Johnny & Associates, Inc.is a talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962. Johnny & Associates trains and promotes groups of male idols, collectively known as "Johnny's" in Japan
History
1962–1989
In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group called Johnnys.However, it was not until 1968 did he see his first real success with Four Leaves.Since then, Kitagawa has formed many successful acts such as solo artist Masahiko Kondo, whose song "Orokamono" (愚か者, Fool?) won the Japan Record Award at the 29th Japan Record Awards in 1987, and Hikaru Genji, which became the first Johnny's group to achieve the rare feat of having three top-selling singles on the Japanese Oricon yearly charts in 1988.
1990–present
Beginning in the 1990s, Johnny & Associates adopted a policy that they would decline the nominations of awards from organizations such as the Japan Record Awards and the Japan Academy Awards partly due to a dispute with the accurate music genre of one of their groups in the 32nd Japan Record Awards.Another reason was that the nominations would cause competition between Johnny's groups and other nominees.
1991 saw the debut of SMAP and their expansion into many other areas of entertainment such as hosting their own regular television and radio shows, appearing in commercials and acting in dramas and movies. Due to their omnipresence on television, SMAP gained popularity and their 2003 single "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" "A Flower Unlike Any Other in the World") sold over 2.57 million copies and became the ninth best-selling single in Japan.[8] In 1997, the agency started its own record label Johnny's Entertainment.
Artists
Bands subjected to Johnny's Family Club
1985: Shōnentai
1991: SMAP
1994: Tokio
1995: V6
1997: KinKi Kids
1999 : Arashi
2002: Tackey & Tsubasa
2003: NEWS
2004: Kanjani8
2006: KAT-TUN
2007: Hey! Say! JUMP
Trainees
The trainees of Johnny & Associates are collectively called Johnny's Jrs., and they have yet to debut. Jrs. typically perform both their own songs and the songs of debuted groups on variety shows such as The Shōnen Club as "training" and serve as backup dancers for the agency's debuted groups. Some groups released their works while remaining as trainees and they also sometimes collaborated with non-Johnny's Jr. debuted artists.
Main article: Johnny's Jr.
Kis-My-Ft2
A.B.C-Z
B.A.D
QUESTION
B.I.Shadow / NYC BOYS
JUNIOR'S
