| GACKT | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | ガクト, Gackt C., Gackt Camui |
| Born | July 4, 1973 |
| Origin | Okinawa, Japan |
| Genres | Classical Rock Visual kei |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter, actor |
| Instruments | Multi-instrumentalist |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels | Nippon Crown/Dears, Avex |
| Associated acts | Cains:Feel, Malice Mizer, S.K.I.N. |
| Website | gackt.com |
Gackt Camui (神威 楽斗 Kamui Gakuto, born July 4, 1973[1]) is a Japanese musician. Usually referred to by his mononymous stage name (since July 2009, his name has been stylized as GACKT), he is known as the former vocalist for the now-defunct band Malice Mizer and for his current career as a solo artist. Besides Japanese, he has performed in English, Korean, Cantonese, and Mandarin.[2]
Gackt has released fourteen albums and thirty-eight singles as a solo musician. His music has been used as theme songs for various anime, television dramas, and video games, such as New Fist of the North Star, Bujingai, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, and Kamen Rider Decade, amongst others. He co-starred and co-wrote the 2003 film Moon Child and acted in the NHK drama Fūrin Kazan as Uesugi Kenshin.
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Gackt was born in Okinawa, Japan, on July 4, 1973. His father was a music teacher primarily playing the trumpet and his mother was also a teacher. According to Gackt's autobiography, he was a mischievous child and enjoyed taking risks; at age seven he nearly drowned while swimming off the coast of Okinawa. After this near-death experience, he claims to have the ability to see and speak with deceased family members, and people.[3] At the age of ten, he was hospitalized with a gastrointestinal condition and had to remain at the hospital for a prolonged time. He made the acquaintance of several terminally ill children, some of whom died during his stay.[3]
Gackt's musical education began at age three, when his parents initiated his classical piano education, which he grew tired of four years later. It would take another four years until his parents allowed him to quit. He is known for being very competitive, and when he learned that a friend was also learning piano it led to Gackt taking up the piano again so he could be better. Having only listened to classical music and enka while growing up, he didn't become interested in rock music until he was a young adult. He cites Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" as being particularly inspiring, and went on to master modern percussion and guitar.[3]
In 1995, Gackt joined Malice Mizer as the group's vocalist, lyricist and pianist. The band released several successful singles along with two albums with Gackt, entitled Voyage ~Sans Retour~ and Merveilles. At the immediate start of 1999, Gackt left Malice Mizer. Five months after Gackt's departure, Kami (then drummer of Malice Mizer and close friend of Gackt's) died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Gackt launched his solo career on May 12, 1999 with the release of the EP Mizerable. Mizerable performed well on the Oricon charts, reaching second on the weekly charts. On April 26, 2000, Gackt released his debut album, Mars; the album reached number three on the Oricon weekly chart. He released three albums, Rebirth, Moon, and Crescent each year after his debut album. Gackt's music was featured as theme songs for the anime, New Fist of the North Star[4] and Texhnolyze, as well as the video game Bujingai.[5]
In April 2003, Gackt co-wrote and co-starred in the movie Moon Child, featuring Hyde (vocalist of L'Arc~en~Ciel) and Taiwanese-American singer Leehom Wang.[6] Later that year, Gackt published his autobiography, Jihaku, and designed two guitars, named "Mercury" and "Venus", for Caparison Guitars.[7][8]
In February 2004, Gackt released his first compilation album The Sixth Day: Single Collection, which was a collection of the singer's previous A-sides. This album was followed three months later by the release of The Seventh Night: Unplugged, another compilation album, containing the acoustic arrangements of previously released songs. The unplugged theme would be continued in the release of his fifth studio album, Love Letter in February 2005. In the same year, he switched to a more alternative rock style and released his sixth studio album Diabolos and had a tour called "Diabolos ~Aien no Shi to Seiya no Namida~" which ended with a performance on December 24, 2005 at the Tokyo Dome.[9][10]
In the beginning of 2006, his single Redemption was used as the theme song for Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. He also provided voice acting, motion capturing and his likeness for the game.[11]
Beginning January 7, 2007, Gackt played the warlord Uesugi Kenshin in the NHK drama Fūrin Kazan.[12] His single "Returner ~Yami no Shūen~", was released on June 20, 2007, and was the first in his career (both solo and in a band) to reach the number one spot on the Japanese Oricon charts.[13] He provided the voice for Malthazar in the Japanese release of the film Arthur and the Minimoys[14] and in October 2007, his back catalog became available in the iTunes Store.
