This girl group was a former rival to Zone during the girl-band boom, but finally called it quits after six years.
Biography
(Translated from whiteberry.com)Hokkaido, Kitami city. Placed here in Doutou prefecture, Bakka (currently going out of style completely) and Tamanegi having no fame, are in an unusually run-of-the mill town. Still, this year the highest temperature was above 30C (86F), the lowest reached -30C (-22F), and the denizens said "what the heck?" to this difference of more than 60C.
In 1994, Whiteberry was formed here in Kitami. At the time, the band's name was Strawberry Kids. The members were 3rd and 4th graders in elementary school. The band started when Aya, a first-grader, picked up guitar due to her father's influence, and her mother began to put up flyers to recruit band members at the children's clothing store that she managed. The members changed many times until it became the band we know today.
When they were in elementary school, they announced their performance at a festival in the heart of Kitami. After their debut, since they hadn't performed for a while, they had a few shows again in Kitami in July 2000 and then in Sapporo in September. The band is still going back and forth to school in Kitami. In 1997, they were introduced on Nippon Television “Toukou Tokuhou Oukoku”, giving them them chance to get a contract with Sony Records. On August 4th, 1999, they debuted with the EP “after school”. This continued with the first single “YUKI”, a smash hit, garning lots of attention. Later, on August 9, 2000, they released their third single “Natsumatsuri”, a big hit! The highest ranking on the Oricon charts was at 3rd, and their first album “(hatsu)” started out 3rd on the charts. Still staying at 3rd on the charts (in 2000-01) they are the youngest band to enter and innovate.
(gathered from various sources)
Whiteberry went on for a second album, “Chameleon”. While it was considered a better but darker work, sales were not as high and the album suffered. The band released a singles trio of cover songs and went on hiatus afterwards. The band came back for a fourth single, “Shinjiru chikara” for the Gundam soundtrack and parted ways after releasing a “Best-of” album.