"The Peanuts" (Emi Ito [Birth name Hideyo Ito] and her twin sister Yumi Ito [Birth name Tsukiko Ito]) were born on April 1, 1941 in Aichi prefecture.
They were discovered by Watanabe; Pro founder Sho Watanabe. He first saw them perform at a club in Nagoya as the Ito Sisters. He brought them to Tokyo in 1958, where they were given the group name "The Peanuts".

Their records were very popular in Japan during the 1950's & 1960's. They've appeared in the U.S. on "The Ed Sullivan Show". They also appeared in several films including several Mothra and Godzilla films. The duo retired from performing 4 April 1975.

The group W [Double U -- Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji] from Hello! Project have brought them back into the spotlight by covering their songs such as Koi no Vacance (Vacation of Love) and Jounetsu No Hana (Passion Flower).

Emi Ito died on June 15th, 2012, at the age of 71. Yumi Ito died on May 18th, 2016, at the age of 75. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.