j-pop lover

profile

Every little thing, a duo turned trio turned duo, began life as a keyboard based pop music band. Over the past 10 years, and after the departure of founder and keyboardist Igarashi Mitsuru, the band has evolved in to a softer pop style, and has even released an all acoustic album.

biography

Every Little Thing was formed in 1996 by Avex composer and producer Igarashi Mitsuru.

Igarashi?s original vision was to start a duo with a female vocalist and himself on keyboards. He set his eye on Mochida Kaori (formerly of The Kuro Buta All-Stars, a Morning Musume style group), and decided he would work with her.

Mochida was still in school at the time, so Igarashi waited till after she graduated to sign her. He then enlisted the help of friend and guitarist Itou Ichiro in recording ELT?s first single, Feel my heart. The single did so well, and the band?s future looked so promising, that Itou decided to join as a permanent member.

The band?s first studio album, Everlasting, was released in April of 1997 and sold a whopping 2 million copies.

The band continued to climb the charts with each successive release, and in June of 1997 with the release of their 4th single, For the moment, they finally reached number one on the Oricon charts.

1998 saw the release of the band?s best selling album to date, Time to Destination, which sold 4 million copies. Also released in ?98 was their best selling single to date, Time goes by.

In 2000, after 3 albums and growing success, Igarashi decided to leave Every Little Thing to continue with his work as a producer. Igarashi?s final work with the band was on the single Sure. The band was then left as the duo it was originally intended to be.

ELT?s future directly following Igarashi?s departure seemed bright, with the release of such hits as fragile in 2001, which sold more than 800,000 copies. But album sales after this began to decline. 2004?s commonplace sold only 313,000 copies, though the band?s best of and remix albums continued to sell well.

After Igarashi?s departure, ELT?s musical direction changed, and they began to release albums with softer, more ballad like music, and even acoustic work. 2005 marked the release of their first all acoustic album, LATTE.

2006 saw the opening of the band?s special 10th anniversary website, which continues to be updated with clips from ELT?s past, and highlights of each year the band has been together.

2006 also brought a a new album, Crispy Park, and a tour to support it, which continued in to 2007. The band will appear at the Avex annual event A-Nation in July of ?07.

The years following Igarashi?s departure may have been marked by poor album sales, and declining popularity, but it seems ELT has once again found their stride, and their spot at #1 on the Oricon charts.

Pop duo Every Little Thing have announced the release of a big, complete best-of album, called Every Best Single～COMPLETE～, for December 23rd.

The collection will include all of the duo's singles, from their debut Feel My Heart in 1996 to their newest single Tsumetai ame, plus other hit songs, for a total of 49 tracks over four discs. As a 50th and bonus track, a remake of Time goes by, by Kj from Dragon Ash, will also be included on the album under the title Time goes by ～as time goes by.

The limited edition will come with two DVDs including 38 music videos, plus a special video called Behind The "MEET" volume 00. A third version of the best-of album, featuring songs requested by fans, will also go on sale on the same day, featuring 30 songs in chronological order.