Eri Nitta
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese
singer, actress, lyricist
, and tarento
. She made her professional debut as the fourth member of the all-female singing group Onyanko Club
in 1985. She made her solo debut with the hit song on January 1, 1986. Nitta performed the opening and ending theme songs for the first 14 episodes of the Little Women anime
TV series from Nippon Animation
.
Nitta attended and graduated from Fujimino Municipal Fukuoka Junior High School and Saitama Prefectural Fukuoka High School.
soon after starting, she suddenly became the most senior member of the group on April 25, 1985 following the Shūkan Bunshun Smoking Scandal in which five members (including the first three members) of Onyanko Club were fired.
In July of that same year, she made her debut as one of Onyanko Club's lead singers with the song . From that point, she was considered the "face" of Onyanko Club due to her popularity. After graduating from high school
, she continued working in the entertainment field and signed with the talent management firm .
She made her solo debut on January 1, 1986 with the hit single Winter Opera Glasses, which reached number one on the Oricon
charts and sold over 300,000 copies. This was the record for a debut single for a female solo artist until Oricon changed their rules regarding what was considered a "debut" for people who had previously been a member of a group; Yuki Uchida
now holds the record for a debut single for a female solo artist. Nitta was given the title "The Million Dollar Smile" on her single covers, and her smile was referred to a the "Nitta Trump", due to the extraordinary price she commanded due to her popularity. She began to regularly release singles and albums from that point.
Just before her solo debut, her father suddenly died of pneumonia
on December 24, 1985 after collapsing with a high fever
on the set of a movie in Hawaii
. During the year following the breakup of Onyanko Club in 1987, as her popularity began to wane, Nitta adopted the pen name
of (using kanji different than those used in her real name) and began writing lyrics for her own songs. In March 1990, she retired from the entertainment world after telling people she wanted to become a lyricist
. She wrote the lyrics for the songs on her last single.
In 1994, Nitta released a photo book and essay in which she returned to show business. On August 8, 1996 (just before Fuji TV moved to their present location in Odaiba), a reunion event was held for the Yūyake Nyan Nyan TV series. Nitta later married the Fuji TV employee who was in charge of the event.
Together with many of the original members of Onyanko Club, Nitta released the album in 2002. On December 5 that same year, the newly reunited members performed the album title song as well as Don't Make Me Take Off My Sailor Suit during the 2002 FNS Kayōsai event on Fuji TV. Takashi Okamura
, one half of the comedy duo Ninety-nine
, is a huge fan of Nitta, and she performed in the section of his Tobukusuri variety show. Several years later, during the "Fuji TV 24-hour Police" parody segment of the Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!
variety show, Nitta's husband was "shamefully arrested" as the "Onyanko Thief" (due to his having married Nitta). In a segment for the same show in 1999, Nitta fan and tarento
Thane Camus
and owarai
duo Asarido visited Nitta's home.
Nitta has since worked as an actress, author
, and essayist, as well as participating in the Tokyo community radio
program Ginza Radiocity. She has also participated, along with fellow idols such as Toshikazu Fukawa and Chiemi Hori, in programming discussing the 1980s idol star movement. In 2007, she participated in the ōendan
for the inauguration of the Kama Burning Heroes, a baseball club started by Rakyō Ide, an owarai performer and member of the talent group Takeshi Gundan.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
singer, actress, lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
, and tarento
Tarento
is a Japanese rendering of the English word "talent" and is used as a catch-all term for mass media personalities who regularly appear on television. Detractors of the phenomenon have referred to it in an English sense as "famous just for being famous" because many that fall into this career line...
. She made her professional debut as the fourth member of the all-female singing group Onyanko Club
Onyanko Club
was a large all-girl Japanese pop idol group in the 1980s. The group gave a new approach to the idol formula with its 52 official members and three unofficial members...
in 1985. She made her solo debut with the hit song on January 1, 1986. Nitta performed the opening and ending theme songs for the first 14 episodes of the Little Women anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
TV series from Nippon Animation
Nippon Animation
is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City....
.
Nitta attended and graduated from Fujimino Municipal Fukuoka Junior High School and Saitama Prefectural Fukuoka High School.
History
Nitta made her first appearance as the fourth member of Onyanko Club in April 1985 with an appearance on the group's Fuji TV variety show Yūyake Nyan Nyan. While she initially wanted to quit show businessShow business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
soon after starting, she suddenly became the most senior member of the group on April 25, 1985 following the Shūkan Bunshun Smoking Scandal in which five members (including the first three members) of Onyanko Club were fired.
