Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - Need for SPEED Thread -Part 1-

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...ED/tc01dm8.jpg
from left to right : Uehara Takako, Imai Eriko, Shimabukuro Hiroko, Arakaki Hitoe

SPEED are SHIMABUKURO HIROKO - IMAI ERIKO - UEHARA TAKAKO - ARAKAKI HITOE

SPEED is a famous and highly respected female Jpop group consisting of four members hailing from Okinawa Japan: Hiroko Shimabukuro, Eriko Imai, Takako Uehara, and Hitoe Arakaki. The girls all attended the Okinawa Actors School (OAS) which also counts Namie Amuro, MAX and Da Pump among its alumni members. With their 6 albums & 11 singles, they have sold over 19.28 million records. With their success and accomplishments, they paved the way for many other youthful female groups such as Folder 5, Morning Musume and Zone.

The four member girl's group SPEED, who broke up in March 2000 are getting back together. They will give a concert on Nihon TV's '24 hr TV 31: Love will Save the World' on the 30th.

The group has reunited for special causes twice, but it looks like this time the reunion will be permanent. Vocalist Eriko Imai (24) is also going public about her 3 year old son's hearing deficiency. She says happily, "I'm glad to be able to show my son our concert."

It's been 8 years since SPEED's shocking disbandment at the height of their popularity. The members, who debuted at the median age of 13.5, and went on to become legendary, becoming the music world's youngest record breakers in Japan's history. Now the girls have become women with a median age of 25.

The impetus for the reunion came from an idea by the producer of '24 hr TV'. The girls had acted as hosts for the show in 1999, where they met Yui Nojiri (21), who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, with whom they have remained in contact. Last year Yui turned 20, the age of majority in Japan, so the program staff came up with the idea of the four women appearing together on the show to meet her again. Since it would be the first time all four members have appeared together in quite a while, they decided to have a concert.

Imai, the only member with children, was the first to agree to the idea. She revealed that her son Raimu is hearing deficient, and said she had decided that, "My son can't hear his mother's voice, but I'd to give him songs as SPEED." The other three members shared her feelings.

The group will perform a 25 minute concert during the latter half of the show on the 31st, at Nihon Budokan. It will be a medley of their hit songs, including 'White Love'.

SPEED reunited for a single night in January of 2001, and in Fall of 2003 they reunited to give a tour in support of Save the Children. This will be their first concert in 5 years. But unlike those former limited reunions, this time it appears that the reunion will be permanent.

Imai had this to say regarding the band's plans to get back together: "We can only do this because we all want it. I'm sure it will make Raimu see that he's not alone. The other girls are so amazing: they're coming together to use everything we've got to help people understand about disabilities, and I know we can get through anything." At the concert, she will also speak in sign language, which she and Raimu have begun learning together since Spring.
credit to : oritsu_luv

live will be broadcast on NTV at around 4:00 (GMT+9) in the afternoon of August 31st.

There is currently a cellphone digital download promotion to commemorate SPEED's 12 year anniversary through RecoChoku. The downloads will be rolled out throughout August.

- 08.08.05: Body & Soul ~ Starting Over
- 08.08.13: Wake Me Up! ~ RISE
- 08.08.20: ALIVE ~ Long Way Home
- 08.08.27: Video clips: Body & Soul ~ Long Way Home

