NEWS
NEWS (acronym for "North East West South") is a Japanese boy band consisting of Keiichiro Koyama, Takahisa Masuda and Shigeaki Kato. Formed in 2003 by Johnny Kitagawa as a nine-member group under the label Johnny's Entertainment, NEWS released a promotional single "NEWS Nippon" (News ニッポン; News Japan), which was used for the World Cup of Volleyball Championships. In 2004, Takahiro Moriuchi (present-day Taka of One Ok Rock) left the group and the remaining eight members released their debut single, "Kibō: Yell" (希望 ~Yell~; Hope ~Yell~), which debuted atop the Oricon charts.
In 2006, the group released their fifth consecutive number-one single, "Sayaendō/Hadashi no Cinderella Boy" (サヤエンドウ/裸足のシンデレラボーイ, Sayaendō/Hadashi no Shinderera Bōi; Peas/Barefoot Cinderella Boy), as a six-member group due to the controversy surrounding then-members Hiroki Uchi and Hironori Kusano. After a brief hiatus, they released their seventh number-one single, "Hoshi o Mezashite" (星をめざして; lit. Aim for the Stars). In 2008, they performed at the Tokyo Dome for the first time, and released their tenth single, "Happy Birthday", which made NEWS the second Japanese group after label-mates KinKi Kids to have ten consecutive number-one singles since their debut. NEWS became a quartet following the departures of Ryo Nishikido and Tomohisa Yamashita from the group in 2011. NEWS became a trio following the departure of Yuya Tegoshi in 2020.
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