V6 (band)

V6
Origin Tokyo, Japan
Genres Pop, rock
Years active 1995–present
Labels Avex Trax
Associated acts J-Friends
Website www.avexnet.or.jp/v6
Members 20th Century
Masayuki Sakamoto
Hiroshi Nagano
Yoshihiko Inohara
Coming Century
Go Morita
Ken Miyake
Junichi Okada

V6 (ブイシックス Bui Shikkusu) is a six-member Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. The group debuted on November 1, 1995 with the single "Music for the People", which was used as the image song for the World Cup of Volleyball in 1995. Their first four singles, including "Music for the People", were all cover versions of the same-titled eurobeat songs composed by Italian producers such as Giancarlo Pasquini, Andrea Leonardi, Alberto Contini, Sandro Oliva.

Similar to their agency seniors Hikaru Genji, the group is separated into two subgroups based on age. For V6, the group is split into 20th Century and Coming Century, which consists of the three oldest members and three youngest members respectively.

History

Name

In an interview on Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, the group stated that the "V" in V6 also stood for "Versus" (20th Century versus Coming Century) at first. However, then-president Johnny Kitagawa informed the group that the "V" had multiple meanings, such as "Volleyball", "Vegetable" (as Sakamoto's parents own a green grocers), "Bicycle" ("V" and "B" are indistinguishable in Japanese; Nagano's parents own a cycling store) and "Veteran".[1]

1995—present

From 1997 to 2008, V6 hosted their own variety show Gakkō e Ikō (学校へ行こう Let's Go to School)[2] and is hosting Viva Viva V6 since 2001 on Fuji TV.[3] Along with their group shows, the members also have individual TV shows, dramas or radio programs.

V6 celebrated their tenth year anniversary in 2005, commemorating the event by holding about thirty concerts in sold-out arenas all over Japan, holding 3 major "Thank You Events", releasing the movie Hold Up Down and releasing Musicmind as their new album. They also had a rare "Handshake Session" with hundreds of thousands of fans in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka.[4]

As separate bands, both of them performed the opening song for the anime, Eyeshield 21. Coming Century performed "Breakthrough", the first opening theme song and 20th Century performed "Innocence", the second opening theme song. As V6, they performed "Chain of Power" as an insert song. They also sang "Change the World" and "Brand New World", the 1st opening and 8th ending themes, respectively of the popular anime InuYasha

Members

20th Century (Tonisen)
Profile Nickname Member Color
Masayuki Sakamoto (坂本 昌行 Sakamoto Masayuki) (leader of V6, Tonisen) born July 24, 1971, Tokyo 　Ma-kun, Riidaa (leader) ■ Blue
Hiroshi Nagano (長野 博 Nagano Hiroshi) born October 9, 1972, Yamato, Kanagawa 　Hiroshi, Nagano-kun ■ Purple
Yoshihiko Inohara (井ノ原 快彦 Inohara Yoshihiko) born May 17, 1976, Tokyo 　Inocchi ■ Green
Coming Century (Kamisen)
Profile Nickname Member Color
Go Morita (森田 剛 Morita Gō) (leader of Kamisen) born February 20, 1979, Kasukabe, Saitama 　Go-kun, Go-tsun ■ Red
Ken Miyake (三宅 健 Miyake Ken) born July 2, 1979, Kanagawa 　Ken-kun, Ken-chan　 ■ Orange
Junichi Okada (岡田 准一 Okada Jun'ichi) born November 18, 1980, Hirakata, Osaka 　Jun-kun, Okada-kun ■ Yellow

Note: Colours based upon the concert Sexy.Honey.Bunny! which are their member colours.

Discography

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
Oricon Singles Charts
[5]		 Billboard Japan Hot 100
[6]
"MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE" 1995 3 — Since 1995 ~ Forever
"MADE IN JAPAN" 1996 1 —
"BEAT YOUR HEART" 1 —
"TAKE ME HIGHER" 1 — NATURE RHYTHM
"Ai Nanda" (愛なんだ) 1997 1 —
"Honki ga Ippai" (本気がいっぱい) 1 —
"WA Ni Natte Odorou" (WAになっておどろう) 2 —
"GENERATION GAP" 1 — A JACK IN THE BOX
"Be Yourself!" 1998 1 —
"Tsubasa ni Nare" (翼になれ) 3 —
"over/EASY SHOW TIME" 1 — "LUCKY" 20th Century, Coming Century to be continued...
"Believe Your Smile" 1999 1 —
"Jiyuude Aru Tame Ni" (自由であるために) 2 —
"Taiyou no Ataru Basho" (太陽のあたる場所) 3 — "HAPPY" Coming Century, 20th Century Forever
"MILLENNIUM GREETING" 2000 3 —
"IN THE WIND" 2 —
"CHANGE THE WORLD" 3 — Volume 6
"Ai no Melody" (愛のMelody) 2001 3 —
"Kiseki no Hajimari/SHODO (Coming Century)" (キセキのはじまり/SHODO) 3 —
"Dasenai Tegami" (出せない手紙) 1 — seVen
"Feel your breeze/one" (feat. S.E.S. Shoo) 2002 1 —
"Mejirushi no Kioku" (メジルシの記憶) 2003 4 — ∞ INFINITY ~LOVE & LIFE~
"Darling" 1 —
"Cosmic Rescue/Tsuyokunare" (COSMIC RESCUE/強くなれ) 1 —
"Arigatou no Uta" (ありがとうのうた) 2004 1 — musicmind
"Thunderbird -your voice-" (サンダーバード) 2 —
"UTAO-UTAO" 2005 1 —
"Orange" 1 — Very Best II
"Good Day!" (グッデイ!) 2006 1 — Voyager
"Honey Beat/Boku to Bokura no Ashita" (HONEY BEAT/僕と僕らのあした) 2007 1 —
"Jasmine/Rainbow" (ジャスミン/Rainbow) 1 —
"way of life" 1 — READY?
"Chou" (蝶) 2008 2 3
"LIGHT IN YOUR HEART/Swing!" 1 2
"Spirit" (スピリット) 2009 1 1
"GUILTY" 1 2
"only dreaming/Catch" 2010 1 3 Oh! My! Goodness!
"Sexy Honey Bunny/Takaranoishi" (Sexy.Honey.Bunny!/タカラノイシ) 2011 2 2
"Baribari Buddy!" (バリバリBUDDY!) 2012 2 3
"kEEP oN." 3 4
"ROCK YOUR SOUL" 1 29
"Kimi ga Omoidasu Boku wa Kimi o Aishite Irudarou ka" (君が思い出す僕は 君を愛しているだろうか) 2013 3 3 TBA
"Namida no Ato ga Kieru Koro" (涙のアトが消える頃) 2014 2 2
"Sky's The Limit" 1 1
"—" denotes items which were released before the creation of the Billboard Japan Hot 100.

