Kanako Momota

Kanako Momota was born on July 12, 1994, in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of 2013, she still lived near Hamamatsu Station with her parents and two brothers.

Momota has trained in rhythmic gymnastics since the age of three, and jazz dance lessons since she was in the third grade of elementary school. In fifth grade, Momota auditioned for the Stardust Promotion talent agency with the encouragement of her mother and was subsequently signed to the agency's 3B Junior section, dedicated to training girls under 18 to become actresses.In the spring of 2008, Stardust Promotion put her in a then unnamed idol (vocal and dance) group consisting of girls close to Momota's age. The project was very low budget, so they performed on the walkways in Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo. A few months later, Momota replaced Reni Takagi as group leader. In a later interview, Momoiro Clover's manager Akira Kawakami recalled that from the very beginning Momota was the hardest worker and stated that she could be serious when needed, but naïve and spontaneous at the same time.

Momota was ranked the 12th most popular Japanese idol of 2013 by Nihon Keizai Shimbun. As of 2014, she held the lead performer position for all Momoiro Clover Z songs. Her performances incorporate elements of ballet, gymnastics, and acrobatics.

In 2011, Momota appeared in Mika Ninagawa's cosplay photoshoot series in the fashion magazine Zipper dressed as a bee and a ladybug. She continued to appear as a model in Ninagawa's works in Mgirl magazine from Fall/Winter 2011/2012 and again in the issue from Spring/Summer 2013. On April 14, 2012, Momota succeeded famous child actress Mana Ashida as subhost of the Nippon Television show Meringue no Kimochi. At that time, neither she nor Momoiro Clover Z was widely known. But when in 2013 it was announced that she would leave the program after almost a year and a half, there were worries that it would affect the popularity of the show. In August 2013, Momota became the first person to appear on both the front and back covers of an issue of QuickJapan magazine, which also published a lengthy interview with her.