Give me a Shake
#1 / 476,570 sold

MAXIMUM
#1 / 1,288,260 sold

Before there was MAX, Mina, Reina, Nana, and Lina were known as Minako, Reina, Nanako and Ritsuko the dancers behind Namie Amuro called SUPER MONKEY'S. Mina and Nana debuted with Namie in 1992. Reina and Lina were brought into the group in late 1994 after original member Hisako Aragaki left. It was this combination of the SUPER MONKEY'S that ushered in their first hit, "TRY ME ~Watashi wo Shinjite~" in 1995. Amuro being the centerpiece to the SUPER MONKEY'S naturally became a superstar overnight. It was during this time that plans were made to give the other girls a bit of their own spotlight.

Mina, Reina, Nana, and Lina were approached to form their own group for a one-off single to commemorate the opening of the Velfarre Night Club. They named themselves MAX, after Max Matsuura who they had first worked with on "TRY ME." The name itself is an acronym for Musical, Active, Experience. The group signed with freshman dance label, avex trax, moving away from Toshiba-EMI who had released the SUPER MONKEY'S. They released "Koi Suru Velfarre Dance ~Saturday night~" in May, 1995. Although initially conceived as a one-off group, they released a second single in August entitled "Kiss me Kiss me, Baby." Both singles failed to garner success for the group. Amuro had been rebranded a solo act right before their debut with the single, "Taiyou no SEASON." MAX would continue to use the name SUPER MONKEY'S whenever they performed with Namie from that point on. Eventually Amuro moved to avex trax as well. Amuro and MAX would perform regularly together until 1996 when they released their third single, "TORA TORA TORA." It would become MAX's first hit.

"TORA TORA TORA" debuted in the top 20 upon release and was used as the theme song to the group's first film, "Ladies MAX." The song catapulted them from being just Amuro's back dancers into being bonafide stars. They followed the single with "Seventies" in July 1996 which became the first of 15 consecutive top 10 hits. They performed for the last time as the SUPER MONKEY'S in August for Amuro's anniversary concert in Chiba Marine Stadium commemorating her 1st year as a solo artist. "GET MY LOVE," followed up "Seventies" in October and became their first top 5 hit. Their debut album, "MAXIMUM" was released in December to massive success selling over a million copies and spending four non-consecutive weeks at #1.

The success of their debut album, made MAX a very busy group. They released their first photo book entitled "COLLECTION" in February of 1997, debuted the sequel to their first film, "Ladies MAX ~Give me a Shake~," in March and began their very own radio show, "MEGA MAX" in April. The group returned to music in April with the release of "Give me a Shake." The song, an original composition, was their first foray into the stylized pop they would become known for. The single would peak at #1, becoming their signature hit. Another single, "Love is Dreaming," followed and within the month they performed their first headlining tour, "J-POP GIG TOUR '97" ending at the fame Nihon Budokan. At the end of 1997, the girls released their second album, "MAXIMUM II" and performed for the first time on NHK's Kouhaku Utagassen. They also took home the Gold Award and were nominated for Grand Prix Award from Nihon Record Taishou, Japan's Grammy Awards, for "Give me a Shake."

MAX began 1998 with the release of their first video clips collection in February. The following month, the group took home "Best Pop Album of the Year" from the Golden Disc Awards with "MAXIMUM II." Days later they embarked on their second headlining tour, "MAX LIVE CONTACT 1998 ~max up your life~." In the second half of the year the group took part in their first starring roles in the primetime TV drama, "Sweet Devil." It's theme song, "Ride on time" would become one of the group's biggest hits. They released "Grace of my heart" in the fall to great success. The single debuted at #2 becoming their best ranked single since "Give me a Shake." Their third album, "MAXIMUM GROOVE" would follow in December and become their second #1 album. That same month, MAX took home an award from Yuusen Taishou for "Grace of my heart" and received another Gold Award for "Ride on time" from Nihon Record Taishou. They also made a second appearance on Kouhaku Utagassen, performing "Ride on time."

Repeating the success of "MAXIMUM II," MAX took home another "Best Pop Album of the Year" Award from the Golden Disc Awards for "MAXIMUM GROOVE" early in 1999. In March, the group released "Love impact" before embarking on their third and largest tour, "MAX LIVE CONTACT 1999 ~Sunny Holiday~" two days later. On March 14th while on tour, MAX abruptly ended a concert when Nana fell off the stage during a performance. However, she quickly recovered and the rest of the tour dates went on as scheduled. While on tour the group began their own talk show, "GIRLSx2" on NTV. In May, a new single "Ano Natsu Eto" and a second photo book, "Luxury" was released. In August, the group co-headlined a special concert stage "Dream Live in Chiba Marine Stadium" with Namie Amuro, SPEED and DA PUMP. The following month, they released their first best-of collection, "MAXIMUM COLLECTION" chronicling their singles from "TORA TORA TORA" to their latest hit, "Ginga no Chikai." The album debuted at #1. Not losing any time, MAX released "Isshoni..." only two months after the release of their best-of collection. The song debuted in the lower half of the top 10, but became a slow burning hit eventually becoming the group's second best selling single. They performed the single during their third appearance on Kouhaku Utagassen at the end of the year.