20th Century

Date Title Peak
1st 1999/11/25 "Wishes ~I'll Be There~/You'll Be in My Heart" (Marsa Sakamoto) 10
2nd 2000/9/20 "Precious Love" 9
3rd 2008/3/26 "Ore Ja Nakya, Kimi Ja Nakya" (オレじゃなきゃ、キミじゃなきゃ) 1

Coming Century

Date Title Peak
1st 1998/5/27 "Natsu no Kakera" (夏のかけら) 2
2nd 2001/9/19 "Get Set Go!/Mimycen" 6

J-Friends

DVD

Date Title Peak
1st 2008/7/30 "VIBES" 1

|}

Studio albums

  • 1996: Since 1995 ~ Forever
  • 1997: Nature Rhythm
  • 1998: A Jack in the Box
  • 1999: "Lucky" 20th Century, Coming Century to be continued...
  • 2000: "Happy" Coming Century, 20th Century Forever
  • 2001: Volume 6
  • 2002: Seven
  • 2003: Infinity: Love and Life
  • 2005: Musicmind
  • 2007: Voyager
  • 2010: Ready?
  • 2013: Oh! My! Goodness!

20th Century

  • 1997: Road
  • 1998: Attention

Compilation albums

  • 2001: Very Best
  • 2006: Very Best II

20th Century

  • 2004: Replay: Best of 20th Century

Coming Century

  • 2002: Best of Coming Century (Together)

Mini albums

  • 1996: Greeting
  • 1998: Super Heroes

Coming Century

  • 2009: Hello Goodbye

J-Friends

  • 1999: People of the World

Videography

DVD/VHS

  • 1996: Live for the People
  • 1997: Film V6: Clips and More
  • 1998: Space (from V6 Live Tour '98)
  • 1999: Film V6 Cct II: Clips and More
  • 2001: Very Happy!!!
  • 2002: Film V6 Act III: Clips and More
  • 2002: Liv6
  • 2003: Hard Luck Hero (movie)
  • 2004: Love & Life (V6 Summer Special Dream Live 2003)
  • 2005: Film V6 Act IV (Ballad Clips and More)
  • 2005: Film V6 act IV (Dance Clips and More)
  • 2005: Very Best Live (1995—2004)
  • 2005: Hold Up Down (movie)
  • 2006: 10th Anniversary Concert Tour 2005: Musicmind
  • 2008: V6 Live Tour 2007 Voyager (Boku to Bokura no Ashita)
  • 2009: V6 Live Tour 2008 Vibes
  • 2010: V6 Live DVD Asia Tour 2010 in Japan Ready?
  • 2011: V6 Live Tour 2011 Sexy.Honey.Bunny!
  • 2013: V6 Live Tour 2013 Oh! My! Goodness!

20th Century

  • 2009: 20th Century Live Tour 2008 Ore Ja Nakya, Kimi Ja Nakya
  • 2009: 20th Century Live Tour 2009 Honey Honey Honey

Coming Century

  • 1997: Sky
  • 1998: Question
  • 2003: Cosmic Rescue (movie)
  • 2009: We are Coming Century Boys Live Tour 2009

Other activities

As a group, the members of V6 have done dramas such as V no Honoo in 1995 and movies such as Hard Luck Hero in 2003 and Hold Up Down in 2005.

Films

V6

Coming Century

Drama

Variety Shows

References

  1. ↑ KAT-TUN (2006-04-03). (in Japanese). Interview with Downtown. Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ. Missing or empty |title= (help);
  2. ↑ "Class is over for "Gakkou e Ikou!"". Tokyograph. 2008-07-21. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  3. ↑ "VVV6" (in Japanese). Fuji TV. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  4. ↑ "V6's 2005 Timeline" (in Japanese). Johnny's net. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "Hot 100｜JAPAN Charts｜Billboard JAPAN" (in Japanese). Billboard.

External links