On December 19, 2007, Gackt released an album titled 0079–0088. It contains eight tracks, which had either previously been used on the soundtracks of the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam movies or were covers of earlier songs from the Gundam franchise.[15] It was created as a tribute to the creator of Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino, for his birthday.[16] Gackt performed on the 58th Kōhaku Uta Gassen, the 2008 annual New Year's Eve special by NHK.[17]
On May 21, 2008, he released the documentary, Amakakeru Ryu no Gotoku, which was about his time spent making the drama, Fūrin kazan. He reprised his Furin Kazan television role of Japanese warlord Uesugi Kenshin at Joetsu city's Great Kenshin Festival for the second year in a row on August 23, 2008.[2] Also in August, it was announced that he would be cast in the 2010 film Bunraku, in which he would play a samurai lord.[18]
Gackt's twenty-eighth single "Jesus" was released on November 26, 2008; it was his first single release in over a year.[19][20][21] On January 28, 2009, he released his twenty-ninth single, "Ghost", which was the opening for the Japanese version of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. To celebrate his 10 Year Anniversary Countdown, a countdown to his 10th anniversary as solo artist, Gackt released four singles, "Koakuma Heaven", "Faraway", "Lost Angels", and "Flower", a week after one another starting from June 17, 2009 and ending on July 1, 2009.[22] In September 2009, he performed as a representative of Japan at the Asia Song Festival.[23][24] On December 2, 2009, he released his seventh studio album Re:Born which continued the story he had originally created in Rebirth. A week later, he released his 36th single "Setsugekka (The End of Silence)/Zan" and both songs were theme songs for the third installment in the Samurai Warriors series video game.[25]
Gackt switched to a new record label, Avex Group "in pursuit of creating the one and only entertainment."[26] The first single with this new company, "Ever", was the theme song of the multiplayer online role-playing game Dragon Nest.[27] After the release of "Ever", Gackt held a 24-shows concert tour in six locations in June–July 2010.[28] Gackt held a male-only concert, which consisted only of rock songs, at Club Citta in Kawasaki, under using the name Yellow Fried Chickenz, which refers to human cowardice.[29] Gackt continued the Yellow Fried Chickenz tour in Europe, touring there for the first time at a very selective choice of clubs in London, Paris, Barcelona, München and Bochum.[30][31] Nippon Crown, his former record label, released a new greatest hits album The Eleventh Day: Single Collection and reissued The Sixth Day: Single Collection, and compilation album Are You "Fried Chickenz"??[32]
In February 2010, Gackt was confirmed to voice Maltazard in the Japanese dubbed version of the movie Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard. The summer of 2010 marked his theater debut as he played the lead role in the jidaigeki “Nemuri Kyoshiro Buraihikae.”[33] On August 23, 2010, Gackt participated on the 85th Great Kenshin Festival for the third time, with record attendance of more than 240,000 visitors.[34]
On May 25, 2007, the formation of the supergroup S.K.I.N. was announced which, including Gackt, consists of fellow pop/rock artist Miyavi, former Luna Sea guitarist Sugizo and X Japan co-founder Yoshiki. The group gave its debut performance at the Anime Expo convention in Long Beach, California on June 29, 2007[35] and plans to release an album.[36]
GACKT lent his voice and stage name for the creation of the Vocaloid Kamui Gakupo (神威がくぽ). Yamaha wanted to utilize the voice of a musician but felt it would be difficult to acquire cooperation. They consulted Dwango (new owner of Vocaloid publisher Internet Co., Ltd.), who suggested Gackt, as Gackt had previously provided his voice for Dwango's cell phone services.[37] Referred to alternately as Gakupoid or Gackupo, the most recent release includes a new program, OPUS Express, for mixing vocal parts with accompaniment and phoneme data.[38] The new software will be available for download for users with registered copies of previous Vocaloids. Besides the new program, Gackpoid will include two of Gackt's songs and three example songs.[39]
The product was originally intended to be released in June 2008, but although Gackt existed as a model for the Vocaloid, it lacked an illustrated avatar to match the previous Vocaloids. Popular manga author Kentarō Miura, famous for his dark fantasy epic Berserk, was approached.[40] Due to Miura's affection for Nico Nico Douga, he agreed to offer his services as character designer for free.[40] As a fan of Berserk, Gackt was more than satisfied with this arrangement, and requested Miura's sketches be faxed to him as well as the developers, even though he was on location for the filming of Guy Moshe's Bunraku.[40] Gackpoid was released on July 31, 2008.[39] Miura's design for Gakupo has a samurai aesthetic—the Vocaloid is clad in a hakama and haori, and carries a katana that somehow acts as a musical instrument.[39]
As part of both the Kamen Rider Series' Heisei period run and Gackt's solo career having their 10th anniversaries, Gackt was brought onto the 2009 edition of the Kamen Rider Series Kamen Rider Decade to perform many of its theme songs, released via Avex Trax and Avex Entertainment. This began with the series' opening theme "Journey through the Decade", and also included the series' two films' theme songs: "The Next Decade"[41] and "Stay the Ride Alive". While recording the third song, Gackt stated that each song had a theme: "Journey" (旅 Tabi), "War" (戦 Ikusa), "Eternity" (永遠 Eien).[42]
In addition to performing on the series' soundtrack, Gackt also appeared in the film Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker as Decade's iteration of Jōji Yūki; he also portrays this character in his music video for "The Next Decade".[2]
GacktJob is Gackt's live support band. Its current lineup is as follows:
Studio albums
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Compilation albums
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