Maki Goto 後藤真希

# Name: 後藤真希
# Name (romaji): Maki Goto
# Nicknames: Gottchan, Gotsuan, Gocchin, Gomaki, Gomachan and Makirin
# Profession: Actress and singer
# Birthdate: 1985-Sep-23
# Birthplace: Edogawa, Tokyo, Japan
# Height: 159cm
# Star sign: Libra
# Blood type: O+
# Family: Two older sisters and younger brother/singer Yuki
# Talent agency: Up-Front Works

Maki Goto (後藤真希, Goto Maki, born September 23, 1985 in Edogawa, Tokyo, Japan) is a J-pop singer currently signed to the sublabel Rhythm Zone under the Avex Trax label. Before joining Avex, she was a soloist of Hello! Project and member of Morning Musume. She has performed in numerous Hello! Project subgroups such as Petitmoni, Akagumi 4, 7-nin Matsuri, Sexy 8, Gomattou and Nochiura Natsumi.

Biography
In 1999, Maki Goto was selected as the only member for the 3rd generation of Morning Musume. Their first single after Goto joined, "Love Machine" sold over a million copies, over nine times the amount of copies they had sold for their previous single. During her time in Morning Musume she was one of the founding members of Pucchi Moni and she started a solo singing career in 2001 with the single "Ai no Bakayarō" (愛のバカやろう, "Ai no Bakayarō"?). Until her graduation from Morning Musume she was one of the leading vocalists in most of the songs released. Post-graduation she has mostly concentrated on her solo career and occasionally on limited time Hello! Project units such as Gomattou, Nochiura Natsumi, and DEF.DIVA. As time has passed, she has increasingly concentrated on acting in addition to singing. She has also performed at the Asia song festival 2005 in Pusan, Korea to represent Japan.

In early 2007, Goto was chosen to be a member of Morning Musume Tanjō 10 Nen Kinentai —a unit created to celebrate Morning Musume's 10th anniversary as a group. Morning Musume Tanjō 10 Nen Kinentai also consists of Natsumi Abe, Kaori Iida, Risa Niigaki and Koharu Kusumi. Their single, Bokura ga Ikiru My Asia, was released on January 24, 2007.

Her seventeenth single, Secret (シークレット, Secret?), was released on April 11, 2007. On September 19, 2007, Goto's fourth original album How to Use Sexy was released.

On October 20, 2007, Goto's younger brother and former member of EE Jump idol group Yūki Goto (祐樹, Yūki Goto?) was arrested on the grounds he and two accomplices, aged 18 and 19, had broken into a construction site in Edogawa, Tokyo on July 15, 2007 and made off with 80 reels of electric cable worth approximately 1 million yen. According to Flash magazine, Goto and one of her brother's accomplices had been romantically involved for some time, after the two met at Yūki's wedding in 2005. Due to the circumstances surrounding the robbery scandal, they haven't been in contact with each other.

On October 28, 2007, during the last concert of her G-EmotionII ~How to Use Sexy~ tour, Goto suddenly announced to fans that she would be graduating from Hello! Project,[3][4] though she was also leaving UpFront Agency completely. Her graduation was said to be that she was overworked and overly stressed, causing her health problems. She also had different ideas of the direction of her career than what her agency had planned.[5] Because of her graduation, she would not be able to participate in the Hello! Project 2008 Winter concert tour, previously said to be because of "scheduling conflicts".

Goto's official blog reopened on March 25, 2008. Over the course of several entries, she revealed that she was in Los Angeles, California, taking singing and dancing lessons. In mid-June, rumours were confirmed that Goto signed under the label Rhythm Zone, an Avex Trax sublabel.

Albums
# Title Release date Rank/Sales
1 Makking Gold 1 (マッキングGold①, Makking Gold 1?) 2003-02-05 #4 / 104,999
2 2 Paint It Gold (②ペイント イット ゴールド, 2 Paint It Gold?) 2004-01-28 #4 / 52,040
3 3rd Station (3rd ステーション, 3rd Station?) 2005-02-23 #11 / 32,356
– Goto Maki Premium Best 1 (後藤真希 プレミアムベスト①, Goto Maki Premium Best 1?) 2005-12-14 #9 / 29,626
4 How to Use Sexy 2007-09-19 #18 / 14,996

Singles
# Title Release date Rank/Sales
1 "Ai no Bakayarou" (愛のバカやろう, Love Fool?) 2001-03-28 #1 / 434,790 †
2 "Afurechau...Be in Love" (溢れちゃう．．．Be in Love, Gonna Overflow...Be in Love?) 2001-09-19 #2 / 210,360
3 "Te o Nigitte Arukitai" (手を握って歩きたい, I Want to Walk Holding Hands?) 2002-05-09 #3 / 104,630
4 "Yaruki! It's Easy" (やる気! It's Easy, Motivation! It's Easy?) 2002-08-21 #2 / 113,260
5 "Sans Toi m'Amie / Kimi to Itsumademo"
(サントワマミー/君といつまでも, Without You, My Love/Always With You?) 2002-12-18 #6 / 58,644
6 "Uwasa no Sexy Guy" (うわさのSexy Guy, Rumoured Sexy Guy?) 2003-03-19 #6 / 61,424
7 "Scramble" (スクランブル, Sukuramburu?) 2003-06-18 #5 / 46,181
8 "Daite yo! Please Go On" (抱いてよ! Please Go On, Hold Me! Please Go On?) 2003-08-27 #4 / 58,501
9 "Genshoku Gal Hade ni Ikube!" (原色Gal派手に行くべ!, Primary Color Gal Goes All Out!?) 2003-11-27 #3 / 45,494
10 "Sayonara no Love Song" (サヨナラのLove Song, Love Song of Goodbye?) 2004-03-17 #5 / 35,126
11 "Yokohama Shinkirō" (横浜蜃気楼, Yokohama Mirage?) 2004-07-07 #8 / 30,984
12 "Sayonara 'Tomodachi ni wa Naritakunai no'"
(さよなら「友達にはなりたくないの」, Goodbye "I Don't Want to Be Friends"?) 2004-11-17 #9 / 29,004
13 "Suppin to Namida" (スッピンと涙。, Tears and a Face With No Make-Up?) 2005-07-06 #9 / 20,709
14 "Ima ni Kitto...In My Life" (今にきっと…In My Life, Surely Soon...In My Life?) 2006-01-25 #12 / 21,409
15 "Glass no Pumps" (ガラスのパンプス, Glass Pumps?) 2006-06-07 #7 / 27,907
16 "Some Boys! Touch" 2006-10-11 #5 / 29,459
17 "Secret" (シークレット, Shīkuretto?) 2007-04-11 #9 / 14,861

The only Hello! Project solo release to go to #1 on the weekly charts.

Other
* 2003-03-05 Ken & Mary no Merikenko On Stage! Original Cast Ban

Movies
* 2000 – Pinch Runner
* 2002 – Nama Tamago
* 2003 – Seishun Bakachin Ryorijuku
* 2003 – Koinu Dan no Monogatari

TV dramas
* 2001 – Mariya
* 2002 – Yan Papa
* 2003 – R.P.G.
* 2005 – Yoshitsune
* 2006 – Yubi