Atsushi Sakurai

Atsushi Sakurai
Background information
Birth name	桜井 敦司
Born	(1966-03-07) March 7, 1966 (age 46)
Origin	Fujioka, Gunma, Japan
Genres	Rock
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals, drums, saxophone
Years active	1983–present
Associated acts	Buck-Tick, Schwein

Atsushi Sakurai (櫻井 敦司, Sakurai Atsushi^?, born March 7, 1966 in Fujioka, Gunma, Japan) is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter. He has been the vocalist for the rock band Buck-Tick since 1985, previously being their drummer from 1983. He was also a member of Schwein with Hisashi Imai (Buck-Tick), Sascha Konietzko (KMFDM) and Raymond Watts (PIG).^[1]

History

Buck-Tick

Originally Atsushi was the drummer for Buck-Tick.^[2] When the members graduated high school and moved to Tokyo, Atsushi's parents would not let him go too. He then asked Toll Yagami if he could be the singer for his band SP, but was declined. Eventually he ended up switching to vocalist of Buck-Tick, after the band fired Araki.^[2]

His last name was originally written with the first kanji as "桜" (Sakura), but when his mother died in 1990 he changed it to "櫻", the older version. He also wrote "Long Distance Call" about his mother's death. He married Buck-Tick's stylist in 1991, but divorced a year later, they have one child. He married again in 2004.

Throughout Buck-Tick's long career, he has written the most lyrics to their songs. He also performs on Der Zibet's Shishunki II and Kaikoteki Mirai - Nostalgic Future,^[3] Issay's Flowers, PIG's Wrecked, Masami Tsuchiya's Mori no Hito ~Forest People~ and Chiaki Kuriyama's Circus.^[4]

Solo

In 2004, Atsushi released his first solo album Ai no Wakusei (愛の惑星; "Planet of Love"), which featured tracks written by musicians such as Wayne Hussey (The Sisters of Mercy), J. G. Thirlwell (Foetus), Cube Juice, My Way My Love, Raymond Watts, Cloudchair (Jake of Guniw Tools), Masami Tsuchiya,^[1] and the remake of a 1992 song where he collaborated with Clan of Xymox. 2004 also saw his acting debut, with the starring role in Ryuhei Kitamura's short film Longinus.^[5] He released a book of his poetry and lyrics called Yasou (夜想; "Nocturne") in 2004.^[1]

Discography

Singles

• "Sacrifice" (May 26, 2004), Oricon Singles Chart Peak Position: #25^[6]
• "Taiji/Smell" (胎児/SMELL; "Embryo/Smell", July 21, 2004) #22^[6]
• "Wakusei -Rebirth-" (惑星-Rebirth-; "Planet -Rebirth-", February 23, 2005) #62^[6]

Albums

• Ai no Wakusei (愛の惑星, June 23, 2004), Oricon Albums Chart Peak Position: #15^[7]

DVDs

• Longinus (August 25, 2004, short film), Oricon DVDs Chart Peak Position: #16^[8]
• -Explosion- Ai no Wakusei Live 2004 (-EXPLOSION -愛の惑星Live2004, December 16, 2004) #47^[8]

With Buck-Tick

Books

• Yasou (夜想; "Nocturne", July 14, 2004)
• Sacrifice (July 20, 2004)

References

External links

• Official website (Expired)

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