BeForU

BeForU was an all girl J-pop band created in 2000 for the Konami music simulation games (Dance, dance, revolution, Pop'n Music, Drumania/Guitar freaks, beatmania).

2000
Konami and Toshiba Emi, a famous Japanese agency held an audition for forming an all girl pop group to produce soundtracks for their games. Naoki Maeda, the producer for Konami was there and ended up choosing the girls. Four girls ended up winning the audition and became the 1st generation of the group. A contest was later held to determine the name of the group. The winner of the contest supposedly recieved a CD. The winner was BeForU which was a play on words of the popular D.D.R. song B4U.

2001
There song Dive was heavily promoted prior to the release of D.D.R. 5th mix. It had previously appeared on D.D.R. Extra Mix. Dive was later deemed a success and the group continued to produce work.

2003
BeForU released their first studio album title "BeForU" It sold 20,000 copies, making it their highest selling release period. It was also the first and only album to feature Maehara Shiyuna.

2004
Shiyuna left the group to pursue her studies. Her departure caused the 2nd generation auditions to happen. This time, the second generation auditions weren't limited to girls only. And while they were originally planning on adding 2 members, somewhere along the way, there was a tie for either 1st or 2nd place.

BeForU 1st Generation

 * Komatsu Yoma
 * Maehara Shiyuna
 * Shiraishi Noria
 * Kosaka Riyu

BeForU 2nd Generation

 * Minami Sayaka
 * Sotohana Risa
 * Arisawa Miharu

BeForU 3rd Generation

 * Fukushita Megumi
 * Tachibana Ayano
 * Nishiuchi Hiromi

Albums

 * [2004.11.28] BeForU I
 * [2006.02.14] BeForU II
 * [2007.03.14] BeForU III Breaking Into The Probability Changes
 * [2008.10.08] Shangrila

Singles

 * [2004.11.18] KI・SE・KI
 * [2006.11.01] Red Rocket Rising
 * [2006.12.22] Get set GO!! ~BeForU astronauts set~
 * [2007.01.17] Strike Party!!!
 * [2007.07.11] Yohanabi
 * [2008.09.10] SHANGRI-LA

DVDs

 * [2006.05.26] BeForU First Live at Zepp Tokyo 2006
 * [2007.07.23] Going Happy! ~BeForU Major Debut Kinen~
 * [2007.08.06] BeForU LIVE 2007 ZEPP TOKYO
 * [2008.10.05] Four Piece / Live 2008 (BeForU / Riyu Kosaka)

EPs

 * [2007.03.04] 6NOTES

Songs

 * [2001] DIVE
 * [2002] Firefly
 * [2003] DIVE ~more deeper and deep mix~
 * [2003] Break Down!

Trivia

 * Was originally created to produce soundtracks for video games.
 * There was no real leader of BeForU but the leader was often assumed to be Riyu or Yoma.
 * Maehara Shiyuna was the only member not to get a solo song.
 * Kosaka Riyu wrote some of the BeForU songs.