Yoshiki Hayashi
Yoshiki Hayashi ( Japanese林 佳 樹Hayashi Yoshiki ; born November 20, 1965 in Tateyama , Japan ), stage name Yoshiki , is a Japanese musician and producer. He became known as the founder and drummer of the rock band X Japan .
In 2007 he founded the super group S .KIN together with Gackt , Sugizo and Miyavi .
biography
Yoshiki Hayashi was born in Tateyama, Chiba . He started playing the piano at the age of four , but turned to rock music at the age of eight after attending a concert by the American band Kiss .
A defining event in Yoshiki's life was his father's suicide when Yoshiki was ten years old. In a 1998 interview, Yoshiki stated that this event was the point at which he vowed to succeed in life and never become a failure. It was also the moment from which he devoted himself even more to music. In order to express his frustration and act out his aggression, he has since turned to playing the drums. The song Tears , which he released with his band X Japan, is about this topic.
According to Yoshiki, she was a problematic student with poor grades. He decided early on to become a musician and therefore did not care about a thorough training. Languages, which he was very interested in, were an exception. He now speaks Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese. After the sudden death of his longtime friend and bandmate Hideto Matsumoto on May 2, 1998, he fell into a deep depression, vowed never to play the drums again and withdrew from the public for two years. Very little is known about his personal life. Yoshiki now lives in Los Angeles and, apart from his musical activities, flies to Japan once a year to meet with his mother.
X Japan
In 1982 Yoshiki and his school friend Toshi founded the band X , which later renamed itself to X Japan for legal reasons .
X Japan are co-founders of the visual kei style in Japan and were among the most successful representatives of Japanese rock music in the early 1990s . After their temporary separation in 1997, they returned to the stage in 2008, on the 10th anniversary of the death of guitarist hide (Hideto Matsumoto).
V2
In 1992 Yoshiki founded the music project V2 together with Tetsuya Komuro . Except for the single Eyes of Venus / Virginity , however, no sound material was released. Shortly afterwards V2 stopped their activities.
At the end of 2007, Tetsuya Komuro announced that he would like to work with Yoshiki again on this project.
Violet UK
In a 2002 interview, Yoshiki announced that he was working on a new music project called Violet UK . With this project he tries to unite many styles of music. Between 2002 and 2008 he recorded several songs together with various exclusively female singers - including Nicole Scherzinger - which were never officially published except for the single Sex & Religion and some audio samples on Myspace .
In 2008, Yoshiki confirmed again that he is still working on Violet UK, but that his perfectionism has made no progress with the production.
Globe
In 2002, Yoshiki briefly joined his friend Tetsuya Komuro's band - Globe . Although he was a permanent member of the group for a total of three years, he was only involved in the production of the single Seize the Light . In 2005, Yoshiki separated from Globe again.
SKIN
In 2006, Yoshiki founded the Japanese supergroup Skin together with Gackt . In early 2007 Sugizo , a former member of the band Luna Sea , and a short time later Miyavi were confirmed as guitarists. On June 29, 2007, Skin gave their first concert at the Anime Expo in Long Beach , California . Due to the temporary lack of a permanent bass player, they were supported at the concert by Gacktjob member Ju-Ken. There has been no further announcement or release since then.
other activities
During his time with X Japan, Yoshiki worked with many well-known artists on various smaller projects. In 1992 he released the single Foreign Sand together with Roger Taylor , 1997 Moment with Hideki Saijo and 1998 Bara to Midori and Begin with Shoko Kitano, the daughter of Takeshi Kitano . In 1999 he produced three singles for the band Dir en Gray with Akuro no oka , Yurameki and Zan . Between 2004 and 2005, Yoshiki Lang appeared for two years as a producer of the Korean band The Trax , with whom he released two singles.
Since 1991, Yoshiki has also been releasing solo albums, which mainly contain new recordings of songs by X Japan.
In 1994 he took part in the Kiss - tribute album Kiss My Ass for which he titled Black Diamond recorded in an orchestrated version.
In 2012 and the following year he composed the music for the Golden Globes, one of the most important events for glitz and glamor in Hollywood.
Yoshiki is the only person in the world after whom a Hello Kitty figure was named. This became known under the name "Yoshikitty".
In 2011, Yoshiki published a comic called "Blood Red Dragon" together with Stan Lee , of which three issues have appeared so far and a strictly limited issue # 0.
Extasy Records
In April 1986, Yoshiki founded his independent label Extasy Records . At that time no music label was ready to offer his band X a record deal , which is why he decided to found his own company to publish their albums and singles. The label's first release was the single Orgasm , followed shortly after by the album Vanishing Vision . After 1988 Yoshiki signed other bands and helped them to rise, the best known of which were Luna Sea and Glay .
In 2000 Yoshiki founded Extasy Records International and opened the recording studios Extasy Records North and Extasy Records South in Hollywood , California . Extasy Records South was taken over by Maverick Records a short time later , while Extasy Records North remained to this day.
Over the years, Yoshiki signed a number of musicians, including Acid Bell , Breath (R) , Deep , Ex: Ans , Gille de rais , Glay , Hypermania , Ladies Room , Luna Sea , The Hate Honey , Virus , Youthquake and Zi : Kill .
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
|---|---|
| 1991 | Yoshiki Selection |
| 1993 | Eternal Melody |
| 1993 | A Music Box for Fantasy |
| 1996 | Yoshiki Selection II |
| 2005 | Eternal Melody II |
Concert film
| year | title |
|---|---|
| 2002 | Symphonic Concert 2002.12.4 with Tokyo City Philharmonic featuring Violet UK |
Discography (with X Japan)
Discography (with V2)
Singles
| year | title |
|---|---|
| 1992 | Eyes of Venus / Virginity |
Videos
| year | title |
|---|---|
| 1992 | Special Live Virginity 1991.12.5 |
Discography (with Violet UK)
Singles
| year | title |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Sex & Religion |
Discography (as producer)
Singles
| year | Artist | title |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Noa | Ima Wo Dakishimete |
| 1994 | Glay | Rain |
| 1994 | Roger Taylor | Foreign sand |
| 1997 | Hideki Saiji | moment |
| 1998 | Shoko Kitano | Begin |
| 1998 | Shoko Kitano | Bara to Midori |
| 1999 | Dir en gray | Akuro no oka |
| 1999 | Dir en gray | Yurameki |
| 1999 | Dir en gray | Zan |
| 2000 | Shizuka Kudo | Shinku No Hana |
| 2003 | Dahlia | I'll be your love |
| 2004 | The Trax | Scorpio |
| 2005 | The Trax | Rhapsody |
Others
In June 2014 the high pressure area "Yoshiki" was named after Yoshiki Hayashi.
Web links
- Yoshiki Hayashi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Yoshiki.net - Official Homepage
Individual evidence
- ^ Dale Sherman: Black Diamond 2 - The Illustrated Collector's Guide to Kiss, Collector's Guide Publishing Inc., 1997, ISBN 1-896522-36-X , pages 78-80.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hayashi, Yoshiki |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 林 佳 樹 (Japanese); Yoshiki |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese musician and producer, member of X Japan |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 20, 1965 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, Japan |