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Yuko NakazawaSoloist and ex-member and ex-leader of J-Pop girl group Morning Musume, Yuko Nakazawa (中澤裕子) was born in June 19, 1973, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Yuko was one of five runner-ups in a 1997 talent contest for a new Japanese rock idol. After the contest, musician and producer Tsunku offered Yuko and the 4 other runner-ups (Natsumi Abe, Kaori Iida, Aya Ishiguro, and Asuka Fukuda) the chance to be taken under his wing on one condition: that they sell 50,000 CDs of their song "Ai no Tane" in 5 days. The quintet accomplished that task in 4 and, thus, the birth of Morning Musume in 1997 (and their first official single "Morning Coffee" released in 1998). The group has since been increasingly popular and is infamous for its fluctuation of memberships, with members "graduating" and joining frequently. Shortly after the formation of Morning Musume, Yuko began a solo career in 1998 -- starting out with songs in enka-style (traditional japanese folk) but gradually moving to pop, though often more slow, mature, and ballady than most songs in Hello! Project (the umbrella company which includes Morning Musume and other groups). Yuko is also a regular featured singer in Hello! Project's "Folk Songs" series, where Yuko and other Hello! Project groups/soloists sing covers of various folk songs. She was also placed in Akagumi 4 in Hello! Project's 2000 summer shuffles. In Morning Musume, Yuko mostly sings harmonies with a few solo lines. Being the oldest of the 1st generation of Morning Musume (she was 24 at the time of formation and nearly 28 upon her graduation), Yuko was made leader of the group until her graduation in Spring 2001, when Kaori Iida and Kei Yasuda took on the leadership role. In explaining her graduation, Yuko said she wanted to pursue other things by the time she was 30. At the time of graduation, she is 14 years older than the youngest member of the troupe (then 13-year-old Ai Kago). Since graduation Yuko has done some work in japanese dramas (such as "Beauty 7" and "Home Maker") and has continued in her solo singing career at a steady pace but with reasonable success. She still works closely with Morning Musume, and even now has been a regular guest of their weekly show "Hello! Morning". Nakazawa, Yuko
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