All About Kaori Iida

Kaori Iida is a pop music singer from Japan who is best known for being a member of the popular female music group Morning Musume. She was in the same generation of members as Yuko Nakazawa, Asuka Fukuda, Aya Ishiguro, and Natsumi Abe. Iida was born on August 8, 1981, just two days before Natsumi Abe was born. 

In July 2007, it was made public that Iida was 10 months pregnant with her first child and that she was set to marry a man by the name of Kenji. It was then revealed that the marriage was registered the next day, July 7. Of course, that announcement was not made public until later that month. Iida then went on maternity leave and the name of her son was never made public so we don’t know what his name was. 

Like many celebrities, Iida would experience tragedy in the midst of her success. On November 28, 2008, it was made public that her 6-month-old son had passed away due to chronic renal (kidney) failure on July 27, 2008. Kaori’s agency said that her son had been hospitalized after his birth because of serious renal problems.

Discussions between Up-Front Agency and Iida resumed and it was agreed upon that she would return to resume her work when she was ready. The death of her son would not stop Iida from doing what she loved. She would make her return in January 2009, performing on stage. She would then announce her departure from Hello! Project, a label which has many different musical groups or units under its wing. Kaori Iida is now part of the group Morning Musume OG, a group that consists of members that have either graduated from Morning Musume or left it due to being involved in scandals. 

Kaori Iida has released five albums and two singles as a solo artist. But she has also been involved in many sub-units including Tanpopo from 1998 until 2002, H.P. All Stars, and Morning Musume Otomegumi.  Kaori Iida spent a total of 2,702 days in Morning Musume and she had the longest tenure of any of the first-generation members. When she left the group on January 30, 2005, Ai Takahashi and Risa Niigaki were still members in Morning Musume. Iida first attended Hokkaido Sapporo Tousei High School and then later she transferred to Tokyo Municipal Yoyogi High School where she was in the same graduating class as Japanese celebrity Takako Uehara. It would be in October 2013 that she would be transferred to the agency called UP-FRONT CREATE. More recently on July 20, 2016 she released her 5^th solo album called ONDAS. It was her first release in more than a decade.

Interesting Facts About Kaori Iida (Note: not every single fact will be included here).

• After she left Morning Musume, Iida cut her hair short but she has since grown it out again. The long hair was said to be part of her image.
• Kaori Iida is known for having frequent blank expressions and this has led many fans to believe that she has to be communicating with aliens.
• One very interesting fact to mention is that she shares the same birthday with now former tennis player Roger Federer. 
• Before Iida joined Morning Musume, she appeared in a battery commercial in Sapporo. Iida is also the person that came up with the nickname of “Ayaya” for beautiful pop music singer Aya Matsuura.
• Kaori Iida once said in an interview that one of her dreams was to become a happy mother.
• Iida was also a contestant on the fourth season of the show Shall We Dance? This is the Japanese version of the famous reality TV dance contest Dancing With the Stars. Iida is also really skilled at playing the acoustic guitar. In addition to being a singer, Kaori Iida has also written two children’s books.
• When Kaori is not busy singing or recording, she enjoys to draw and to cook. She enjoys eating oysters, scallions, and cream bread.
• She loves roses and tulips.
• Her favorite season is summer, a season in which most of Japan is hot and humid. Kaori Iida’s favorite words are love and peace. 
• Kaori Iida is one of at least 6 former Morning Musume members to still be married, joining Yuko Nakazawa, Aya Ishiguro, Sayaka Ichii, Kei Yasuda, and Miki Fujimoto.