Kyosuke Himuro


Kyosuke Himuro is a former Japanese musician and singer-songwriter. He was lead vocalist of the rock band Boøwy from 1981 to 1988. After the band disbanded he started a successful solo career, becoming one of Japan's best-selling artists. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked Himuro at number 76 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California, where he purchased a 12,500 square feet palatial residence in Beverly Hills in 2004 for $6.4 million, which was previously owned by Shaquille O'Neal.

Life and career

He was born Kyosuke Himuro, pronounced the same but written with different characters, before adopting his stage name at the end of 1984.
Himuro has frequently played music with Steve Stevens, best known as the backing guitarist for Billy Idol. For example, Stevens participated in Himuro's album as a guitarist and his concert tour after his album I·De·A.
On August 22, 2004, he held a concert, entitled "21st Century Boøwys VS Himuro", at the Tokyo Dome. He sang many Boøwy songs, the first time in sixteen years.
"Wild Romance" was used as the ending theme music for the Japanese dubbed version of Van Helsing.
Most recently, Himuro's song "Calling", from his 1989 album Neo Fascio, was used in the ending credits to the highly anticipated 2005 CG Film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. The film's director, Tetsuya Nomura, has noted that Himuro's music has been highly influential in his own work, and when asked about his contribution to the film, Himuro said that he was happy his work would be used in "the best CG movie ever made in Japan".
On August 5 and 6, 2006, he held a concert called "Kyosuke Himuro + Glay 2006 at Ajonomoto-Stadium "Swing Addition"" with Japanese band Glay in Ajinomoto Stadium. In addition, Himuro released first collaborated single with Glay called "Answer" on August 2, 2006.
The Japanese release of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete features a new ending song by Himuro, replacing the original use of "Calling". "Safe and Sound" is the title and it features My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way. "Safe and Sound" was released on the iTunes Store on April 29, 2009. However, the North American release does not contain "Safe and Sound", but instead continues to feature "Calling".
Himuro held two consecutive sold-out charity concerts at the Tokyo Dome in June 20 2011, attracting over 104,000 people making them the biggest charity live event ever held in Japan. The raised sum of 669,220,940 yen was donated to Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate prefectures, for recovery after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
In 2016, he had a retirement tour in Japan and officially retired from music activities due to his hearing impairment.

Discography

Studio albums

Himuro has covered several songs. Although "Keep the Faith" was composed by Himuro himself.