Jiro (musician)


Yoshihito Wayama, better known by his stage name JIRO, is a Japanese musician best known as the bassist of the rock band Glay. He is also the bassist in the sideband The Predators.

Biography

History

Jiro grew up the only son out of four children, his father a carpenter. Jiro used to be a guitarist in his first bands, and only picked up the bass when he joined the indie band "Pierrot" in Hakodate. Jiro first became familiar with Takuro and the rest of GLAY as they attended another high school in the same town, and were mutually involved in the local indie scene. In 1992, Pierrot moved to Tokyo to expand their career, but disbanded shortly after. He states that during this time he owned nothing other than what he had carried in his backpack when traveling from Hakodate, and had walked part of the journey to save money. Jiro worked in construction in Tokyo before being invited by Takuro to join Glay. At first he declined due to his doubts about a stable career in music but as Takuro insisted, he agreed to play one concert with them. He ended up staying in the band afterward. When asked his name after one of his early gigs with the band, he was reluctant to reveal his given name which he felt was "uncool" and spontaneously chose the pseudonym "Jiro" which he continued to use as a stage name and nickname from that point onward.
Jiro is considered the baby-faced in the group and was a favorite among teenage girls. Together with his bandmate Hisashi, the two are particularly known for their visual kei looks and on-stage theatrics, however, in recent years the pair have toned down their image, sporting more contemporary clothing and hairstyles. Jiro appeared on the covers of magazines such as Pati-Pati and was an early spokesmodel for Sony's Aibo. He wrote a regular column "Caramel Box" for the magazine What's In and continues to host a radio show called "Buggy Crash Night" on Funky802 FM.

Personal life

He married in the year 2000 to a woman named Reiko, a former editor of the music magazine What's In.

Songs by Jiro

For Glay