Kazutoshi Sakurai

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Kazutoshi Sakurai
Born March 8, 1970 (1970-03-08) (age 38)
Tokyo, Japan
Genre(s) J-Pop, J-Rock, Rock
Occupation(s) Musician, singer, songwriter, composer
Years active 1992-present
Label(s) TOY'S FACTORY
Associated acts Mr.Children, Bank Band, ACID TEST
Website Mr.Children Official Web Site

Kazutoshi Sakurai (桜井和寿 Sakurai Kazutoshi?, real name 櫻井和寿 March 8, 1970 in Tokyo) is a Japanese musician and entrepreneur. He composes and writes almost all of the songs for his band Mr. Children, in addition to writing lyrics and singing for his solo project group Bank Band. In 2006, Sakurai ranked #8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time"[1] and in 2007 was voted #4 as the "ideal father image" by Oricon.[2] As an entrepreneur, he co-founded 'AP Bank', short for Artists Power where he personally provided $1 million dollars of seed money to launch and fund the nonprofit lending group which finances environmentally friendly projects.[3]

Contents

[edit] Musical career

Kazutoshi Sakurai is a person that many people, regardless of interest, recognize and respect in the Japanese music industry. As a lyricist, he is regarded as one of the best out there, even going as far to being deemed a genius for the genre of j-pop and rock by many of his fans and peers, causing his lyrics to be frequently analyzed in music magazines,[4] and is one of the main reasons why Mr. Children is still popular after 15 years in Japan. As a lyricist, the topics Sakurai focuses on ranges from various subject such a social issues ('So Let's Get Truth'), science/technology ('Everything is made from a dream'), depression ('Surrender'), love ('Shirushi'), and war ('1999 Nen, Natsu, Okinawa'). As a vocalist, his voice is very distinct thus making Mr. Children songs easy to recognize. Alongside his vocal and writing talents, he can also play various instruments including the guitar, piano and harmonica.

For most of Sakurai's musical career, he has been part of Mr. Children, but has done other work including in 1995 where he sang and produced the charity single 'Kiseki no hoshi' with Keisuke Kuwata (from Southern All Stars) for the Act Against AIDS campaign, in addition to being a disc jockey for "Music Gambo" on FM802. Sakurai has two side project bands: ACID-TEST (a John Lennon tribute band which is no longer active) and Bank Band.

Sakurai was temporarily hospitalized on July 21, 2002, after a blockage in his cerebellum was detected[5] and spent 4 months recovering from the surgery, which required all his music activities, including Mr. Children's 'The Wonderful World tour' to be canceled, but returned to the stage on December 21, 2002 for a one night live, later released on DVD, titled Wonederful World on Dec. 21. In June 2003 Sakurai help co-found AP Bank, a nonprofit bank, with a goal of tackling environmental problems. Along with music producer Kobayashi Takeshi, and world-renowned composer Sakamoto Ryuichi, the bank invests only in environmentally friendly projects as renewable energy. Together the 3 men invested 100 million yen each.[6] In addition to the bank, Sakurai also co-started AP Bank fes., a yearly festival that raises awareness about environmental issues such as recycling and global warming, with all profits from the festival going to fund more projects at AP Bank.

As a solo act, Sakurai has written and composed the song 'Tegami' on Atari Kousuke's mini-album 'Natsukasha no shima' released on October 11th, 2006, co-wrote and sang the single 'Te wo Dasuna!' with Gaku-MC on May 31, 2006, and as Bank Band teamed up with Salyu to release the song 'to U' on July 19, 2006. In 2007, he was a guest vocal on Kai Yoshihiro's '10 Stories' album which did a cover song of 'Kurumi' and appeared as a secret guest at Golden Circle Vol.10 on April 8 and April 9. Sakurai along with Yumi Matsutoya, Yohito Teraoka, and Yuzu performed 'Dandelion', 'Mamotte agetai', 'Destiny', 'Natsu iro', and 'Music'.[7] From the songs performed, Sakurai co-wrote the lyrics to 'Music' which was later released on July 11, 2007 but did not join in the recording of the single. With Bank Band, Sakurai announced in July 2007 he had written a new theme song for ap bank fes. '07 titled 'Yoku kita ne'.[8]. On September 1, 2007 Bank Band released their first iTunes only song titled 'Harumatsu ibuki'. The song was used as the theme song for the Japanese movie 'Midnight eagle', with the lyrics written by Kazutoshi Sakurai. Part of the profits from the song will be donated to people affected by the Nigata earthquake, with the rest of the profits going to fund more projects at ap bank.[9]

[edit] Singles

[edit] Bank Band
  1. to U (2006)
  2. Harumatsu ibuki (2007)

[edit] Albums

[edit] Bank Band
  1. Soushi Sousai (2004)
  2. Soushi Sousai 2 (2008)

[edit] ACID TEST
  1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN! ~A Tribute to John Lennon~ (2005)

[edit] DVD

[edit] Bank Band
  1. BGM Vol.2 (2004)
  2. ap fes '05 (2005)
  3. ap fes '06 (2006)
  4. ap fes '07 (2008)

[edit] References

  1. ^ 日本のシンガーTOP30 - 第8位 (Top 30 Japanese singer -Top 30- #8) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-07-09.
  2. ^ 理想の父親像アーティストランキング、桑田佳祐が1位 (Ideal father image artist rank and Keisuke Kuwata is #1) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
  3. ^ TIME Magazine: Moguls & Entrepreneurs - Kazutoshi Sakurai and Takeshi Kobayashi. Retrieved on 2008-01-08.
  4. ^ (2007) HOMEのしるし -デザイン- (Shirushi's Home -design-), 別冊カドカワ総力特集 Mr.Children (Separate volume Kadokawa special issue Mr.Children) (in Japanese). Kadokawa television, p. 171. ISBN 978-4-04-894488-5. 
  5. ^ ミスチル桜井が漏らした重病のホンネ (Serious illness of Mr.Children's Sakurai leaked) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  6. ^ The eco-friendly bank (English). Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  7. ^ Golden Circle Vol.10 live report (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  8. ^ ap bank fes. '07 (Message from Kazutoshi Sakurai) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
  9. ^ Bank Bandの新曲が、配信のみで急遽リリース決定！ (Bank Band new song release, by download only!) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-05.

[edit] External links