TAKUYA∞

TAKUYA∞ (born Takuya Shimizu (清水琢也 "Shimizu Takuya") December 21st 1979 in Osaka, Japan) is the lead vocalist, lyricist, programmer and the oldest member of Japanese Rock band UVERworld. The infinity (∞) sign behind Takuya's name means that his potential is of infinite possibility. Meaning Takuya will improve himself continually.

Biography

Takuya was originally born in Osaka, Japan in his own home although his hometown is in Shiga, Japan.

When he was still a baby, his mother liked to dress him up (even in girls’ clothes) and audition him and his sister into things like commercials. Katsuya (UVERworld's guitarist and band leader) said that Takuya was very cute when he was young. Even as a kid, he was hyperactive. His curiosity get the better of him when he walked to the balcony at his home alone to see the world with his own eyes while his parents weren’t around. Unfortunately, he fell down from the balcony and he still has that scar till date.

Takuya has been friends with Nobuto (UVERworld's bassist) and Katsuya since their nursery days. Katsuya was the one who taught Takuya how to fold a paper aeroplane. Katsuya has a lot of Takuya's childhood pictures.

Takuya and Akira (UVERworld's other guitarist) were neighbours and Katsuya said that you could even walk from Akira's house to Takuya's with your eyes closed. Takuya was also the one who convinced Akira to join the late Sangoku Road. Takuya described Akira as his reliable music mate. Even though Takuya was the one who wrote most of UVERworld’s music, Akira has helped Takuya with some of the lyrics. For example in Live Everyday as Though It Were the Last Day (from UVERworld's second studio album BUGRIGHT), Akira was the one who modified the melody line. In the song LIFEsize (also on BUGRIGHT), written by both Akira and Takuya, they both worked hard on it till late night and hugged each other when they finally finished the song. Akira calls Takuya ‘Takuya-kun’ while Takuya calls Akira just ‘Akira’ without the suffix.

Takuya & Nobuto

Takuya’s friendship with Nobuto however is still the most remarkable one. They have been friends for 26 years as of 2008. They were in the same nursery school, elementary school and middle school. Though it is not official, it seems that Takuya and Nobuto are best friends from the way they stand together during interviews and also their actions from Live performances. In CLASSWORD, when each member was asked to leave a message for the other members, Takuya said to Nobuto ‘I am glad to have met you’ whereas Nobuto said ‘From now on, let’s be ‘baka’ (stupid in Japanese) together).

It is apparent that Takuya and Nobuto understand each other very well and are able to describe each other’s personality in many magazine interviews. For example, Takuya has been the one teasing Nobuto about his weaknesses. Nobuto has also mentioned Takuya has many good points he does not have and also bad points. Unless they are very close, Nobuto would not have the courage to mention that. In fact, Takuya and Nobuto each started to have interest in music after listening to their siblings play during their junior high days. Takuya's sister was the vocalist while Nobuto's brother was the bassist. Takuya was the one who gave Nobuto the nickname ‘Shishou’ which can be translated as teacher.

Music

Takuya began to learn music when his father gave him a folk guitar. Since then he taught music to himself. Takuya, in his first year of junior high was inspired by his elder sibling which then drove him to create a band with Nobuto, and another of their Junior high friends - Hideki. Takuya started out as a guitarist. He loved music and started writing songs even with that little experience he had. Innocently, he thought that they were able to debut. However, later on he realised that he did not have that talent after all, however he did not stop.

After he finished junior high, he started living alone and did not go to high school. He started working and continued playing music. Eventually, he got into surfing and skateboarding and stopped playing music altogether. However, he realised that this didn't not fit his character and it lead him to the path of music again, with the help of people like Yutaka Ozaki (a popular J-Pop singer) who inspired him. He wrote this experience into a song, which we know as ‘LIFEsize’.

Takuya is a huge fan of Reigo5 and had mentioned him in several interviews. As far as we know, Reigo5 was previously the MC and vocalist of the still active band (after a long hiatus) - tick. Though not obvious, some fans have claimed that they can hear the similarities of tick's music and Takuya's. Reigo5 doesn't seem to be around anymore but Takuya still never fails to mention him in various interviews. In fact, Takuya met Reigo5's family in mid 2007.

