NEWS

NEWS is a six-member Japanese musical group consisting of Tomohisa Yamashita, Ryo Nishikido, Keiichiro Koyama, Takahisa Masuda, Shigeaki Kato, and Yuya Tegoshi. The group's name is an acronym based on the cardinal directions (North, East, West, South) and the members locations. 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 (森内寛貴 , Moriuchi Takahiro?) 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, Peas/Barefoot Cinderella Boy?), as the current six-member group due to the controversy surrounding then-members Hiroki Uchi and Hironori Kusano. The two members were caught in separate underage drinking incidents. After a brief hiatus, NEWS released their seventh number-one single, "Hoshi o Mezashite" (星をめざして, lit. Aim for the Stars?). In 2009, they released their eleventh single, Koi no ABO, which made NEWS the second Japanese group after label-mates KinKi Kids to have eleven consecutive number-one singles since their debut.