Gackt

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Gackt Camui (神威 楽斗, Kamui Gakuto^?, born July 4, 1973^{[1][fn 1]}) is a Japanese musician, composer, and lyricist, as well as a poet, author, actor, designer, and model. Usually referred to by his mononymous stage name, he is known for his career as a solo artist and as the former vocalist for the now-defunct band Malice Mizer. Besides Japanese, he has performed in English, Korean, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

During his solo career, Gackt has released seven studio albums, five compilation albums, and over 35 singles. His music has been used as theme songs for various anime, television dramas, and video games, such as New Fist of the North Star, Bujingai, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, and Kamen Rider Decade, amongst others. He co-starred and co-wrote the 2003 film Moon Child and he acted in the NHK drama Fūrin Kazan as Uesugi Kenshin.

Biography

Early life

Gackt was born in Okinawa, Japan. In an interview, Gackt once stated that his birth year is 1540, and that he feels he was born in the wrong time period and should have been alive during the time of samurai.^[2] His father was a music teacher primarily playing the trumpet and his mother was also a teacher. According to Gackt's autobiography, he was a mischievous child and enjoyed taking risks; at age of seven he nearly drowned while swimming off the coast of Okinawa. After this near-death experience, he claimed to have the ability to see and speak with deceased family members, a notion which was dismissed by his parents.^[3][4] At the age of ten, Gackt was hospitalized with a gastrointestinal condition and had to remain at the hospital for a prolonged time. He made the acquaintance of several terminally ill children, some of whom died during his stay.^[5]

Gackt's musical education began at age three, when his parents initiated his classical piano education, which he grew tired of four years later. It would take another four years until his parents allowed him to quit. Gackt is known for being very competitive, and when he learned that a friend was also learning piano it led to Gackt taking up the piano again so he could be better. Having only listened to classical and enka while growing up, Gackt didn't become interested in rock music until he was a young adult. He cites Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" as being particularly inspiring, and went on to master modern percussion and guitar.^[5]

Malice Mizer

In 1995, Gackt joined Malice Mizer as the group's vocalist, lyricist and pianist. The band released several successful singles along with two albums with Gackt, entitled Voyage ~Sans Retour~ and Merveilles. At the immediate start of 1999, Gackt left Malice Mizer. Five months after Gackt's departure, Kami died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Gackt dedicated two songs to his memory ("U+K" and "Emu ~For my dear~").

Solo career

Gackt launched his solo career on May 12, 1999 with the release of the EP Mizerable. Several albums, singles and videos (on VHS and DVD) have since followed. Gackt's music has also been featured as theme songs for anime and video games multiple times, examples being New Fist of the North Star, Bujingai, Texhnolyze, and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, amongst others. He has also provided voice acting, motion capturing and his likeness for such works on several occasions^[6][7] and co-wrote and co-starred in the 2003 movie Moon Child, which also features Hyde (vocalist of L'Arc~en~Ciel) and Taiwanese-American singer Leehom Wang.^[8] Also in 2003, Gackt published his autobiography, Jihaku and for Caparison Guitars, he has designed two guitars, named "Mercury" and "Venus".^[9][10]

2007-present

Cover of Gackt's 2007 release "Returner ~Yami no Shūen~"

Beginning January 7, 2007, Gackt played the warlord Uesugi Kenshin in the NHK drama Fūrin Kazan.^[11] Gackt's single "Returner ~Yami no Shūen~", was released on June 20, 2007, and was the first in his career (both solo and in a band) to reach the number one spot on the Japanese Oricon charts.^[12] Gackt has provided the voice for Malthazar in the Japanese release of the film Arthur and the Minimoys^[13] and in October 2007, his back catalog became available in the iTunes Store.

On December 19, 2008, Gackt released an album titled 0079-0088. It contains eight tracks, which had either previously been used on the soundtracks of the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam movies or were covers of earlier songs from the Gundam franchise.^[14] It was created as a tribute to the creator of Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino, for his birthday.^[15] Gackt performed on the 58th Kōhaku Uta Gassen, the 2008 annual New Year's Eve special by NHK.^[16]

Gackt's single "Jesus" was released on November 26, 2008; his first single release in over a year.^[17][18] On January 28. 2009, Gackt released his twenty-seventh single, "Ghost", which was the opening for the Japanese version of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Gackt is expected to perform the theme song for upcoming third installment in the "Samurai Warriors" series video game^[19][20] and as a representative of Japan at the Asia Song Festival in 2009.^[21][22]

S.K.I.N.

On May 25, 2007, the formation of the supergroup S.K.I.N. was announced which, besides Gackt, consists of fellow pop/rock artist Miyavi, former Luna Sea guitarist Sugizo and X Japan co-founder Yoshiki. The group gave its debut performance at the Anime Expo convention in Long Beach, California on June 29, 2007^[23] and plans to release an album.^[24]

Current projects

Gackpoid

Gackt lent his voice and stage name for the creation of the Vocaloid, Kamui Gakupo (神威がくぽ^?). Yamaha wanted to utilize the voice of a musician but felt it would be difficult to acquire cooperation. They consulted Dwango (new owner of Vocaloid publisher Internet Co. Ltd.), who suggested Gackt, as Gackt had previously provided his voice for Dwango's cell phone services.^[25] Referred to alternately as Gakupoid or Gackpoid, the most recent release includes a new program, OPUS Express, for mixing vocal parts with accompaniment and phoneme data.^[26] The new software will be available for download for users with registered copies of previous Vocaloids. Besides the new program, Gackpoid will include two of Gackt's songs and three example songs.^[27]