Singles
1996.08.05　**4　*,637,880　「Body & Soul C/w I remember」
1996.11.18　**2　1,278,660　「STEADY c/w HAPPY TOGETHER」
1997.03.26　**1　*,664,940　「Go! Go! HEAVEN c/w "oyasumi....."」
1997.08.06　**2　*,671,280　「Wake Me UP! c/w Nettaiya」
1997.10.15　**1　1,844,790　「WHITE LOVE c/w Namaiki」
1998.02.18　**1　1,474,700　「my graduation c/w Brand New Weekend」
1998.07.01　**1　*,965,000　「ALIVE c/w Up to you」
1998.10.28　**1　1,221,090　「ALL MY TRUE LOVE c/w Tsumetaku shinai de [Eriko with Crunch]; Mitsumeteitai [hiro]」
1999.02.17　**2　*,622,580　「Precious Time」c/w Kisetsu ga Iku Toki
1999.05.19　**2　*,582,040　「Breakin' out to the morning c/w Adam & Eve; EVERYDAY, BE WITH YOU [Eriko with Crunch]」
1999.11.03　**2　*,613,360　「Long Way Home c/w Naite mo Ii yo; Confusion」
2001.12.12　**5　*,136,310　「One More Dream」
2003.08.27　**2　*,126,147　「Be My Love c/w Shuka」.
2003.11.27　*11　*,*29,378　「Walking in the rain/Stars to shine again」
2008.11.12 **3 *,*75,223 Ashita No Sora
2009.05.27 **? *,***,*** S.P.D

Albums

1997.05.21　**1　1,925,500　「Starting Over」
1998.04.29　**1　2,048,270　「RISE」
1998.12.16　**1　2,318,970　「MOMENT」
1999.12.22　**1　*,884,980　「Carry On my way」
2000.03.29　**4　*,505,610　「Dear Friends 1」
2000.03.29　**3　*,522,470　「Dear Friends 2」
2001.12.19　**7　*,*83,590　「SPEED MEMORIAL LIVE “One More Dream”+ Remix!!!」
2003.11.27　**9　*,*98,242　「BRIDGE」
2004.02.11　*15　*,*19,264　「BEST HITS LIVE 〜Save The Children SPEED LIVE 2003〜」 * movie soundtrack
** best compilation
*** live album

Videos

97.11.19 - SPEED First Live ~Starting Over from ODAIBA~
98.03.18 - SPEED VIDEO CLIPS "SPEED SPIRITS I"
98.12.21 - Andromedia & Prologue *
99.01.20 - SPEED TOUR RISE IN TOKYO DOME
00.03.01 - SPEED FINAL DOME TOUR REAL LIFE
00.09.27 - SPEED VIDEO CLIPS "SPEED SPIRITS II"
00.12.20 - SPEED VIDEO CLIPS "SPEED SPIRITS COMPLETE"
03.12.25 - Save the Children SPEED LIVE 2003

* movie

Books

97.04.25 - SPEED
98.06.27 - SPEED in Andromedia
98.11.01 - SPEED YES, LOVE! make a rising
00.01.21 - SPEED RUNS, Our Graduation
00.02.14 - Hai! SPEED de Ikou!
00.02.15 - SPEED Spirits 1335days
00.03.25 - LEGEND of SPEED-BEST MEMORIAL BOOK 1995-2000
04.01.09 - BRIDGE

SPEED Official Site and Vision Factory
SPEED forum

MEMBERS

Shimabukuro Hiroko
http://www.asiafinest.com/japanese/gif/hiro.jpg
Birthdate: 84.04.07 Okinawa, Japan
Official Site

-Single-
1999.08.18　**2　812,020　「AS TIME GOES BY」
2000.02.16　**2　427,720　「Bright Daylight」
2000.10.25　**2　602,390　「Treasure」
2001.08.01　**3　227,970　「Your innocence」
2001.11.21　**3　172,180　「Confession」
2002.04.17　**3　103,750　「love you」
2002.06.05　**2　*85,430　「Eternal Place」
2002.07.17　**8　*37,600　「Notice my mind」
2003.02.26　**9　*38,056　「Baby don't cry」
2003.07.24　*12　*29,546　「愛が泣いてる」
2004.09.23　*12　*28,954　「光の中で」
2005.08.03　*18　*20,358　「clover」
2006.02.01　*40　**6,644　「ヒーロー☆」
2006.08.23　*18　*20,377　「いつか二人で/I will take you」
-Album-
2001.01.31　**2　429,520　「BRILLIANT」
2002.08.07　**2　235,970　「Naked and True」
2006.02.01　*26　**9,250　「寛スペシャル・ボックス」
2006.02.01　**7　*43,677　「寛シングル・コレクション」