In the new millennium, MAX took creative control for their new single "Never gonna stop it." A R&B/Hip-Hop dance number, it was written and produced by the group themselves. A new tour, "MAX LIVE CONTACT 2000 ~No boundly~," started in May with a second self-produced single, "MAGIC" released shortly after. A remix album, "SUPER EUROBEAT presents HYPER EURO MAX" was released in June, taking their non-Eurobeat hits and remixing them in the styles that originally made MAX popular. The album debuted in the top 5. In the fall, the group released a cover of Backstreet Boy's "Larger Than Life" called "Barairo no Hibi." It brought an end to their consecutive Top 10 single streak, peaking at #11. As part of promotion for the single, MAX performed outside of Japan for the first time in Taiwan for Asia 2000 Music Festival. They would end the year by performing a special rendition of "Barairo no Hibi" at Kouhaku Utagassen.

MAX began their activities in 2001 with another single, "always love," and followed it with the release of their 4th original album, "EMOTIONAL HISTORY." Neither release did much for the group with "always love" halving the sales of their previous single and "EMOTIONAL HISTORY" failing to make the top 5 and selling a then mere 100,000 copies. In late spring, the group released "Perfect Love," which became their last top 10 single peaking in the 10th position. The group embarked on a summer tour "MAX LIVE CONTACT 2001 ~Bitter 4 Sweet~" in July. In September and December, MAX released "moonlight" and "Feel so right," respectively. The latter single would be sung on what was their final appearance on Kouhaku Utagassen.

A new single and album were announced for early 2002, but in January of that year a bombshell was dropped that brought the group to a grounding halt. At a press conference in Avex's main building, the group announced the pregnancy and marriage of lead vocalist Mina to a member of their tour staff. It was announced that Mina would be taking a hiatus from the group while the rest of the members continued on with solo activities for the time being. The single, a ballad entitled, "Spring rain" was released on schedule but the new album and plans for a tour were cancelled. Instead, a two-disc singles collection was released in its place. After a final appearance with Mina on Music Station in March, the group went on hiatus. Just days laters, the rest of the group began their solo activities with photo books released a month apart. Nana was first with her book, "NANA 24/7" followed by Lina's "Lina Rhythm" and Reina's "Reina Strawberry."

Months passed by without any news about MAX until July 18th. The three remaining members of MAX, Nana, Lina, and Reina held a fanclub event and performed their hit "Give me a Shake" as a threesome. They then addressed the crowd and introduced a new temporary member, Aki Maeda. Aki had previously debuted in a group similar to MAX called Hipp's who were unsuccessful and would disband a year later. The new MAX made their first public appearance as surprise guests at Okinawa Music Fest. A remix album was released in August, but the group did not make a formal comeback until November. Their comeback single entitled "eternal white," was a bossa nova winter song and peak within the top 20.

Over the next several years, MAX would release singles at slower and slower time tables. A second Aki single was released shortly after "eternal white" but a third single would come seven months later and a fourth, a cover of Atomic Kitten's "Be With You," almost a year after that. Each single was less successful than the last. In September of 2004, the group performed their concert in the United States performed at the AnimeFEST convention in Dallas, Texas. The group released a 10th anniversary single in July 2005. An homage to their past, single was an original Eurobeat composition with lyrics by the group. Included on the single was an updated version of "TORA TORA TORA," their first hit. The single was a big hit back home for them in Okinawa as the song fused traditional Okinawan music with Eurobeat stylings. At the end of 2005, MAX released their sixth single with Aki, "Anata wo Omou Hodo." With little fanfare and no promotion, the single peaked at #53.

The group began 2006 with their first album in six years, "Jewel of Jewels." MAX produced the album themselves delivering an album diverse and centered on their Okinawan roots. The album was not a chart success, but it did not prevent the group from moving onto a new single, "SPLASH GOLD -Natsu no Kiseki / Prism of Eyes," released late in the summer. In November, they returned to the US for another convention, this time in Virginia for Anime USA. They also made strides into Asia MAX expanding their activities to Asia where the group had a thriving Chinese fanbase. The group performed in the country and would also record a Chinese language version of their hit "Isshoni..." to be included on an early spring 2007 single. They also announced plans for an official debut in the Chinese market with a Chinese language album. However, neither the single nor the album surfaced.

In early 2007, Mina returned to the spotlight as a dance instructor for the reality talent show, "Okinawan Idol." For some time fans speculated the return of Mina to MAX until a fan club letter from all five MAX members was released announcing officially that Mina would not be returning to the group. For the remainder of 2007, MAX made few appearances together and going into 2008, the group had unofficially taken a hiatus. MAX remained mostly silent until August that year when a new MAX fan club magazine was delayed. When it finally reached fan club members, fans learned that Aki would soon be leaving the group for a solo career. According to media reports, Aki had expressed an interest to MAX's staff of going solo for some time. The remaining members made their final appearance with Aki at the film premiere of "Sex in the City" in Japan that month and on August 31, 2008, she graduated from MAX.. This time the group went on an official hiatus.

Immediately following Aki's departure, fans began to speculate the return of Mina. On Reina and Lina's official blogs, they announced that the remaining members of MAX had been in discussions with Avex and had a secret they would soon be revealing. On October 28th, news media officially announced the return of Mina to MAX. They also announced a new remix greatest hits collection and a comeback concert at the end of January the next year. They then made their first televised appearance with Mina on Tokudane two days later. On January 31st, 2009, MAX performed their first public concert in 9 years at C.C. Lemon Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo. MAX performed a series of their hits and fan picks to a packed house of 2,000 fans. During the show, the group announced the forthcoming release of a brand new single and additional dates turning their one-night gig into a full fledged tour.

The original MAX released their first single since their comeback on July 22nd, 2009 entitled, "Roughcut Diamond." A song reminiscent of their early pop hits, it peaked within the top 30 of the Oricon chart, their best showing since 2002. Mina began solo activities as a regular on the variety program Omoikirri DON!. Currently, the group is in the midst of recording their 2nd comeback single to be sometime in 2010.