainichi Broadcasting System |
| Morita Kazuyoshi Hour: Waratte Ii to mo (森田一義アワー 笑っていいとも!) | 2001–10 | 2003-03 | Fuji Television |
| 2005-01-18 | 2006-07-03 | ||
| Title | Release | Character | Company |
| Mini Moni ja Movie: Okashi na Daibōken! (ミニモニ。じゃムービーおかしな大冒険) |
14 December 2002 | Fairy Queen | Toei Company |
| Tetsujin 28-go (鉄人28号) | 19 March 2005 | Ejima Kana (江島香奈) | Shochiku |
| Title | Release date | Produced by | ISBN |
| Feather | 2001–08 | Wani Books | ISBN 4-8470-2671-3 |
| Watashi ga Omou, Konna Onna (私が思う、こんな女) | 2001–11 | Wani Books | ISBN 4-8470-2739-6 |
