Bon-Bon Blanco
Encyclopedia
Bon-Bon Blanco is a Japan
ese pop
group during 2002~2009. The origin of the name is Spanish
. The group used to belong to Columbia Music Entertainment
, but has moved to Bouncy Records
in 2006.
) as a vocalist and debuted at Bandai
display corner at the Tokyo Toy Show in May of the same year. Their unique style, 4 percussionists and 1 vocalist, attracted a lot of attention from media in Japan even before they debuted. With an average age of 14 at the time of debut, they were also gracing the cover of music magazines. In June of the same year, their official Website “B3 TV” was opened.
Kosuke Oshima (music). During July 24 to August 28, they performed weekly concerts at a live house named Harajuku Ruido. The low cost of the cover (500 yen including drinks, roughly 5 dollars USD), the completeness of the performance, as well as the word of mouth helped to fill the house consistently.
The quality of their music had been assured because one of Japanese major record labels, Being, has been supporting them since their debut. And as the members started to improve in terms of their percussion skills, their popularity also shot up. On December 26, they had a concert at Harajuku Ruido again, and this time the live house was sold out within the same day. The door of the live house wouldn't close due to the amount of audience.
During this period of time, a selection of songs were performed without instruments and was called "Dance Version". This was met with a decent amount of critics approval, labeling them as a dance unit. With the improved abilities of the members, the frequency of the "Dance Versions" of the songs decreased, and there have been fans that wish to bring some of the dancing back.
', and it became #8 at hit charts in Japan. And Bon-Bon Blanco's name finally was recognized by a lot of people. And with 7th single, 'Tenohira wo Taiyo ni', they visited a lot of elementary schools, including the school Anna graduated. This song is the 4th cover song of the group after 'Conga' from Miami Sound Machine and 'Come to me' from Bobby Caldwell
, And 'Ureshii Tanoshii Daisuki' from Dreams Come True, all of which are included in their 2nd album, 'B3 masterpieces 2002-2004'.
In 2007, the group started its activity from the concert held at Shibuya O-EAST on January 27. On February 21, they released their 11th single, '∞Changing∞. They had several free concerts in Akihabara from March to July. From July, they started monthly concert titled 'Onnna Matsuri'(女祭) at Shibuya O-West. On February 6, 2008, their first live DVD which includes this 'Onna Matsuri' was released.
Note: This song's lyrics is written by Saori Atsumi
.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
group during 2002~2009. The origin of the name is Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. The group used to belong to Columbia Music Entertainment
Columbia Music Entertainment
is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as . It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK Columbia trademarks in 1931. The company changed its name to Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. in 1946. It used the Nippon Columbia name until...
, but has moved to Bouncy Records
GIZA studio
is a Japanese record label....
in 2006.
Members
Its members are:- Anna SantosAnna (singer)Anna is a singer of the group Bon-Bon Blanco. She has five brothers and is the youngest sibling in the family. She uses Anna in her solo efforts, but she uses her real name when part of the band. She was born in Tokyo, Japan, but she has American citizenship.- External links :* *...
(サントス・アンナ Santosu Anna, born July 9, 1987) - Main Vocals - Izumi (中台泉美 Nakadai Izumi, born January 2, 1988) - CongaCongaThe conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
- MakoMAKOMAKO or is a Japanese female member of a band called Bon-Bon Blanco. Her main role is to play the maracas. She has also performed in a drama called Meido in Akihabara. She is affiliated with I'm Enterprise...
(桜井真子 Sakurai Mako, born October 7, 1986) - Maracas, ex-leader - Ruri (水谷光里 Mizutani Ruri, born January 7, 1990) - BongoBongo drumBongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
- Tomoyo (松本知世 Matsumoto Tomoyo, born March 2, 1987) - TimbalesTimbalesTimbales are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing, invented in Cuba. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and usually much higher tuned...
, current leader
Formation of the group
The group formed in 2002 with 4 members of a group named Nansho Kids: Mako Sakurai, Izumi Nakadai, Tomoyo Matsumoto, and Ruri Mizutani (sister of a famous actress, Yuri Mizutani) and added Santos Anna (who appeared in a Japanese version of AnnieAnnie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
) as a vocalist and debuted at Bandai
Bandai
is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...
display corner at the Tokyo Toy Show in May of the same year. Their unique style, 4 percussionists and 1 vocalist, attracted a lot of attention from media in Japan even before they debuted. With an average age of 14 at the time of debut, they were also gracing the cover of music magazines. In June of the same year, their official Website “B3 TV” was opened.