Coco d'Or
-Album-
2004.08.04　*13　*49,306　「Coco d'Or」
2005.01.01　*50　*10,803　「Coco d'Or Parfait」
2006.07.26　*20　*18,418　「Coco d'Or 2」

Imai Eriko
http://www.asiafinest.com/japanese/gif/erikoimai.jpg
Birthdate: 83.09.22 Tomigusuku, Okinawa,
Official Site

Eriko with Crunch
-Single-
2000.03.15　**3　245,940　「Red Beat of My Life」
2000.08.02　**3　189,540　「Luv is Magic」

今井絵理子 (Imai Eriko)
-Single-
2000.11.22　**3　136,840　「in the Name of Love」
2001.03.07　**6　*92,830　「identity」
2001.06.06　**8　*51,300　「Set My Free!」
2002.01.23　*11　*38,240　「Don't stop the music」
2002.07.10　*15　*20,290　「Our Relation」
2003.07.02　*15　**9,233　「Butterfly」
-Album-
2001.07.18　**7　*93,780　「My Place」
2004.11.25　*49　**6,677　「Single Collection ～Stairway～」

elly
-Album-
2006.09.27　165　**1,200　「Neverland」

Uehara Takako
http://www.asiafinest.com/japanese/gif/takako.jpg
Birthdate: 83.01.14 Tomigusuku, Okinawa, Japan
Official Site

上原多香子 (Uehara Takako)
-Single-
1999.03.25　**1　530,570　「my first love」
1999.09.29　**3　217,330　「Come close to me」
2000.04.19　**4　125,150　「my greatest memories」
2001.04.18　*17　*30,140　「SWEET DREAMS」
2002.03.13　*15　*33,270　「kiss you 情熱」
2002.05.22　*15　*27,900　「GLORY -君がいるから-」
2002.09.19　*16　*13,870　「Air」
2003.03.12　*29　*11,336　「Make-up Shadow」
2004.02.25　*33　*14,265　「ブルー・ライト・ヨコハマ」
2004.10.20　*35　**7,984　「Galaxy Legend/Ladybug」
-Album-
2000.07.26　**7　*89,190　「first wing」
2003.03.26　*43　*14,419　「pupa」
2007.03.14　*71　**4,772　「depart ～takako uehara single collection～」

Arakaki Hitoe
http://www.asiafinest.com/japanese/gif/hitoe.jpg
Birthdate: 81.04.07 Okinawa, Japan
Official Site

HITOE'S 57 MOVE
-Single-
1999.06.30　**2　225,470　「INORI」

仁絵
-Single-
2002.12.18　*70　**1,888　「I Got You」
2003.02.05　135　***,843　「I'll Do It My Way」
-Album-
2002.12.18　*85　**6,753　「I'll Do It My Way」

NEW SINGLE
Ashita No Sora
2008/11/05

Catalog No.: AVCD-16166
Label/Distributor: avex trax
Format: CD
Number of discs (or other units): 2
Release Date: 2008/11/05
Price: 1714yen (1800yen Tax incl.)
[US$ 15.87]

Description
The First single from SPEED after their reunited includes theme song of a TV series. The song is written by Hiromasa Ijichi. Also includes bonus DVD with music video and behind-the-scenes footage. *Unless otherwise indicated, DVDs are region-2 encoded (Japan, Europe, and Middle East), and carry no subtitles.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=AVCD-16166

Ashita no Sora

Catalog No.: AVCD-16167
Label/Distributor: avex trax
Format: CD
Number of discs (or other units): 1
Release Date: 2008/11/05
Price: 1000yen (1050yen Tax incl.)
[US$ 9.26]

Description
The First single from SPEED after their reunited includes theme song of a TV series. The song is written by Hiromasa Ijichi.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=AVCD-16167