Scandal (stylized SCANDAL) is a Japanese pop and rock group. Proclaiming themselves as "The Most Powerful Japanese Girlie Pop Rock", they are composed of four high school girls from Osaka, Japan: Haruna Ono, Tomomi Ogawa, Mami Sasazaki, and Rina Suzuki. Scandal is very energetic, mostly due to the fact that Ono, the eldest and leader of the band, shares lead vocals with the other three members, in order to not have a focus on one girl in particular and to give each time in the limelight.

An interesting note about the group is the unique way in which they chose to promote themselves. Since they are fans of Japanese animation and manga, they wanted to be represented in animated form, turning each member into an animated character. The animated SCANDAL is featured on a series of promotional videos on the band's website.

In August 2006, the four girls met in an Osakan vocal and dance school called Caless., As they became friends, they decided to form Scandal, writing and playing their own songs while juggling their regular school lives. Shortly thereafter, they started performing street lives every weekend at Shiroten in Osaka Castle Park. As time went on, the group started to get offers from clubs and music halls around Osaka and Kyoto.

Eventually, over one hundred fans began to consistently attend their live performances, causing the band to become noticed more in the eyes of the Japanese public. In August 2007, Scandal seized the opportunity to participate in a special event at Shibuya Club Asia, a highly recognized and respected club in Shibuya. It was during this time that record label Kitty Records (a subsidiary of Kitty Films) first asked the four girls if they would like to have their music recorded with them. Several months later, the girls had worked out a flexible independent agreement with Kitty in partnership with Tower Records.

In 2008, Scandal released three indie singles, all of which were exclusive to Tower Records. Their first indie single was released on March 3, 2008 in celebration of Girl's Day, which, despite being ranked second on Tower Records' "Indies Weekly Chart", sold out throughout Japan and had a hard time being kept in stock due to high demand. In an attempt to alleviate the fan's troubles in getting this album, the single was released on both the US and Japanese iTunes Music Store on April 9, 2008. Two more singles (in CD form) were released in the months following, both being ranked number 1 on the "Indies Weekly Chart".

Right after their first release, Scandal left Japan to go on their first international tour, "Japan Nite US Tour 2008", followed by two concerts at the Japanese cultural and anime convention, "Sakura-Con 2008" from March 16 to March 30. In July of the same year, they performed at France's Japan Expo and also at Hong Kong's Ani-Com in August. SCANDAL concluded their indie career with the release of their first mini-album, "YAH! YAH! YAH! HELLO SCANDAL".

In early September 2008, Scandal began talks with the head of Sony Music Japan due to the fact that with Kitty, their CDs were made in very limited quantities (only 2000 of each) which caused them to sell out quickly. They soon worked out a contract with Sony, who signed them on to their Epic Records label. However, due to Sony's ongoing disagreements with Apple Inc. over their iTunes Music Store and Sony's own Mora, the band's music which was formerly available on iTunes, was quickly removed from both the US and Japanese iTunes stores.

In October, they released their major debut single, entitled "Doll". It gave them more exposure, including appearances on mainstream music television shows like Music Station. They released "Sakura Goodbye" in March 2009 to commemorate Mami and Tomomi's high school graduation.The following month, "Shoujo S" was used as the tenth opening of the anime series "Bleach".This brought their popularity up even higher, as the single ranked #6 on the Oricon charts when it was released two months later in June.

On October 14th, SCANDAL released "Yumemiru Tsubasa" and their first album, "BESTSCANDAL", a week later. The album ranked #5 on the Oricon weekly chart, making them the first Japanese girl band since ZONE to have a debut album chart in the top five.On December 30, 2009, the 51st Japan Record Awards was held, of which Scandal was nominated for Best New Artist. In the end, they were voted runner-up to Korean boy band Big Bang.

In 2010, "Shunkan Sentimental" was released, which was used as the fourth ending theme of the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
(source:wikipedia)