Sugar Soul
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese three member soul and rhythm and blues
group who debuted in 1997. The members featured DJ Hasebe (programming), Aiko Machida (vocals) and Kawabe (composer). The band achieved success with the single "Garden" in 1999, which featured Kenji Furuya of Dragon Ash
. The band was seen as one of the prominent new R&B-style musicians in Japan in the late 1990s.
In 2001, the band went on a permanent hiatus after the release of the single "Soulmate." Vocalist Aiko went on to become the vocalist of drum and bass
band Kam in 2010.
Kumi Koda
covered the Sugar Soul song "Ima Sugu Hoshii" in 2006, and in 2009 May J.
covered "Garden."
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
group who debuted in 1997. The members featured DJ Hasebe (programming), Aiko Machida (vocals) and Kawabe (composer). The band achieved success with the single "Garden" in 1999, which featured Kenji Furuya of Dragon Ash
Dragon Ash
are a Japanese Rap metal group founded in 1996 by Furuya "Kj" Kenji and Sakurai Makoto. They are an icon in Japan and were one of the first groups to popularize hip hop in Japan. They brought a western flavor to Japanese music and helped to turn rap music mainstream, with a mixture of reggae, rap,...
. The band was seen as one of the prominent new R&B-style musicians in Japan in the late 1990s.
In 2001, the band went on a permanent hiatus after the release of the single "Soulmate." Vocalist Aiko went on to become the vocalist of drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
band Kam in 2010.
Kumi Koda
Kumi Koda
, better known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer and songwriter from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs. Having debuted in 2000 with the single "Take Back", Koda gained fame for her seventh single, "Real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba", the songs of which were used as themes for the video game...
covered the Sugar Soul song "Ima Sugu Hoshii" in 2006, and in 2009 May J.
May J.
, better known by her stage name May J., is a R&B and pop singer from Yokohama, Japan. Born to a mother of Iranian descent and to Japanese father, May J. made her major label debut under Sony Music Japan on July 12, 2006 with her first mini-album All My Girls.-Early life:May J. was born on June...
covered "Garden."
Original albums
| Year | Album Information | Oricon Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... Albums Charts |
Reported sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | On
|
10 | 139,000 |
| 2000 |
|
3 | 340,000 |
Other albums
| Year | Album Information | Oricon Albums Charts |
Reported sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Sugar Soul Live: Balance
|
12 | 44,000 |
| 2002 | Soul Jam
|
97 | 3,000 |
Soul Mix
|
— | — | |
| 2003 | Sugar Soul
|
20 | 24,000 |
Singles
| Release | Title | Notes | Oricon singles charts |
Oricon sales |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | "Those Days" | Re-released in 1999, sales pertain to re-release | 34 | 30,000 | — |
| 1998 | align="left"| | Debut single under Warner | 75 | 11,000 | On |
| "Sauce" | Produced by Shinichi Osawa | 51 | 33,000 | ||
| 1999 | Produced by Hirofumi Asamoto | 50 | 13,000 | ||
| "Garden" feat. Kenji | 2 | 923,000 | Uzu | ||
| "Siva 1999" feat. Zeebra Zeebra , real name , is a Japanese hip hop artist, who made his first appearance in 1995. Zeebra is a former member of the hip-hop group King Giddra, which also included DJ Oasis and K Dub Shine, and the older brother of fellow hip-hop artist SPHERE of INFLUENCE... |
10 | 152,000 | |||
| 2000 | "Respectyourself" | 15 | 76,000 | ||
| align="left"| | 79 | 2,600 | |||
| 2001 | "Soulmate" | Final release as a band | 46 | 7,000 | — |