Erika Umeda

is a Japanese singer and former model. She was a member of the Japanese idol girl group ZYX and Cute up until departing to pursue a solo career in modeling. In 2013, she returned to her music career with the release of her debut solo single "Crush On You."

Career 2002–2004: Hello! Project Kids and ZYX Umeda was born in Minami-ku, Yokohama, Japan. In 2002, she auditioned for Hello! Project Kids with the song "White Love" by Speed. Her audition tape was aired on Morning Musume's variety show Hello! Morning. She was placed in the group with 14 other girls. In the same year, she appeared in the movie Koinu Dan no Monogatari.

In 2003, Umeda became a member of the subgroup ZYX along with Mari Yaguchi from Morning Musume, Maimi Yajima, Saki Shimizu, Megumi Murakami, and Momoko Tsugunaga. They released their debut single, "Iku ZYX! Fly High" on August 6, 2003, followed by "Shiroi Tokyo" on December 10, 2003. Later, in 2004, she participated in singing "All for One & One for All!", a collaboration single released by all Hello! Project artists under the name "H.P. All Stars."

2005–2009: Cute

In 2004, Berryz Kobo was created with the intention of rotating all of the members of Hello! Project Kids to make time for school, but the idea was later scrapped, and the remaining girls who were not chosen were rebranded under the name Cute on June 11, 2005. On August 1, 2009, Hello! Project announced that Umeda was graduating from the company on October 25, 2009, the last day of Cute's concert tour, to become a fashion model.

2010–present: Solo career In 2010, Umeda was signed into a model agency called Illume Models. She made her runaway debut in Girls Award Summer 2010 and continued to appear as a regular model at every seasonal show until 2013. She also appeared at the Tokyo Girls Collection Spring/Summer 2012 show.

In 2013, Umeda left modeling to return to music and signed with Brand-New Music. She released her first solo album Erika on February 12, 2014, with the lead single "Crush On You." In 2018, she became the advisor for the girl group Turtle Lily.

Personal life

On August 15, 2021, Umeda announced on her blog and Instagram account that she had married Hirokasu Goto, a radio personality from Niigata Prefecture, and that she was pregnant with their first child. Their son was born on January 1, 2022. Their second son was born in June 2023.

Discography

Albums

+ List of albums, with selected chart positions, sales figures and certifications Title Year Album details Peak chart positions Sales JPN Erika 2014 Released: February 12, 2014 Label: Brand-New Music Formats: CD — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 2002 Koinu Dan no Monogatari Madoka Nishizawa Supporting role

Television

Year Title Role Network Notes 2002–2007 Hello! Morning Herself TV Tokyo Morning Musume's variety show 2002–2004 Hello Kids Herself TV Tokyo Minimoni's variety show 2005 Musume Document 2005 Herself TV Tokyo Morning Musume's variety show 2005–2006 Musume Dokyu! Herself TV Tokyo Morning Musume's variety show 2007-2008 Haromoni@ Herself TV Tokyo Morning Musume's variety show 2008 Berikyū! Herself TV Tokyo Berryz Kobo and Cute's variety show 2008 Yorosen! Herself TV Tokyo Hello! Project's variety show 2009 Bijo Houdan Herself TV Tokyo Hello! Project's variety show

Music video

Year Artist Song Notes 2003 Miki Fujimoto "Boogie Train '03" 2011 Shiki Canata "Have a Nice Day" Episode 1: "Goodbye, My First Love"

Theater Year Title Role Notes 2007 Neruko wa Cute Herself Lead role 2008 Keitai Shōsetsuka Herself Lead role 2009 Ataru mo Hakke!? Herself Lead role 2014 Goodbye Joker

Radio Year Title Role Notes 2006–2008 Cutie Party Radio host with Maimi Yajima 2008–2009 Cute Cutie Paradise Radio host with Airi Suzuki