河村隆一

Ryuichi Kawamura (Japanese: 河村 隆一, Hepburn: Kawamura Ryūichi; born May 20, 1970) is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989. They are regarded as one of the most influential bands in the visual kei scene. After they disbanded in 2000, he focused on his solo career as a pop singer, which began in 1997. In 2005, Kawamura formed Tourbillon with fellow Luna Sea member Inoran and Hiroaki Hayama. He rejoined Luna Sea when they reunited in August 2010. Kawamura's first full-length album Love topped the Oricon Albums Chart with sales of 1,021,000 copies, making him the only male solo artist to have an album sell over one million copies within its initial week in the chart's history. It went on to sell 3.2 million copies, making it the best-selling male solo album in Japan. In 1997 alone, with his mini and full-length albums and four singles (of which "Glass" sold over one million itself), he sold over six million records. Ryuichi Kawamura was born in Yamato, Kanagawa on May 20, 1970. Because his father worked in the electrical industry, their household had a high-quality audio system. His father listened to jazz and orchestral music, while his mother was a fan of The Beatles. Whenever he was scolded and started to cry or sulk as a young child, Ryuichi would play music through headphones to calm down. He recalls that the first time he ever felt joy from singing was in kindergarten, when he sang alone for 20 or 30 of his classmates. His parents began splitting up when he was in the second grade, and Ryuichi chose to live with his mother. He was a member of the soccer club in elementary school and also played tennis, but continued to sing for his own enjoyment. Ryuichi learned to play an acoustic guitar that was given to him by a relative. With his mother a fan of The Beatles, he began to admire the sound of an electric guitar and bought a white one for 15,000 yen when he was in fifth grade. But the bridge was rusted and he did not know about the existence of amplifiers. When he learned of amplifiers a little later, he became frustrated with guitar as he could not play fast enough to fit in the heavy metal boom of the time. Ryuichi also became frustrated with singing as he could not hit the high notes of heavy metal vocalists. "Instead of copying something, I realized I could make my own rules, so I formed a band and started writing original songs when I was in my second year of junior high school." He also began dyeing his hair red or purple at this time. In high school, Ryuichi realized he had not been taking singing seriously and became disillusioned with the daily grind of classes that he believed would not help him in the future. So he excised everything from his life except music, and threw himself into Japan's independent rock scene. He eventually dropped out of high school in order to pursue his goal of becoming a professional musician. Kawamura started his musical career as vocalist of the bands Cradle and Slaughter, while still in high school, under the name Rayla. When word got out that Slaughter was breaking up, Kawamura was quickly invited to join Lunacy in May 1989. In 1991, hide of X Japan found them on the indie circuit and eventually got them signed to X Japan co-founder Yoshiki's Extasy Records, where they changed their name to Luna Sea. They are considered one of the most influential bands in the visual kei movement, and have sold more than 10 million records in Japan. Ryuichi provided vocals for the B-side version of hide's 1994 song "Scanner". During Luna Sea's temporary break in 1997, Ryuichi started his solo career. Going by his full name, Ryuichi Kawamura, he changed his vocals and music from the powerful rock sound to more of a pop idol sound. That year, he released four singles, one mini-album and his first full-length album, Love. The album includes his cover version of the song "Namida Iro", which was formerly sung by Japanese female singer Noriko Sakai with his songwriting. Love topped the Oricon Albums Chart with sales of 1,021,000 copies, making him the only male solo artist to have an album sell over one million copies within its initial week of release in the chart's history. The album sold 2,788,000 copies by the end of the year, and 3.2 million in total. Kawamura later started his own production house titled RK, and in 1999, he went on to produce many artists including Azumaya Toga, Hideki and Izam. Luna Sea disbanded at the end of 2000. Billboard later quoted music critic Hiromichi Ugaya as saying that the band broke up due to conflict between Kawamura and the other members. That same year, Kawamura started his first solo tour and created a subsidiary of RK intended for the production of film music. Shortly after, he composed music for the film So Faraway. In mid-2001, his fan-club RKF (Ryuichi Kawamura Family) opened. Later, Ryuichi released the singles "Shizuka na Yoru wa Futari Iyou" and "Julia". Kawamura started appearing on popular music shows including Music Station and Hey x3. Following the release of the single "Kimi no Mae de Paino wo Hikou", he landed a role in the film Picaresque based on the life of Osamu Dazai. His first international solo tour came in 2002 when he performed an exclusive concert in Seoul. When he returned to Japan, there were several meet and greet events at Zepp Fukuoka and Zepp Osaka, where he sold special merchandise (including manga he illustrated and figurines, etc.). Later, Kawamura starred as a lead role in the TV Asahi drama series Kowloon de Aimasho and also wrote the ending theme "Sugar Lady". A special photobook was released in 2003 during his new tour. While putting his album and single releases on pause that year, he went on to produce artists such as Memory Cats and Kiyoshi. In 2004, Kawamura released the single "Spoon" and the album Vanilla, followed by a handful of tours. His fellow Luna Sea's bandmate Inoran was also a guest during his New Year's Eve live. After taking a short vacation in Europe, Kawamura reunited with Inoran and Hiroaki Hayama to announce the formation of their band Tourbillon in 2005. Their first official concert was held at the Nippon Budokan on July 2 and it received good attendance and reviews. The band would release two albums, Heaven and A Tide of New Era in 2005 and 2006, respectively. In March 2008, Tourbillon's single "Break the Chain" was used as an opening theme of Kamen Rider Kiva. In 2006, Kawamura released his first cover album, titled Evergreen ~Anata no Wasuremono~. He covered songs by artists such as Yutaka Ozaki and Akiko Kobayashi, as well as Luna Sea's "I for You". A year later, he released a second cover album to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his solo career. The covered songs included his original solo works and songs by other classic Japanese artists, such as Dead End, Kenji Sawada, Tetsurō Oda, and Dreams Come True. On December 24, 2007, Kawamura reunited with Luna Sea for the concert God Bless You ~One Night Dejavu~ at the Tokyo Dome. The band played again at the hide memorial summit on May 4, 2008, along with X Japan, T.M.Revolution, Versailles and others. On February 3, 2008, Kawamura held a special concert at the Nippon Budokan titled Yuki no Budokan ~70 Stories~ sponsored by Sports Nippon. The show celebrated the 10th anniversary of his solo career where he performed half of every song recorded from each of his six original albums, amounting to a 70-song set. Inoran also appeared to perform with Kawamura during the concert, which lasted four and a half hours. Ryuichi also sang the Japanese National Anthem for the occasional sporting event, including the 7th Grand Prix D1 series and one of the J-League's Kashima Antlers soccer game in March 2008. In October 2008, Kawamura co-starred in the Broadway musical Chicago, along with Takarazuka stars Yoka Wao and Ryoko Yonekura, in which he played the lawyer Billy Flynn. This event marked the