Sharam Q Josei Rock Vocalist Audition

Sharan Q Josei Rock Vocalist Audition (シャ乱Q女性ロックボーカリストオーディション; Sharan Q Female Rock Vocalist Audition) was an audition airing on the TV show ASAYAN from April to August 1997, featuring the band Sharan Q looking for a female vocalist for their band.

Audition Details
Auditions took place in Fukuoka, Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo. Kouguchi Azusa, Aoki Akiko, Nakatomi Kazumi and Matsumoto Yumie passed the Fukuoka auditions, Fukuda Asuka, Kawamura Risa and Kabutomori Masayo passed the Tokyo auditions, Nakazawa Yuko and Heike Michiyo passed the Osaka auditions, and Iida Kaori, Ishiguro Aya and Abe Natsumi passed the Sapporo auditions.

The 11 finalists trained singing and dancing at a camp (temple), and danced and sung an original song at the final audition in August. They were also interviewed one on one by Tsunku. Heike Michiyo was announced as the winner (despite forgetting the lyrics)

1st Round
Auditions were held in four cities (Fukuoka, Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo), with 9900 people auditioning.
 * Fukuoka Audition (11 people passing / about 1,000 people)


 * Tokyo Audition (19 people passing / about 5,000 people)
 * Fukuda: "BREAK OUT!" (Aikawa Nanase)
 * Osaka Audition (14 people passing / about 3,000 people)
 * Heike: "Anytime smokin ' "Cigarette" (globe)


 * Nakazawa: " 　La et al." (Okaki Maki)
 * Sapporo Audition (8 people passing / about 1,000 people)
 * Ishiguro: "Please come if you have a complaint!" (RieScrAmble)


 * Iida: "STEADY" (SPEED )


 * Abe: "FACE" (Globe)

2nd Round - Tokyo Studio review
58 people advanced to the second round. They had to sing on stage before an audience. Sharam Q reviewed the girls performance and personalities on VTR. Abe Natsumi and automatically passed to the final round.

52 people advance to the secondary examination

3rd round
11 people advanced to the final stage. They went through a temple training camp, and singing examination of preliminary song GET.

Fukuda Asuka, Kawamura Risa, Kabutomori Masayo], [Kouguchi Azusa, Aoki Akiko, Nakatomi Kazumi, Matsumoto Yumie, Nakazawa Yuko, Heike Michiyo, Iida Kaori, Ishiguro Aya, Abe Natsumi .

Final stage
Singing a song on stage at ASAYAN with audience. General review by Sharam Q.

Nakatomi Kazumi sang Amuro Namie's " sweet 19 blues"

[Kouguchi Azusa]] Aoki Akiko Matsumoto Yumie

11 finalists dance in the studio and are interviewed. compete in final stage of audition. Each one sings "GET" then speak to Tsunku. Afterwards they watch a video of Sharan Q deciding the winner. Heike Michiyo is chosen as the winner.

Finalists
Kouguchi Azusa

Aoki Akiko

Nakatomi Kazumi (15)

Matsumoto Yumie

Fukuda Asuka (12)

Kawamura Risa (河村理沙) (16)

Kabutomori Masayo  (兜森雅代) (19)

Nakazawa Yuko

Heike Michiyo

Iida Kaori (15)

Ishiguro Aya (19)

Abe Natsumi (15)

Results

 * Heike Michiyo is chosen as the winner, despite forgetting the lyrics.

Trivia

 * Heike Michiyo never became a part of the band, but was given a solo career instead. Her debut single was the original song sung at the final audition. Five of the losers, Iida Kaori, Ishiguro Aya, Abe Natsumi,Nakazawa Yuko and Fukuda Asuka, were given a chance to debut as a group if their debut single sold over 50.000 copies. They managed to do so in four days and made their debut as Morning Musume.
 * Fukuda Asuka sang Nanase Aikawa's "Break Out", Amuro Namie's "BODY FEELS EXIT", and Kudo Shizuka's "Furious". Nakazawa Yuko sang Ohguro Maki's "La.La.La".
 * Abe Natsumi's audition number was #1111, Iida Kaori's was #627, and Ishiguro Aya's was #36.
 * Ishiguro Aya passed the audition in Sapporo. She had also pariticpated in the auditions in Tokyo.
 * Abe Natsumi's father drove her from Muroran to the audition in Sapporo, which is a three hour drive. Abe sang globe's "FACE", a song she also sang in the Tokyo Studio review. She wanted to sing UA's "When the clouds tears", because she wanted to show individuality instead of singing just another popular song but she couldn't find (or had the time to find) an instrumental so she declined singing it.
 * Kawamura Risa went on to be a Okashi Gravure Idol.