Miyavi

Takamasa Ishihara (September 14, 1981) is a Japanese singer-songwriter who rose to fame as the guitarist for the visual kei rock band Dué le Quartz in the late 90s. He is hailed as a guitar virtuoso and is recognized for his eclectic mix of genres, ranging from rock to hip hop, blues, and folk. Born in Osaka to a Japanese mother and a Korean-Japanese father, he first pursued a career in soccer by joining the junior team of J-League’s Cerezo Osaka. After an injury frustrated his ambitions of becoming a professional soccer player, he learned how to play the guitar at the age of 15. In 1999, he moved to Tokyo and became a member of Dué le Quartz, officiating as the band’s main songwriter. Following the band’s breakup in 2002, Miyavi set sail on a solo career that began with Gagaku (2002), Galyuu (2003), and Miyavizm (2005), his first effort to break into the Japanese Top 10. Subsequent albums MYV Pops and Miyaviuta: Dokusō, both released in 2006, evidenced a change in Miyavi’s sound as he shifted from rock to an acoustic pop sound. That same year, he joined the supergroup S.K.I.N. alongside X-Japan’s Yoshiki Hayashi, Luna Sea’s Sugizo, and Gackt. His fourth full-length This Iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock arrived in 2008 and spawned an international tour throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Miyavi signed a deal with EMI in 2009 and dropped the albums What’s My Name (2010) and a self-titled LP that climbed to Number 8 on the Oricon charts upon its release in 2013. Subsequently, Miyavi made his acting debut on the Angelina Jolie-directed film Unbroken and kept challenging audiences with his genre-defying melting pot of styles on the albums The Others (2015), Fire Bird (2016), and Samurai Sessions, Vol. 2 (2017), which contained the slap bass-laden fan favorite “Flashback” featuring Ken Ken. A third volume of the Samurai Sessions series titled Samurai Sessions, Vol. 3: Worlds Collide saw the light in 2018, followed by No Sleep Till Tokyo (2019) and Holy Nights (2020).

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