Shikao Suga

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Shikao Suga
スガ シカオ
Birth name Shikao Suga
菅 止戈男
Born July 28, 1966 (1966-07-28) (age 41)
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Genre(s) J-Pop, Jazz
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Instrument(s) Guitar
Years active 1995–present
Label(s) Universal Music/Kitty MME
(1997–2003)
Augusta Record/BMG Japan
(2003–present)
Website Shikao Suga Official Website

Shikao Suga (スガ シカオ Suga Shikao?, born July 28, 1966) is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter from Tokyo. Though he uses katakana for his recording name, the kanji for his name are 菅 止戈男, but the romanization is the same. Suga is his family name and Shikao is his given name.

After graduating from Tokyo Keizai University, he worked as a "salaryman" for four years in the advertisement industry. Debuting with a major label EP album release in 1997, his J-Pop music has jazz, funk and soul influence, coupled with beautiful and moving lyrics.

Several of his songs have been used in the TV anime show Honey and Clover, including Hachigatsu no Serenade, Tsuki to Knife and Yubikiri. Yozora no Mukō, the song he wrote the lyrics to, and sung by Smap, has appeared in several Japanese music textbooks. He also did the theme song to the movie xxxHOLiC: Manatsu no Yoru no Yume , Sanagi ~theme from xxxHOLiC the movie~ and the theme song to the xxxHOLiC TV series called Jūkyū-sai. Manatsu no Yoru no Yume has appeared in the recent Death Note live action movie as an insert song. Also, his song Yūdachi was used as the closing theme for the movie Boogiepop and Others[1] and the opening theme for the 2000 anime series Boogiepop Phantom. More recently, Nobody Knows was used as the opening theme of the second season of the xxxHOLiC TV series, xxxHOLiC Kei.

From October 3, 2005, until March 27, 2006, he was hosting a radio program called Night Stories Monday on J-Wave radio station which was downloadable as a podcast.[2]

Contents

[edit] Collaborations

He has been a member of Fukumimi, a band formed by artists from the same label Office Augusta; it consisted of Shikao Suga, Chitose Hajime, Masayoshi Yamazaki, Kyoko (杏子), COIL, Araki Yuko (mi-gu), and Sukima Switch. He has provided work to other artists:

  • Kyoko: Happy Birthday (music, lyrics)
  • SMAP: Koko ni Iru Koto (music, lyrics, arrangement), Yozora no Mukō (lyrics)
  • Chisato Moritaka: Tanpopo no Tane (music, arrangement), Mahiru no Hoshi (music)
  • KAT-TUN: Real Face (lyrics)
  • Arashi: Aozora Pedal (music, lyrics)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

  1. Hit Chart o Kakenukero (ヒットチャートをかけぬけろ Dash Through the Hit Charts) (February 26, 1997)
  2. Ōgon no Tsuki (黄金の月 The Golden Moon) (May 28, 1997)
  3. Dokidoki Shichau (ドキドキしちゃう Heart Pounding) (July 30, 1997)
  4. Ai ni Tsuite (愛について About Love) (November 21, 1997)
  5. Story (ストーリー) (May 27, 1998)
  6. Bokutachi no Hibi (ぼくたちの日々 Our Days) (November 18, 1998)
  7. Yoake Mae (夜明けまえ Before Dawn) (June 23, 1999)
  8. Amai Kajitsu (あまい果実 Sweet Fruit) (August 18, 1999)
  9. Spirit (SPIRIT) (August 2, 2000)
  10. Affair (AFFAIR) (October 12, 2000)
  11. Hachigatsu no Serenade (8月のセレナーデ August Serenade) (August 1, 2001)
  12. Aozora/Cloudy (青空／Cloudy Blue Sky/Cloudy) (January 17, 2002)
  13. Asymmetry (アシンメトリー Asymmetry) (May 29, 2002)
  14. Sayonara/Kimagure (サヨナラ/気まぐれ Goodbye/Whim) (February 26, 2003)
  15. Himitsu (秘密 Secret) (May 12, 2004)
  16. Climax (クライマックス Climax) (August 25, 2004)
  17. Hikari no Kawa (光の川 River of Light) (October 27, 2004)
  18. Kiseki/Natsukage/Sanagi (奇跡/夏陰/サナギ Miracle/Summer Shade/Chrysalis) (August 10, 2005)
  19. Jūkyū-sai (19才 19 Years Old) (April 26, 2006)
  20. Manatsu no Yoru no Yume (真夏の夜のユメ A Midsummer Night's Dream) (June 21, 2006)
  21. Gogo no Parade (午後のパレード Afternoon Parade) (September 6, 2006)
  22. Phonoscope (フォノスコープ Phonoscope) (June 13, 2007)
  23. Nobody Knows (NOBODY KNOWS) (May 14, 2008)

[edit] Mini album

  1. 0101 (1995)

[edit] Studio albums

  1. Clover (September 7, 1997)
  2. Family (June 24, 1998)
  3. Sweet (September 8, 1999)
  4. 4Flusher (October 25, 2000)
  5. Smile (May 7, 2003)
  6. Time (November 17, 2004)
  7. Parade (September 6, 2006)

[edit] Live, compilation & other albums

  1. Sugarless (October 3, 2001)
  2. The Best Hits of Live Recordings -Thank You- (November 5, 2003)
  3. All Singles Best (January 24, 2007)
  4. All Lives Best (October 10, 2007)

[edit] DVDs

  1. +731 (February 26, 2002)
  2. 1095 (February 26, 2002)
  3. 20 Music Clips of Suga Shikao (May 12, 2004)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Boogiepop wa Warawanai: Boogiepop and Others. IMDb.com, Inc. Accessed March 26, 2008.
  2. ^ Night Stories Monday (Shikao Suga). (Japanese) J-Wave, Inc. Accessed March 25, 2008.

[edit] External links