Megumi Murakami

Megumi Murakami
Born	(1992-06-06) June 6, 1992
Occupation	Singer actress
Musical career
Genres	J-pop
Years active	2002–2006
Labels	Zetima
Associated acts	Cute ZYX Hello! Project Kids

Megumi Murakami (村上 愛, Murakami Megumi, born June 6, 1992 in Saitama Prefecture) is a former idol Japanese pop singer. She is best known as a former member of Hello! Project unit Cute. Her "official" nickname is "Meguru".

Career

In 2002, Murakami successfully passed the Hello! Project Kids audition along with fourteen other girls. In 2003, she became a member of the largely inactive unit ZYX, and in 2004 she sang alongside Morning Musume member Reina Tanaka and Cute member Airi Suzuki on "Suki ni Nacha Ikenai Hito", one of the coupling tracks on the "All for One & One for All!" EP, making her one of only seven girls to be chosen from the entirety of Hello! Project to sing on a separate track. Murakami also appeared on multiple occasions as a backing dancer for other Hello! Project acts. In 2004, she appears on the Maki Goto's videoclip "Yokohama Shinkirō". In 2005, Murakami was placed in the shuffle unit Sexy Otonajan. Also in 2005, eight of the Hello! Project Kids were chosen for Berryz Kobo with the intention of rotating the girls around. The idea was eventually dropped, and the remaining girls who were not chosen for Berryz Kobo formed another group called Cute. Murakami became one of the lead vocals on all of the group's indies singles, but it was announced on October 31, 2006, shortly before Cute made their major label debut, that she left had the group effective as of November 1, 2006. Murakami did not have a graduation ceremony, making her one of the few outgoing Hello! Project acts not to receive one. The reason given for her departure was that she wished to concentrate on her studies, though there has never been any official statement as to why her departure was so sudden, or why she did not receive a graduation ceremony.

Hello! Project groups and units

• Hello! Project Kids
• ZYX (2003–?)
• H.P. All Stars (2004)
• Cute (2005–2006)

Discography

For Megumi Murakami's releases with Cute, see Cute discography.

Appearances

Film

• Koinu Dan no Monogatari (仔犬ダンの物語) – December 14, 2002