The Peanuts ヒットパレード (The Hit Parade) (1960)

The Peanuts (ザ・ピーナッツ Za Pīnattsu) were a Japanese vocal group consisting of twin sisters Emi Itō (伊藤エミ, Itō Emi) and Yumi Itō (伊藤ユミ, Itō Yumi). They were born in Nagoya, Japan in January 1941. Their uniqueness was their being monozygotic twins, with voices only slightly apart in timbre which resulted in their singing together sounding like a solo artist using double tracking or reverb).

While still in high school, the twins were discovered by a talent scout while performing at a night club and were brought to Tokyo where they became the first clients for Watanabe Productions. In 1959, the Peanuts became a hit at the Nichigeki theater. That same year, they released their first recording, Kawaii Hana ("Cute Flower"). In their early years they sang Japanese covers of standards, foreign hits, and Japanese folk songs; then they began singing originals, written by their producer, Hiroshi Miyagawa, and such songwriters as Koichi Sugiyama and Rei Nakanishi. They were the first to perform "Koi no Vacance".

Later, the twins embarked on a brief acting career, appearing as Mothra's twin fairies, known as the Shobijin, in the 1961 film Mothra, and the 1964 films Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. In the audio commentary for the DVD of Mothra vs. Godzilla, it is noted that director Ishirō Honda fondly recalled the Itos' professionalism. Though not primarily actresses by trade, they were surprisingly skilled, learned their lines quickly, and always worked on time, despite their own busy schedules.

While the Peanuts were born identical twins, Emi had a mole near her left eye. To preserve their identical twin image, Yumi would have a mole drawn near her left eye.

They appeared in the United States on The Ed Sullivan Show on April 3, 1966, performing "Lover Come Back to Me".

Unusual for Japanese singers at the time, the duo had success in Germany, as well as in Austria. In 1963 Caterina Valente was in Japan where the duo caught her attention. Valente invited them to Germany. On the occasion of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Michael Pfleghar produced the opening ceremonies, where both were also invited, and the musical director Heinz Kiessling produced German-language recordings with them, including "Souvenirs from Tokyo". In 1965, Pfleghar cast them in two other shows "The Smile in the West" and "Schlager-Festspiele". In total, they released eight singles in the German language between 1964 and 1967. In 1965 "Souvenirs from Tokyo" reached No. 18 on the Austrian charts and spent 2 weeks at No. 40 on the German Billboard charts. In 1967 "Bye, Bye Yokohama" spent 4 weeks on the Germany charts, rising to No. 30. In 1966, the duo also performed at the Olympia in Paris.

The pair retired from performing in 1975 after Emi married fellow Nabepro star Kenji Sawada. The duo is remembered most for its versions of European songs and for a handful of Japanese pop songs, such as "Furimukanaide" ("Don't Turn Around").

Emi Itō died on June 15, 2012, at the age of 71. Yumi died on May 18, 2016, at the age of 75.

RIP

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