Koshi Inaba

Kōshi Inaba, 2012

Kōshi Inaba ( Japanese 稲 葉 浩 志 , Inaba Kōshi ; * September 23, 1964 ) real name Hiroshi Inaba ( 稲 葉 浩 志 , Inaba Hiroshi ) is the singer of the Japanese band B'z . In order to give his voice more expression, he writes the lyrics for the compositions of Takahiro Matsumoto himself .

biography

Inaba Koshi, full-time singer with the rock duo B'z , was born on September 23, 1964 as Inaba Hiroshi. He was the second son of a middle-class family in Okayama that continues to run the same business today.

In his (high) school days he became aware of the music through his brother and joined an acquaintance's band, which was only supposed to have one appearance. The academic years followed, in which Hiroshi was one of the top 3 in the country in his major in mathematics and never neglected his musical activities.

After completing his studies, the young Hiroshi wanted to become a teacher, but would have had to accept some restrictions and quickly decided to embark on a career as a professional singer. He probably changed his name to Koshi at this time, the names consist of the same Kanji, which allow both reading options.

The next few years should show what extraordinary talent Koshi has. He became one of the most famous singers in Japan within a few years, but this is also the story of B'z, which is described in more detail in the band Bio.

In 1997 B'z stopped their activities and both Tak and Koshi tried their hand at solo projects. For Tak it was not the first solo works, Koshi, however, broke new musical territory, because Tak had always done the arrangements and compositions for the band together. The result was his first album "Magma", which was supposed to go back towards blues-rock, a phase that B'z had already completed two years earlier with the double album "The 7th Blues". In keeping with the B'z tradition, this album also rose to first place on the Oricon charts.

Koshi apparently liked the newly gained musical freedom so much that he published new works at irregular intervals, without neglecting his main band. His most recent album, Peace of Mind , was released in September 2004. This was followed by a nationwide tour that ended in the second home, the naturally sold-out Yokohama arena. Recordings of this successful tour appeared on his first DVD Inaba Koshi Live 2004 EN .

Overall, Koshi is far less active, but definitely more successful than his partner in his publications. His biggest fans include rock queen Aikawa Nanase and Teru von Glay.

In November 2009 he released the single Sahara together with guitar legend Slash in Japan , which was created while working on his new solo album. On the B-side of the single is the song Paradise City , re-recorded with Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Cypress Hill . Slash emphasized, however, that neither of the two songs will be on the album.

Discography

Singles

1. Tooku Made (1998)
2. AKATSUKI (2003)
3. Wonderland (2004)
4. Okay (2010)
5. Hane (2016)

Albums

1. Magma (1997)
2. Shian (2002)
3. Peace of Mind (2004)
4. Hadou (2010)
5. Singing Bird (2014)

Web links

• B'z Official Site