| Sugar Soul | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Japan |
| Years Active: | 1996–2001 |
| Label: | Flava Records (1997) Warner Music Japan (1998—2001) |
| Associated Acts: | Hirofumi Asamoto, Dragon Ash, Shinichi Osawa, Zeebra |
| Past Members: | Aiko, DJ Hasebe, Kawabe |
was a Japanese three-member R&B group which formed in 1996. They soon made their debut in January 1997 on the Flava Records label. The members featured DJ Hasebe (programming), Aiko Machida (vocals) and Kawabe (composer).[1] The band achieved success with the single "Garden" in 1999, which featured Kenji Furuya of Dragon Ash. The band was seen as one of the prominent new R&B-style musicians in Japan in the late 1990s.[2]
In 2001, the band went on a permanent hiatus after the release of the single "Soulmate." Vocalist Aiko went on to become the vocalist of drum and bass band Kam in 2010.[3]
Kumi Koda covered the Sugar Soul song "Ima Sugu Hoshii" in 2006, and in 2009 May J. covered "Garden."
| Year | Album Information | Oricon Albums Charts [4] | Reported sales [5] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | On
| 10 | 139,000< | --138,720--> | |
| 2000 |
| 3 | 340,000< | --339,880--> |
| Year | Album Information | Oricon Albums Charts | Reported sales | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 |
| 12 | 44,000< | --43,850--> | |
| 2002 | Soul Jam
| 97 | 3,000< | --3,330--> | |
Soul Mix
| — | — | |||
| 2003 | Sugar Soul
| 20 | 24,000< | --24,042--> |
| Release | Title | Notes | Oricon singles charts | Oricon sales | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | "Those Days" | Re-released in 1999, sales pertain to re-release | 34 | 30,000< | --29,720--> | — | |
| 1998 | Debut single under Warner | 75 | 11,000< | --11,480--> | On | ||
| "Sauce" | Produced by Shinichi Osawa | 51 | 33,000< | --32,510--> | |||
| 1999 | Produced by Hirofumi Asamoto | 50 | 13,000< | --12,600--> | |||
| "Garden" feat. Kenji | 2 | 923,000< | --922,880--> | Uzu | |||
| "Siva 1999" feat. Zeebra | 10 | 152,000< | --152,200--> | ||||
| 2000 | "Respectyourself" | 15 | 76,000< | --75,620--> | |||
| 79 | 2,600< | --2,570--> | |||||
| 2001 | "Soulmate" | Final release as a band | 46 | 7,000< | --7,170--> | — |