In July of that same year, she made her debut as one of Onyanko Club's lead singers with the song . From that point, she was considered the "face" of Onyanko Club due to her popularity. After graduating from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, she continued working in the entertainment field and signed with the talent management firm .
She made her solo debut on January 1, 1986 with the hit single Winter Opera Glasses, which reached number one on the Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
charts and sold over 300,000 copies. This was the record for a debut single for a female solo artist until Oricon changed their rules regarding what was considered a "debut" for people who had previously been a member of a group; Yuki Uchida
Yuki Uchida
is a Japanese actress, and a popular 1990s Japanese idol, model and singer.-Biography:She practiced fencing in high school, and ranked 3rd in a tournament in Tokyo in 1991....
now holds the record for a debut single for a female solo artist. Nitta was given the title "The Million Dollar Smile" on her single covers, and her smile was referred to a the "Nitta Trump", due to the extraordinary price she commanded due to her popularity. She began to regularly release singles and albums from that point.
Just before her solo debut, her father suddenly died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on December 24, 1985 after collapsing with a high fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
on the set of a movie in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. During the year following the breakup of Onyanko Club in 1987, as her popularity began to wane, Nitta adopted the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of (using kanji different than those used in her real name) and began writing lyrics for her own songs. In March 1990, she retired from the entertainment world after telling people she wanted to become a lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
. She wrote the lyrics for the songs on her last single.
In 1994, Nitta released a photo book and essay in which she returned to show business. On August 8, 1996 (just before Fuji TV moved to their present location in Odaiba), a reunion event was held for the Yūyake Nyan Nyan TV series. Nitta later married the Fuji TV employee who was in charge of the event.
Together with many of the original members of Onyanko Club, Nitta released the album in 2002. On December 5 that same year, the newly reunited members performed the album title song as well as Don't Make Me Take Off My Sailor Suit during the 2002 FNS Kayōsai event on Fuji TV. Takashi Okamura
Takashi Okamura (comedian)
is a Japanese comedian and one half of the owarai duo Ninety-nine , playing the "comic stooge" or boke of the group. His nicknames range from "OkatakaLeader" to "Okachan"...
, one half of the comedy duo Ninety-nine
Ninety-nine (owarai)
, or is a Japanese comic duo from Osaka working for the entertainment conglomorate Yoshimoto Kogyo. The duo , consisting of Takashi Okamura as boke and Hiroyuki Yabe as tsukkomi , formed in 1990....
, is a huge fan of Nitta, and she performed in the section of his Tobukusuri variety show. Several years later, during the "Fuji TV 24-hour Police" parody segment of the Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!
Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!
is a popular Japanese variety show, shown on Fuji TV. The hosts of the show are the owarai duo Ninety-Nine , and the show is usually attended by regulars Yoiko, Gokuraku Tombo, Oasiz, Shinji Takeda, Akiko Hinagata, and Sarina Suzuki. However, Gokuraku Tombo's Keiichi Yamamoto has not appeared on...
variety show, Nitta's husband was "shamefully arrested" as the "Onyanko Thief" (due to his having married Nitta). In a segment for the same show in 1999, Nitta fan and tarento
Tarento
is a Japanese rendering of the English word "talent" and is used as a catch-all term for mass media personalities who regularly appear on television. Detractors of the phenomenon have referred to it in an English sense as "famous just for being famous" because many that fall into this career line...
Thane Camus
Thane Camus
-Biography:Camus was born in New York on November 27, 1970. He is the grandson of Nobel Prize laureate novelist/philosopher Albert Camus. Camus arrived in Japan in 1980 and graduated from a board school in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. He was the first male graduate of St. Maur International...
and owarai
Owarai
is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word owarai is the honorific form of the word warai, meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". Owarai is most common on Japanese variety shows and the comedians are referred to as owarai geinin or owarai tarento...
duo Asarido visited Nitta's home.
Nitta has since worked as an actress, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and essayist, as well as participating in the Tokyo community radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
program Ginza Radiocity. She has also participated, along with fellow idols such as Toshikazu Fukawa and Chiemi Hori, in programming discussing the 1980s idol star movement. In 2007, she participated in the ōendan
Oendan
An , literally "cheering squad" or "cheering section", is a Japanese sports rallying team similar in purpose to a cheerleading squad in the United States, but relies more on making a lot of noise with taiko drums, blowing horns and other items, waving flags and banners, and yelling through plastic...
for the inauguration of the Kama Burning Heroes, a baseball club started by Rakyō Ide, an owarai performer and member of the talent group Takeshi Gundan.