Every Little Things

This article is about Every Little Thing, the Japanese band. For the song by the Beatles, see Every Little Thing (song).Every Little Thing
Also known as ELT
Origin Japan
Genre(s) J-Pop/Soft rock
Years active 1996–Present
Label(s) Avex Trax
Website http://www.avexnet.or.jp/elt/
Members
Kaori Mochida
Ichiro Ito
Former members
Mitsuru Igarashi


Every Little Thing is a J-pop and soft rock duo from Japan who debuted in August 1996 with the release of their first single called "Feel My Heart". Their name is usually written in English, and only rarely in katakana or rōmaji.

Also known as ELT by their fans, Every Little Thing was originally a trio but became a duo in 2000 with Kaori Mochida as the singer and Ichiro Ito as the guitarist. Mitsuru Igarashi left ELT following the release of their 3rd original album "eternity" to produce other artists like Dream and the now disbanded day after tomorrow, which was criticized for sounding too much like the early Every Little Thing.

The group was created by Mitsuru Igarashi in 1996. Igarashi was a producer at the label Avex Trax at that time and he was looking for a girl for a new duo with him as the keyboardist. He listened to a demo tape from Kaori Mochida, who at that time was a young girl trying to get a music contract after she went solo from her group called The Kuro Buta All-Stars (a group with many girls similar to Morning Musume). She was still in school at that point of time.

Igarashi was speechless after listening to Kaori, impressed by her strong and sweet voice at the same time. He asked her to be part of a new band, and she accepted. Igarashi had a guitarist friend, Ichiro Ito, and Igarashi asked him to help in the first single of the duo called "Feel My Heart", written, composed, produced and arranged by Igarashi himself, and Ito agreed to help his friend; after "Feel My Heart" did so well at the charts and the group was gaining popularity, Itō finally decided to stay permanently in the group with Mochida and Igarashi.

Their first studio album, called "everlasting" was a big success, selling nearly two million copies in Japan, and marking ELT as a popular group that was about to stay for a long time in the public eye. The band reached #1 at the Oricon charts for the first time with their fourth single, "For the moment".
 
The original Every Little Thing lineup

The second studio album of the band, entitled "Time to Destination", released in 1998, was one of the best-selling albums of that year, and even now, is still the best-selling album of the band. This album also included their best-selling single, "Time goes by", which was a ballad tune.

At the release of the third studio album of the band, "eternity", released in 2000, Mitsuru Igarashi decided to leave the band to produce for other artists inside Avex, and since then, Every Little Thing was known as a duo (like was planned by Igarashi at the beginning). With the release of their 16th single released, "Ai no kakera" at that time, ELT transitioned their style from Igarashi's signature synthesized pop-rock sound to a more acoustic soft rock sound. The single "sure", which was the last song that Igarashi participated in, was the first song that marked the transition, with "Ai no kakera" marking it definitely. Their single "fragile" later released on January 1, 2001 became a massive hit single, becoming one of ELT's greatest hits from all time, selling approximately 829,580 copies in 2001; its c/w song JIRENMA was one of the ending songs for the anime movie Initial D Third Stage.

Their 2004 album, "commonplace", which was mainly based on ballads and acoustic songs, was their poorest selling album to-date, with only 313,000 copies sold. ELT's popularity has declined over the years, but although many similar bands like day after tomorrow and have disbanded, ELT remains to be one of the few older bands that are still together, along with globe and Dreams Come True. In November 2004 the duo released their single "Koibumi / good night" that was a surprise for many, because it performed comparatively well at the charts, selling more than many of their previous singles. This result maybe because the 2nd song, "good night", was the theme song for the game Tales Of Rebirth.

Every Little Thing hasn't been releasing much materials lately, releasing two singles in 2004, and just one single in 2005, the soft rock "Kimi no te", and the acoustic compilation album "ACOUSTIC:LATTE".

In March 2006 the band released its 29th single "azure moon" and later close to their 10 year anniversary it released their 30th single "HI-FI-MESSAGE", an up-tempo song. A 2006-2007 concert tour followed their latest album release, "Crispy Park", which came out in August 2006. Their 31st single, "swimmy" (スイミー), theme song for the drama series "Kekkon Dekinai Otoko" (結婚できない男), was released later that month. Their latest single "Sakurabito" was released February 13, 2008 and their latest album "Door" was released on March 5, 2008 with a concert tour coming up in April.

It was announced on November 20th that lead vocalist Kaori Mochida will begin her solo career in January 2009 but both she and Itoh will continue as Every Little Thing.