ZONE

Best known for the triple-platinum single "Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono)," Zone is a Japanese rock band that scored several Top 10 hits during the early 2000s. The group formed in 1997 in Sapporo, Japan. Initially featuring a lineup of eight musicians, Zone scaled down its roster to four members in 1999. With teenagers Miyu Nagase, Mizuho Saito, Maiko Sakae, and Takayo Ookoshi comprising the band's all-female lineup, Zone debuted in late 1999 with the independent single "Believe in Love," then signed with Sony Music. A string of singles followed in 2001, including "Good Days," "Dai Bakuhatsu No.1," "Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono)," and "Sekai no Hon no Katasumi kara." The success of those releases — particularly "Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono)," which peaked at number 2 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart — helped set the stage of the release of Zone's major-label debut album, Z. The album arrived in early 2002 and was followed later that year by another full-length release, O. A third album, N, was released in 2004, hitting stores one month after the release of the group's J-pop single "Sotsugyō," which charted at number 5 in Japan. A two-disc compilation, E: Complete A side Singles, was released in 2005 and became the group's first album to reach Number 1. The band had already broken up by the time of E: Complete A side Singles' release, however. A posthumous release, Ura E: Complete B side Melodies, arrived in 2006. The group briefly reunited without Saito in early 2011 and released a comeback single, "Treasure of the Heart," one year later. Although the reunion was brief, the band's music continued to enjoy popularity during the 2010s and beyond, with the music video for "Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono)" even appearing on Japan's Top 100 YouTube Clips chart in 2023.

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