Sugar Soul

Sugar Soul
Origin	Japan
Years active	1996–2001
Labels	Flava Records (1997) Warner Music Japan (1998—2001)
Associated acts	Hirofumi Asamoto, Dragon Ash, Shinichi Osawa, Zeebra
Website	www.wmg.jp/artist/sugarsoul
Past members	Aiko, DJ Hasebe, Kawabe

Sugar Soul (シュガー・ソウル Shugā So'uru) was a Japanese three-member R&B group who first formed in 1996. They soon made their debut in January 1997 on the Flava Records label. The members featured DJ Hasebe (programming), Aiko Machida (vocals) and Kawabe (composer).^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

Kumi Koda covered the Sugar Soul song "Ima Sugu Hoshii" in 2006, and in 2009 May J. covered "Garden."

Discography

Original albums

Year	Album Information	Oricon Albums Charts [4]	Reported sales [5]
1999	On Released: February 24, 1999 Label: Warner (WPC6-10006) Formats: CD, rental CD	10	139,000
2000	Uzu (うず, "Swirl") Released: May 24, 2000 Label: Warner (WPC6-10083) Formats: CD, rental CD	3	340,000

Other albums

Year	Album Information	Oricon Albums Charts [4]	Reported sales [5]
2001	Sugar Soul Live: Balance Live album Released: January 24, 2001 Label: Warner (WPC6-10117/8) Formats: 2CD, rental CD	12	44,000
2002	Soul Jam Remix album Released: May 22, 2002 Label: Warner (WPC6-10117/8) Formats: CD, rental CD	97	3,000
	Soul Mix Remix album Released: October 23, 2002 Label: Warner (WPC6-10220) Formats: CD, rental CD	—	—
2003	Sugar Soul Greatest hits album Released: October 29, 2003 Label: Warner (WPCL-10016) Formats: CD, CD+DVD, rental CD	20	24,000

Singles

Release	Title	Notes	Oricon singles charts [4]	Oricon sales [5]	Album
1997	"Those Days"	Re-released in 1999, sales pertain to re-release	34	30,000	—
1998	"Kanashimi no Hana ni" (悲しみの花に, "To a Flower of Sadness")	Debut single under Warner	75	11,000	On
	"Sauce"	Produced by Shinichi Osawa	51	33,000
1999	"Namibia" (ナミビア)	Produced by Hirofumi Asamoto	50	13,000
	"Garden" feat. Kenji		2	923,000	Uzu
	"Siva 1999" feat. Zeebra		10	152,000
2000	"Respectyourself"		15	76,000
	"Ii yo" (いいよ, "It's Good")		79	2,600
2001	"Soulmate"	Final release as a band	46	7,000	—

References

1. "Sugar Soul". 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
2. Condry, Ian. Hip Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006
3. "Sugar Soulが10年ぶりに復活". RBB TODAY. 2010-06-22. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
4. "アーティスト： Sugar Soul". Oricon. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
5. "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」". Oricon. Retrieved June 6, 2011. (subscription only)

External links

• Web archive of official site (Japanese)
• Warner Music Japan label site (Japanese)