Watanabe Mayu

Native Name	: 渡辺 麻友
Also known	: Mayuyu (まゆゆ)
Born	: March 26, 1994 Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Occupation	: Singer
Genres	: J-pop

Personal Life

Mayu Watanabe 渡辺 麻友 Watanabe Mayu born March 26, 1994 in Saitama Prefecture is a member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48, under Team B. She debuted with AKB48's Team B and has been featured on most of the group's singles title tracks. She is a member of AKB48's subgroups Watarirouka Hashiritai, Team Dragon, and NO NAME. She has also released four solo singles.

She auditioned for AKB48 and was placed in the newly formed Team B. Her first appearance on an AKB48 single title track was on "Bingo!". With the exception of singles whose lineups were determined by rock-paper-scissors tournaments, she has appeared on all the A-sides for the group's singles since then. In 2009, she placed fourth overall in the group's general election to determine the line-up for the group's 13th single. She placed fifth overall the next year for the group's 17th single.

She appeared on the cover of the December 2010 issue of UP to boy magazine together with Airi Suzuki from Cute. That was the first gravure collaboration between Hello! Project and AKB48. On May 13, 2011 she released her photo book, Mayuyu. She commented that the book "is filled with a lot of expressions that I haven’t shown until now, it’s a book I’m really pleased with!” Regarding her nude cover picture, she said, “Despite being embarrassed, I did my best on the front cover, so I want a lot of people to look at it!” In an episode of the group's variety show AKBingo!, Mayuyu and Haruka Shimazaki's nickname "Paruru" were coined by former teammate Rumi Yonezawa. For AKB48's general election in 2011, she placed fifth overall.