Max

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MAX whose name is an acronym for "Musical Active eXperience" is a popular Japanese vocal group. The original members of MAX made their musical debut as members of the Super Monkey's along with lead vocalist, Namie Amuro.

MAX debuted on May 10th, 1995. But before that Mina, Reina, Nana, and Lina were known as Minako, Reina, Nanako and Ritsuko the dancers behind Namie Amuro called Super Monkey's. Mina and Nana debuted with Namie in 1992. Reina and Lina were brought into the group in late 1994 after original member Hisako Aragaki left. It was this combination of the Super Monkey's that ushered in their first hit, "TRY ME ~Watashi wo Shinjite~" in 1995. Namie Amuro being the centerpiece to the Super Monkey's naturally became a superstar overnight. It was during this time that plans were made to give the other girls a bit of their own spotlight.

Mina, Reina, Nana, and Lina were approached to form their own group for a one-off single to commemorate the opening of the Velfarre Night Club. They named themselves MAX, after Max Matsuura who they had first worked with on "TRY ME." The name itself is an acronym for Musical, Active, Experience. The group signed with freshman dance label, avex trax, moving away from Toshiba-EMI who had released the SUPER MONKEY'S music since their debut. They released "Koi Suru Velfarre Dance ~Saturday night~" in May, 1995 with the single debuting near the bottom of the top 100. Although initially conceived as a limited group, they released a second single in August entitled "Kiss me Kiss me, Baby" which debuted in the top 70. Amuro had been rebranded a solo act between the release of MAX's singles and the SUPER MONKEY'S came to an official end in October with the release of their debut album, "DANCE TRACKS VOL.1." MAX continued to dance for Amuro as the SUPER MONKEY'S as she too moved her career over to avex trax. They would perform regularly with her until the release 1996 when they released their third single, "TORA TORA TORA." It would become MAX's first hit.

"TORA TORA TORA" debuted in the top 20 upon release and was used as the theme song to the girl group's first film, "Ladies MAX." MAX released their first top 10 single, "Seventies" in July of 1996 and performed for the last time as the SUPER MONKEY'S in August for Amuro's first solo tour. They quickly followed up "Seventies" with their 5th single, "GET MY LOVE!" in October which became their first top 5 hit. Their debut album, "MAXIMUM" was released in December to massive success selling over a million copies and spending four non-consecutive weeks at #1. It would go on to become the 15th best selling album of 1997.

Following the success of their debut album, MAX headed back into films starring in the sequel to "Ladies MAX," "Ladies MAX ~Give me a Shake~." The theme song to the film, also entitled, "Give me a Shake" was released in April, 1997 and became their first #1 hit. "Give me a Shake" was the first original recording they had done as the songs released during the "MAXIMUM" era were all covers. During that same month, the group started their first radio show, "MEGA MAX." In July, the group participated in a Aku Yuu tribute album, "DANCE with YOU" and released a new single "Love is Dreaming" days later. Within the next month, the group held their first ever headlining concert MAX J-POP GIG TOUR '97. Another single followed in October and their second album, "MAXIMUM II" was released on Christmas Day. Although the album failed to reach #1, it did secure MAX their highest debut total with over 700,000 copies sold. The album went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies just as its predecessor had.