Whiteberry was a all-girl pop band from Hokkaido. The band - vocalist Yuki Maeda, guitarist Aya Inatsuki, bassist Yukari Hasegawa, keyboardist Rimi Mizusawa, and drummer Erika Kawamura - formed in 1994 while the members were still in elementary school.  Lifelong friends, with Maeda and Kawamura also being cousins, the band, at the time called Strawberry Kids, performed steadily at clubs and events in their home prefecture until catching the attention of the popular rock band...

Whiteberry was a all-girl pop band from Hokkaido. The band - vocalist Yuki Maeda, guitarist Aya Inatsuki, bassist Yukari Hasegawa, keyboardist Rimi Mizusawa, and drummer Erika Kawamura - formed in 1994 while the members were still in elementary school.  Lifelong friends, with Maeda and Kawamura also being cousins, the band, at the time called Strawberry Kids, performed steadily at clubs and events in their home prefecture until catching the attention of the popular rock band Judy and Mary after appearing on a local television program.  Shortly thereafter, the band was offered a record deal with Sony's Pop Artist label in 1999.   The girls, still in high school at the time, recorded and released their first EP, After School, quickly following up with several singles, all original material with the exception of their fourth, a cover of the Jitterin' Jinn hit "Natsumatsuri" (Summer Festival). The single became the band's most popular song, and is now more identified with them than with Jitterin' Jinn. Capitalizing on the momentum, the group completed and released their debut full-length album, entitled Hatsu.  After a fifth single, "Akubi", the group divided their time between their studies and working on their follow up album, Chameleon. The record's release was preceded by three new singles, "Sakura Nakimichi", "Kakurenbo", and "Tachiiri Kinshi". The latter, whose title translates as "Off Limits", marked a new direction for the band, with its uncharacteristic aggressiveness and accompanying music video which depicted the band in rugby uniforms, charging into a corporate boardroom and performing their song atop a conference table while businessmen looked on in horror.　Chameleon was released in January 2002 and was generally seen as a big jump artistically from their debut. The record featured some darker songs, a contrast from consistently peppy music on Hatsu.  After a short tour behind the album, the group started their final year of high school, also releasing three singles in late 2002, each including a cover version of a popular pop or rock hit on the A-side and a new Whiteberry original on the B-side. The first of these, "Jitensha Dorobou", was accompanied by a fully-animated video.  Whiteberry spent most of 2003 off the road and out of the studio as their education took precedence, but were commissioned to record two songs for the soundtrack album to the TV series Superior Defender Gundam Force. Both songs were released as a single in February 2004; the A-side, "Shinjiru Chikara", featured lyrics written by all five group members stating how much they missed each other after their graduation from high school and the decision of some members to attend college. A week after the single was released, the group issued a statement announcing that after ten years together, they were amicably disbanding the group in order to move on with their educations. The group played tearful farewell shows in Tokyo and their native Hokkaido in March 2004. A post-breakup anthology, Kiseki, was released in May 2002, and a DVD counterpart, Videoberry Final, followed the month afterward.  While the band was never able to fully get past the "idol band" image, their music has displayed some staying power among fans.  Maeda began her solo career in 2005 under the stagename "yukki" and released her debut mini-album, Sotsugyo, in May 2006 on the Japanese independent label Deadgirls. In 2007 Maeda formed a new band, The Husky.