Every Little Thing was formed in 1996 by Avex composer and producer Igarashi Mitsuru. Igarashis original vision was to start a duo with a female vocalist and himself on keyboards. He set his eye on Mochida Kaori, ormerly of The Kuro Buta All-Stars, a Morning Musume style group, and decided he would work with her.
Mochida was still in school at the time, so Igarashi waited until after she graduated to sign her. He then enlisted the help of friend and guitarist Itou Ichiro in recording Every Little Thing's first single, Feel my heart. The single did so well, and the bands future looked so promising, that Itou decided to join as a permanent member.
The bands first studio album, Everlasting, was released in April of 1997 and sold a whopping 2 million copies. Every Little Thing continued to climb the charts with each successive release, and in June of 1997 with the release of their 4th single, For the moment, they finally reached number one on the Oricon charts.
1998 saw the release of the band's best selling album to date, Time to Destination, which sold 4 million copies. Also released that year was their best selling single to date, Time goes by. In 2000, after 3 albums and growing success, Igarashi decided to leave Every Little Thing to continue with his work as a producer. Igarashi's final work with the band was on the single Sure. The band was then left as the duo it was originally intended to be.
Every Little Thing released hits such as fragile in 2001, which sold more than 800,000 copies. However, after Igarashi's departure, sales began to decline, which may have been attributed to the gradual shift in music that Every Little Thing produced, including LATTE, an acoustic album in 2005.
It did not take them long to climb back to the top however and by the next year, Every Little Thing hit the road for a nationwide tour to commemorate the new album, Crispy Park. In July they appeared at the Avex event A-Nation along with other pop acts like Suzuki Ami and Koda Kumi. That fall they released two more singles and wrapped the year up performing at SNOW LIGHT LIVE.
By March of 2008, the duo saw the release of their eighth album, DOOR and kicked off their official tour to promote it on April 15th, which spanned twenty-four performances. Performing again at A-Nation that July, their 35th single hit store shelves just three days before the final A-Nation appearance.
While Every Little Thing's live activity slowed into 2009, Mochida continued to work, releasing two solo singles that year, and her first solo album Moka dropped in August. In September, Every Little Thing resumed activities with two singles and a third best-of album, before hitting the road in October for the 09~10 tour Meet. The tour kept the duo busy from the 22nd of October through 28th of March, 2010, just four days after their ninth album, Change debuted.
Aside from their performance at A-Nation and Tales of Festival, Every Little Thing took a well deserved break during the summer while Mochida recorded and released her second solo album, NIU. By December, the duo delighted fans with the Premium Christmas Concert Tour which ran from the 7th to the 23rd.
In February, Every Little Thing will have a double single release, Star and Moon on the 23rd. Fans should keep watch for this new exciting edition to Every Little Thing's strong discography.