First single
On July 17, 2002, they released their first single “Ai want you!!”. The song was written by Paninaro 30 (lyric) and ex-WandsWands (band)
was a Japanese rock band formed in 1991 as a three-member group. The band, throughout nine years of activity, had two vocalists, guitarists and keyboardists. Show Wesugi , Hiroshi Shibasaki , Kousuke Oshima are the original member of the band. Shinya Kimura joined them after Oshima separate early...
Kosuke Oshima (music). During July 24 to August 28, they performed weekly concerts at a live house named Harajuku Ruido. The low cost of the cover (500 yen including drinks, roughly 5 dollars USD), the completeness of the performance, as well as the word of mouth helped to fill the house consistently.
The quality of their music had been assured because one of Japanese major record labels, Being, has been supporting them since their debut. And as the members started to improve in terms of their percussion skills, their popularity also shot up. On December 26, they had a concert at Harajuku Ruido again, and this time the live house was sold out within the same day. The door of the live house wouldn't close due to the amount of audience.
During this period of time, a selection of songs were performed without instruments and was called "Dance Version". This was met with a decent amount of critics approval, labeling them as a dance unit. With the improved abilities of the members, the frequency of the "Dance Versions" of the songs decreased, and there have been fans that wish to bring some of the dancing back.
Smashing Hit
The turning point had come in 2004. Their 6th single, 'Bon Voyage' was used as a theme of a famous animation program, 'One PieceOne Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
', and it became #8 at hit charts in Japan. And Bon-Bon Blanco's name finally was recognized by a lot of people. And with 7th single, 'Tenohira wo Taiyo ni', they visited a lot of elementary schools, including the school Anna graduated. This song is the 4th cover song of the group after 'Conga' from Miami Sound Machine and 'Come to me' from Bobby Caldwell
Bobby Caldwell
Bobby Caldwell is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who, despite a prolific musical output over his 30-year career, is still best known for his 1978 hit single "What You Won't Do for Love". While he has always maintained a devoted fan base in the United States, a legendary...
, And 'Ureshii Tanoshii Daisuki' from Dreams Come True, all of which are included in their 2nd album, 'B3 masterpieces 2002-2004'.
Rise and Fall
However, after the hit of 'Bon Voyage', the gap between the group aiming at and what fans require was widened graduately, and the sales of copies of each single descended along with that. And after they released 'Ai ga ippai' in 2005, although the group was sometimes guested to some concerts including a musical named 'Angel Gate', they had to take a factual leave continued for one and half years.Revival
On July 25, 2006, they had a concert at Shibuya Bpxx, and it was the beginning of their return. On August 30, they released 'Yura Yura Yureru', from a new record label set up by the producer of Bon-Bon Blanco, Bouncy Records.http://www.bouncyrecords.com/ This is the song they performed in Angel Gate. In this song, and they renewed the group's image changing their costumes from jeans and t-shirts to sexy bikinis. Anna challenged to rapping first time.In 2007, the group started its activity from the concert held at Shibuya O-EAST on January 27. On February 21, they released their 11th single, '∞Changing∞. They had several free concerts in Akihabara from March to July. From July, they started monthly concert titled 'Onnna Matsuri'(女祭) at Shibuya O-West. On February 6, 2008, their first live DVD which includes this 'Onna Matsuri' was released.
Present
On May 14, 2008, Izumi left the group, and other members announced that they will continue their activity as a quartet on their official web site.Singles
- 'Ai Want You!!' (7/17/2002)
- 'Datte, Onna no Ko Nandamon!' (9/11/2002)
- 'Ai no Nurse Carnival' (2/19/2003)
- 'Namida no Hurricane' (2/19/2003) (2nd ED song for the animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Get Backers). - 'Vacance no Koi' (6/4/2003)
- 'Bon Voyage!' (1/14/2004)(4th theme song for the anime series One PieceOne Pieceis a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
) - 'Te no Hira wo Taiyou ni' (7/14/2004)
- 'La La Kuchibue Fuite Ikou' (9/1/2004)
Note: This song's lyrics is written by Saori Atsumi
Saori Atsumi
is a Japanese singer. She is inactive as from September 2007 under her major label. Although her name is written in katakana, her birth name in kanji is ....
.
- 'Ai ga Ippai' (2/23/2005)
- 'Yura Yura Yureru' (8/30/2006)
- '∞Changing∞' (2/21/2007) (2nd ED song for the animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, also known as the WallflowerThe Wallflower (manga), a.k.a Perfect Girl Evolution, is a manga series written by Tomoko Hayakawa. The individual chapters have been serialized in Bessatsu Friend since its premiere in 2000, and in 27 tankōbon volumes in Japan by Kodansha...
)
Albums
- BEAT GOES ON (3/26/2003)
- B3 Master Pieces 2002-2004 (3/24/2004)
- Winter Greetings (12/15/2004)