AAA

AAA (read as “Triple A”―often speculated to stand for "Attack All Around") was born in 2005 as a manufactured six-piece band, comprised of band leader Naoya Urata, Takahiro Nishijima, Mitsuhiro Hidaka, Shinjiro Atae, Shuta Sueyoshi and sole female member Misako Uno. Two more women, Yukari Goto and Chiaki Ito, would join soon after, just in time to participate in the group's first release.

Each of the eight members is incredibly talented and experienced, not only in the musical field, but also in several other professions. A few of the members are even studying at prestigious universities in Japan.

AAA debuted in 2005 with the single Blood on Fire, the theme song for the live-action film "Initial D The Movie", an adaptation of the popular Japanese manga of the same name. Their first year proved to be extremely successful. By the end of the year―after releasing four singles and debut album Attack―they were the recipients of the Best New Artist of the Year Award at the 47th Japan Record Awards, the annual Japanese music industry’s pop music awards, despite failing to place in the upper reaches of the charts.

Various well-known composers and lyric writers contributed to their first album, Attack, among them writers and producers who had previously worked with SMAP and Da Pump. Rapper Motsu of m.o.v.e. (also signed to the Avex label) contributed to the album by writing lyrics for a song.

A remix album, Remix Attack, followed in the summer of 2006 before a busy period at the end of the year. Early 2007 saw the release of AAA's second album, All, and a performance at the 14,000-capacity Budokan venue in Tokyo, as well as the release of another album, the 10-track Challenge Cover Collection, which saw the likes of TRF and Godiego get the covers treatment. The group also contributed the opening song to the live-action series "Kamen Rider Den-O," and for this occasion they changed their name to AAA DEN-O form.

In June 2007 one of the female members, Yukari Goto, left the band due to health concerns. In the previous year she had already been reported ill and took a short break from the band, but it seemed that her illness took a turn for the worse, and her increasing need for rest led to her departure of the band.

Soon after, AAA performed overseas for the first time at the anime convention Otakon in the United States, spreading their fame even further. Almost immediately after returning to Japan, the group joined various other popular artists at Avex’s a-nation event tour. September brought the simultaneous release of their third album AROUND, which compiled their previous singles and brought in a number of new tracks, including their sixteenth single Red Soul. In December, the five male members of AAA released a special download-only single that was only available for a limited time. Also, the mini-album Choice is yours features only the male members of the band, and occasionally the five members do live events as well.

Their stream of releases continued to flow freely in 2008, as three singles, two live DVDs, a mini-album and best-of album ATTACK ALL AROUND were put on the market.

The beginning of 2009 brought the single Tabidachi no uta, already their 20th single in their fourth year of existence. Soon, their fourth album depArture was released and was promoted by the group with a number of release events and a concert which got a DVD release as well.

In 2010 an album and four singles were released, including the double A-side Aitai Riyu / Dream After Dream that reached the first place in the Oricon charts, the group's second single to achieve such a thing. Already in 2011 four singles and two albums were released, one of them being a best-of, titled #AAABEST. This was the first album of the group to hit the top of the Oricon charts. In the following year AAA took part in the prestigious Japanese New Year's Eve TV show Kouhaku Utagassen and performed the song 777  ～We can sing a song!～, which received the Outstanding Work Award from the Japan Record Awards that year. Their first compilation containing only ballads, Ballad Collection, was released in 2013.