Goto Maki

In 1999, Tokyo born Goto Maki participated at the age of thirteen in the auditions to join the third generation of girl group Morning Musume. After being chosen, she participated in the group's next release, Love Machine. This turned out to be the group's most successful single, selling over a million copies. While still in Morning Musume, Goto Maki founded a subgroup called Pucchi Moni and began a solo career in 2001.

That March she released her solo debut, a single titled Ai no baka yarou. It sold extremely well, taking the first spot on the Oricon Charts, and remains her best selling release to this date. That same year she also started to explore a career as an actress taking part in the successful drama "Maria".

In 2002, she graduated from Morning Musume to focus on her solo career although she had participated in other Hello! Project groups including Morning Musume Tanjō 10-nen Kinentai, a group created to celebrate Morning Musume's 10th anniversary. Over the next few years, Goto focused on her solo work, performing overseas in Korea and around Japan.

In October of 2007 Goto announced she was graduating from Hello! Project and along with the new year came a new record label, as she moved to Avex's sub-label, Rhythm Zone. She also announced she was taking some time off from music to focus on singing lessons and dancing. Her official debut back to the scene was in June of 2008, followed by a performance at A-Nation.

The following year, Goto> formed the project Sweet Black feat. Maki Goto, which is a collaboration between Avex, Mixi and J-WAVE. During this time she had a number of digital releases as well as the debut of mini album Sweet Black.

2010 was a hard year for Goto with the loss of her mother in January. Despite this, she kept her head high and continued to move forward with her career, releasing ONE in July and a best-of album two months later.

Goto's 2011 plans are already underway with several live performances scheduled between February and March, and her new mini-album, Gloria debuting on the 12th. Fans can only expect bigger and brighter things from her in the future.