Noodle is a fictional Japanese musician, singer, and member of the British virtual band Gorillaz. She provides the lead guitar and keyboards, as well as some occasional lead and backing vocals for the band. Like all other band members of Gorillaz, she was created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Noodle has been voiced by Haruka Kuroda, Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto, and Haruka Abe. Development Characterization Noodle was originally conceptualised by co-creator Jamie Hewlett as a 17-year-old girl named Paula Cracker, but co-creator Damon Albarn noted that the character was too similar to the characters that Hewlett is typically known for drawing, and recommended that he attempt to create "something different". Taking Albarn's advice, Hewlett designed an illustration of a 10-year-old Japanese girl named Noodle. Jamie Hewlett has stated in interviews that Noodle is his favourite Gorillaz character. She was created by Hewlett and Albarn in 1998 and made her first official appearance in Gorillaz' debut EP Tomorrow Comes Today in 2000. Voice Noodle has had her singing and speaking voices provided by several people over the years. In the band's 2001 self-titled debut album, her singing voice was originally provided by Cibo Matto singer Miho Hatori, and her speaking voice was originally provided by actress Haruka Kuroda, who performed as a backing vocalist for Gorillaz' 2001 tour. Hatori was suggested as the singing voice of Noodle by producer Dan the Automator, who had previously worked with her for a track by Handsome Boy Modeling School. Her vocals for "19-2000" were sometimes provided by Humanz collaborator Kilo Kish (from the track "Out of Body") when the song was performed on the Humanz Tour. Noodle is depicted as the lead vocalist for the Demon Days single "Dare", in which the vocals were actually provided by R&B singer Roses Gabor (aka Rosie Wilson). In 2016, Gabor re-recorded her vocals for "Dare" for a version of the song called "Dare (Hold it Down)" recorded by English artist DJ Friction, which was approved by Albarn. Gabor has since performed with Gorillaz as a backup vocalist on the Humanz single "Andromeda". Since 2018, Noodle's speaking voice has been provided by Japanese-English actress Haruka Abe. In the Gorillaz era of the band, Noodle had little knowledge of the English language and spoke exclusively in Japanese until the Demon Days era of Gorillaz. When she first started speaking English, she spoke the language with