The product was originally intended to be released in June 2008, but although Gackt existed as a model for the Vocaloid, it lacked an illustrated avatar to match the previous Vocaloids. Popular manga author Kentarō Miura, famous for his dark fantasy epic Berserk, was approached. Due to Miura's affection for Nico Nico Douga, he agreed to offer his services as character designer for free. As a fan of Berserk, Gackt was more than happy with this arrangement, and requested Miura's sketches be faxed to him as well as the developers, even though he was on location for the filming of Guy Moshe's Bunraku.^[28] Gackpoid was released on July 31, 2008.^[27] Miura's design for Gakupo has a samurai aesthetic—the Vocaloid is clad in a hakama and haori, and carries a katana that somehow acts as a musical instrument.

Appearances as Uesugi Kenshin

Gackt reprised his Furin Kazan television role of Japanese warlord Uesugi Kenshin at Joetsu city's Great Kenshin Festival for the second year in a row on August 23, 2008.^[29] On May 21, 2008, Gackt released the documentary, Amakakeru Ryu no Gotoku, which was about his time spent making the drama, Fūrinkazan.^[30]

10 Year Anniversary Countdown

On June 20, 2009 Gackt released his single "Koakuma Heaven", which was the first of four singles released as part of Gackt's "10 Year Anniversary Countdown," which was a countdown to his 10th anniversary as solo artist.^[31] Each of the countdown singles were released within a week of one another. The second single was "Faraway", released June 17, followed by the third single, "Lost Angels", released June 24 and ended with "Flower", which was released July 1, 2009.^[31]

Kamen Rider Decade

Cover of Gackt's "Journey through the Decade" single; the opening theme for Kamen Rider Decade

As part of both the Kamen Rider Series' Heisei period run and Gackt's solo career having their 10th anniversaries, Gackt was brought onto the 2009 edition of the Kamen Rider Series Kamen Rider Decade to perform its opening theme "Journey through the Decade", released via Avex Trax, and later released on the iTunes Store along with its promotional video. He would later perform the theme song for the film Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker titled "The Next Decade", also released on Avex Trax.^[32] In addition to his performance of the theme song, he was also cast in the film as Jōji Yūki, the man who transforms into Riderman, and was given a reimagined Cassette Arm as part of his costume (a redesigned Riderman was absent from the film due to time constraints).^[33] He also portrays the character in the promotional video for "The Next Decade". For the final film for Kamen Rider Decade Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Double & Decade: Movie War 2010, Gackt will be releasing the song "Stay the Decade Alive" on January 1, 2010. Along with the CD and CD+DVD releases, a "special memorial single" will also be sold. The theme of the first song was the "Journey" (旅, Tabi^?), the theme of the second was the "War" (戦, Ikusa^?), and the third's theme is "Eternity" (永遠, Eien^?).^[34]

Samurai Warriors 3

In August 5, 2009, Gackt announced in a Press Conference by Koei that he will be performing the theme songs for the game Samurai Warriors 3 on a single titled "Setsugetsuka (The End of Silence)" cut with "ZAN". The songs will be used in the promotional commercials for the game, and will also be featured in the game's ending. The single is set to be released on December 9, 2009.

GacktJob

GacktJob is Gackt's live support band. Its current lineup is as follows:

• Yukihiro "Chachamaru" Fujimura – backing vocals, lead guitar
• You Kurosaki – violin, guitar
• Chirolyn - bass
• Jun-ji - drums
• Igao – keyboard

Support members when needed

• Ju-ken – bass
• Nell - bass
• Minami - drums

Former members

• Masa – rhythm guitar
• Ren – bass
• Ryu – drums
• Toshi – drums

Discography

Concerts

• 2000: MARS Sora Kara no Homonsha ~Kaisou~ (MARS 空からの訪問者〜回想〜)
• 2001: Requiem et Reminiscence ~Shuuen to Seijyaku~ (Requiem et Reminiscence 〜終焉と静寂〜)
• 2002: Kagen no Tsuki ~Seiya no Shirabe~ (下弦の⽉〜聖夜の調〜)
• 2003: Jogen no Tsuki ~Saishusho~ (上弦の⽉〜最終章〜)
• 2004: The Sixth Day & Seventh Night
• 2005: Diabolos ~Aien no Shi to Seiya no Namida~ (DIABOLOS〜哀婉の詩と聖夜の涙〜)
• 2006: Gackt Training Days D.R.U.G. Party
• 2009: Requiem et Reminiscence ~Saisei to Kaikou~(Requiem et Reminiscence Ⅱ　ー再生と邂逅ー)

Filmography

• Soyokaze (2002)
• Hero's Hero (2002)
• Moon Child (2003)
• Fūrin Kazan (2007)
• Mr.Brain (2009) as Takegami Teijirou (episode 2)
• Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker - as Jōji Yūki (2009)
• Bunraku (2010)

See also

• Visual Kei

Footnotes

References

External links

• Official website (Japanese, English, Korean, Mandarin)
• Gackt at Nippon Crown (Japanese)
• Gackt at MySpace