MORRIE

As frontman of the Japanese heavy metal band Dead End, Morrie helped pioneer the country's visual kei movement during the 1980s. He launched a solo career during the 1990s and found commercial success once again during the 2000s with Creature Creature, a Japanese supergroup whose first two albums cracked the Oricon Top 40. Born as "Motoyuki Ōtsuka" in Tatsuno, Hyōgo, on March 4, 1964, he formed Dead End in 1984. Dead Line, the band's debut album, was released two years later, with the follow-up album Ghost of Romance marking Dead End's first Top 20 entry in 1987. When the band broke up in 1990, Morrie launched his solo career with Ignorance, which was followed by 1992's Romantic na, Amari ni Romantic na and 1995's Kage no Kyoen. His solo albums received critical acclaim but failed to generate much commercial success, and he spent the latter half of the '90s in relative obscurity. He reemerged in 2005 with Creature Creature, a band featuring several icons from Japan's rock community. Light&Lust, the group's 2006 debut, reached Number 15 on the Japanese charts and produced three Top 40 singles: "Paradise," "Red," and "Kaze no Tou." The band went on to release three additional albums during the next 11 years. Meanwhile, Morrie reunited with his Dead End bandmates to release 2009's Metamorphosis, which peaked at Number 14 on the Oricon Albums chart. Three years later, Dream Demon Analyzer reached Number 23. He then reinvigorated his solo career with 2015's Hard Core Reverie, 2019's In the Shining Wilderness, and 2022's Ballad D, the last of which reached Number 30 on Billboard's Japan Top Albums chart.

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