Speed (stylized in all caps) was a Japanese female vocal/dance group comprising Hiroko Shimabukuro, Eriko Imai, Takako Uehara and Hitoe Arakaki.
All four members are former students of the Okinawa Actors School[1] which also trained popular artists Namie Amuro and MAX.
They would eventually become the most successful girl group anywhere in Asia with sales of over 20 million singles and albums in just three years and eight months.
The performers who would become Speed met at the Okinawa Actors School and formed a group containing seven to nine rotating members.
[1] The group was trimmed down to four when Nippon Television show Yoru mo Hippare[4] (Night of the Hit Parade) requested them to come to Tokyo to perform in December 1995.
Introduced as the younger sisters of Namie Amuro, they requested the audience to give the band a name.
The video for the song was filmed in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the single sold an impressive total of over 638,000 copies.
The video for the song was filmed on location in the Philippines and sold approximately 671,000 copies (total shipment: 890,000) when it was released.
[7] After White Love, Speed continued on with their more mature style and released the anthem-like song "My Graduation".
Rise was highly successful, entering the Oricon chart in the top spot[9] and sold over two million copies.
[8] After Rise, Speed decided to give acting a try with the members starring in the Takashi Miike directed Sci-Fi thriller Andromedia.
Despite the single's popularity, the song slightly failed to cross the 1 million mark in sales (total 967,000 copies).
Speed are the only female group in J-Pop to achieve the Dome Tour and had an average age of 15.25 at the time, thus they also hold the record for the youngest performers to complete the feat.
[6] During the Dome tours Speed released another single titled "All My True Love", a fast upbeat song shot on location in the Grand Canyon, Arizona.
It was considered a turning point for Speed as it contained the first official solo tracks sung by the two members, Hiroko and Eriko.
Hiroko's song was titled Mitsumete Itai and Eriko's Tsumetaku Shinaide (under the name, 'Eriko with Crunch', a dance troupe).
The album also contained a critically acclaimed Christmas version of the single "White Love" and a hidden instrumental track of the song.
For her debut Hitoe decided to go with a much more adult look, appearing in her video wearing mini skirt & bikini with a short coat.
After "Inori", Speed was back on track again and released another upbeat maxi single, this time titled "Breakin' Out the Morning".
Her single titled "As Time Goes By" was produced by Hiromasa Ijichi and was the theme song of the drama series Tengoku no Kiss.
Eriko's single titled "Red Beat of My Life" was a fast-paced song produced by Hiromasa Ijichi with a video filmed in New Mexico, USA.
The albums also contained a program that when installed displayed small virtual images of the members on a computer screen.
On 31 March 2000, Speed attended Music Station and performed a final 30-minute mini-live singing a few of their hit songs.
On October 6, 2001, Speed held a one-night outdoor live concert at Kobe Awaji for an earthquake charity, attracting more than 24,000 fans.
The concert featured past Speed hits, solo songs from individual members and a new single One More Dream.
After being under Toy's Factory record label for 6 years, Speed officially switched to Avex's sub-label, Sonic Groove, at the end of 2001.
On April 8, 2003, Speed held a press conference in which they announced they would be temporarily reuniting for another charity Save the Children.
On 27 November 2003, Speed released their 14th single Walking in the Rain / Stars to Shine Again and 4th studio album Bridge.
On January 9, 2004, Speed released a photo book Bridge consisting of photographs from this temporary reunion.
On 2 September, Speed attended a press conference for "Aeon Heat Fact," to announce that they would be endorsing the woman's clothing brand.