Another personal favourite of Takuya's is Yutaka Ozaki. Ozaki was a famous japanese musician who passed away in 1992. Takuya listed him as the person who greatly inspired him to return to the music path after he momentarily stopped playing music. With Ozaki's influence, Takuya is determined to inspire others and maybe change lives like how Ozaki did to him at that time.

UVERworld

Takuya is the front man of UVERworld, he writes all of the lyrics (initially with the help of lyricist Alice Ice until Colors of the Heart) and most music for songs performed by the band itself. He is a talented individual who is known to be able to play guitar, bass guitar and drums) all by himself. Besides that, he can also play the piano and it is rumoured that he wants to learn to play the violin. He has tried to play the violin, which he did during the recording of Kimi no Suki na Uta (also on the BUGRIGHT album).

In an interviews, Takuya asserted that if he can’t make music better than the one he made previously, he should just stop writing music because it does not prove his potential (the reason for the ‘∞’ sign behind his name). Such attitude might also be the driving force in the creation of Taku-words and Taku-styles such as words like ‘Bakori’, ‘BUGRIGHT’, ‘Shaka Beach’ (with the help of Nobuto), ‘LIFEsize’ and his own definition of ‘Rock’ and ‘One and Only’. It is spectaculated that in the near future, ‘BUGRIGHT’ might even make it into the dictionary due to its interesting definition. Additionally, Takuya is very detail-oriented.

Language Barriers

Takuya's English is relatively basic but he never fails to put English into his lyrics, with the exception of songs like Charmant no ura (a song from the album BUGRIGHT). Takuya is also learning English to help him interact with the fans worldwide. To achieve UVERworld’s goal, which is to make their music be known worldwide, it is of course important for them to know English to stop language barriers. Takuya, who treasures the bond shared among the members took the initiative to take English classes and hopes UVERworld could tour around the USA if possible. Takuya’s improvement is not instant but is still remarkable. Many fans have claimed that they are able to hear Takuya’s English instead of Engrish now.

Health Conscious

Takuya appears to be the only member of UVERworld who doesn't drink. Takuya tends to drink plain water to other types of drinks. Takuya is often seen with a bottle of Volvic branded water.

Takuya is also the only member who doesn't appear to smoke either. It is assumed that the reason why Takuya is health conscious is to protect his vocals. In addition, Takuya takes throat pills around with him.

Personal life

On 11th December 2006, 9am Takuya got into some mess with the traffic police. Takuya had apparently been driving through the bus terminal on the restricted bus lane and was stopped by a traffic warden. Somehow the matter become more complicated when Takuya became frustrated and flipped the officer's hat off. He was then arrested and he later admitted to his actions. Paper work was finished on the 12th December and Takuya was finally let off on the 13th. The news was made known to the public on 15th December 2006 whereby Takuya made an official apology on UVERworld's official homepages.

Takuya is close with his sister and his nephew, Natsuki. PatiPati September 2006 issue revealed that he is happy that Natsuki is learning how to play the piano and he even included a picture of himself and Natsuki in one of the Oricon's interview. He never fails to boast about Natsuki whenever he has the chance to. Natsuki might be the reason that fuels Takuya the desire to have his own children. Takuya lived away from his family after he graduated from Junior High school, which explains his pretty much independence. This part of him might be why he values 'Love' more than anyone else.

Little Known Facts

* Takuya's hero is Superman
* He used to go by the name Ace∞Trigger while he was in Sangoku Road
* Takuya knows how to rap, voice scratch & beat box
* He wrote UNKNOWN ORCHESTRA (from UVERworld's latest album Proglution)when he was sick and was forced to stay at home while the others are in the studio
* Takuya wanted an eco car to help save energy towards the environment, but couldn't afford one, so that's when their song, 'Energy' was created.

References

* [http://www.uverworld.org/takuya.php]
* [http://www.justuver.cn/]

External links

* [http://www.uverworld.com UVERworld Official Site]
* [http://www.uverworld.org/takuya.php UVERworld.org's Takuya Page]
* [http://www.justuver.cn/ JUST UVERworld Chinese forum