News

NEWS is a four-member Japanese band consisting of 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).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), which was used for the World Cup of Volleyball Championships.In 2004, Takahiro Moriuchi (present-day Taka of One Ok Rock) left the group and the remaining eight members released their debut single, "Kibō: Yell" (希望 ~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), as a six-member group due to the controversy surrounding then-members Hiroki Uchi and Hironori Kusano.After a brief hiatus, they released their seventh number-one single, "Hoshi o Mezashite" (星をめざして).In 2008, they performed at the Tokyo Dome for the first time, and released their tenth single, "Happy Birthday," which made NEWS the second Japanese group after label-mates KinKi Kids to have ten consecutive number-one singles since their debut.NEWS became a quartet following the departures of Ryo Nishikido and Tomohisa Yamashita from the group in 2011.