Southern All Stars

There is no underestimating Southern All Superstars — the band’s commercially savvy mixture of pop/rock that may be ironic, sentimental, or simply plain erotic provides made them a simple staple of japan music scene much like the Carpenters within the U.S. as well as the Beatles in Britain. Southern All Superstars have marketed over 47 million information and scored a large number of chart-toppers, plus they placed number 1 within the renowned survey of the very most important Japanese performers comprised by HMV Japan in 2003 — a testament with their long-running reputation, which by that point had just grown through the three years they had been with us. Southern All Superstars were born away from a music membership on the Aoyama Gakuin College or university, went to by one Keisuke Kuwata, an aspiring vocalist and guitarist. Initially, which goes back to 1975, Kuwata experienced a bevy of brands such as for example Onsen Anma Momohiki Music group and Piston Kuwata & the Cylinders, but finally resolved on Southern All Superstars (a variety of “Fania All-Stars” and “Southern rock and roll,” shortened to Sazan or SAS) after bassist Kazuyuki Sekiguchi and keyboardist Yuko Hara — the near future wife of Kuwata — became a member of the group. Their 1st serious profession move was taking part in the Yamaha EastWest ‘77 musical competition; Kuwata won the very best vocalist honor, as well as the music group obtained Hiroshi Matsuda (drums), Hideyuki Nozawa (percussion), and Takashi Omori (acoustic guitar), and a gig with Victor Entertainment. Southern All Celebrities debuted in 1978 using the solitary “Katte ni Sindbad,” which ultimately climbed to number 3, partly boosted from the band’s luxurious concert events; they found as a humor music group around the first two singles, but demonstrated their musical well worth using the ballad “Itoshi no Ellie” (1979), which became among their signature tunes and was also protected in 1989 by Ray Charles (to get a Japan-only discharge). The debut record Atsui Munasawagi premiered in 1978, accompanied by 10 Amounts Carat (1979), that was rushed with the label, leading Kuwata to dismiss it afterwards as “garbage.” Still, the band’s reputation was set up by this aspect, and most of its full-lengths from Small Bubbles (1980) onward topped the Oricon. The music group hit stressed waters across the release from the dual record Kamakura (1985), which needed exhausting record periods long lasting over 1,800 hours and resulted in a rift between Kuwata and Sekiguchi. The record was a smash strike, but after Hara became pregnant with Kuwata’s kid, SAS were placed on a hiatus as well as the bandmembers proceeded to focus on single tasks, with Kuwata specifically collaborating with songwriter and well-known manufacturer Takeshi Kobayashi. Nevertheless, Southern All Superstars came back in 1988, and in 1989 they have scored their first number 1 one with “Sayonara Baby” and got a mammoth chart-topper with Suika, a four-CD container set, that was still just the start of things to arrive. Kuwata appeared to start the ‘90s having a blunder, as Inamura Jane (1990), his debut like a film movie director, was panned by critics, but its initial soundtrack recording continued to be the Japan’s top-selling soundtrack, as well as the track “Manatsu no Kajitsu” spawned a large number of addresses, including a Hong Kong strike by Jacky Cheung. In 1991, Sekiguchi experienced to give up the music group temporarily for wellness reasons, coming back in 1995, but SAS continuing to scorch the graphs, liberating the million-selling solitary “Namida no Kiss”; the recording Yo ni Manyou no Hana ga Sakunari (1992), which shifted 1.8 million units; as well as the remix EP Enoshima (beneath the name Z-Dan), that was acclaimed mainly because compilation recording of the entire year. Kuwata also documented the charity solitary “Kiseki no Hoshi” (1995) with Mr. Kids (a music group made by Kobayashi). Four even more million-selling singles adopted before end of ‘90s, as well as the full-length Youthful Love (1996) offered two . 5 million copies, getting the band’s most effective album. The best-selling streak continuing in to the 2000s, which opened up with the one “Tsunami” moving 2.9 million units, one of the better results in Japan chart history. Nevertheless, Omori soon give up the music group — some rumours ascribed this to his participation using the Soka Gakkai spiritual motion — and all of those other members went single once again, with Kuwata creating some million-sellers under his very own name. Southern All Superstars came back in 2005 using the dual album Killer Road, another chart-topping best-seller, but the band’s label announced that SAS will be acquiring another hiatus, that was, nevertheless, stated to become temporary.