Kazuya Kamenashi

Infobox musical artist

Name = Kazuya Kamenashi
亀梨和也
(かめなし かずや)
Background = group_or_band
Birth_name
Girlfriend = Sudipta
Alias = Kame, Kame-chan, Kamenashi-kun, Kazu-chan
Born = birth date and age|1986|2|23
Died =
Origin = flagicon|Japan Edogawa, Tokyo, Japan
Instrument =
Voice_type =
Genre = J-pop
Occupation = Singer
Actor
Years_active = 1998 - present
Label = J-One Records
Associated_acts = KAT-TUN
Shuuji to Akira
URL = [http://www.johnnys-net.jp/ Johnny's Net]
[http://www.j-storm.co.jp/kattun/ J-One Records]
Current_members =
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =

nihongo|Kazuya Kamenashi|亀梨和也|Kamenashi Kazuya, often called Kame, is a Japanese idol, singer-songwriter, actor, television personality and radio host. Born and raised in Edogawa, Tokyo, he joined the renowned Japanese talent agency, Johnny & Associates, at the age of 12 and was drafted as a member and lead vocalist of the popular J-pop group KAT-TUN in 2001. The group officially debuted in 2006 and has since achieved a string of chart successes with all three albums and seven singles reaching number 1 on the Oricon charts. [ [http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-3364 Charts: KAT-TUN, GReeeeN still hot, Tokyograph] ]

Kamenashi has also established himself as an actor with award-winning roles in "Nobuta wo Produce" and the second season of "Gokusen" and has regularly appeared in various television dramas since 2005. [http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kamenashi_Kazuya Kamenashi Kazuya] , Wiki-d.addicts; retrieved on August 1, 2008.] He is also a co-host of KAT-TUN's late-night NTV variety/talk show, "Cartoon KAT-TUN", and a radio host with his own program aired by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting.

Early life

Born in Edogawa, Tokyo on February 23, 1986, Kamenashi is the third child of his family. He has two older brothers, Yūichirō and Kōji, and one younger brother, Yūya. He also has one niece from his second brother's marriage. His given name comes from a character from the manga, "Touch", written by a famous mangaka, Mitsuru Adachi. An avid baseball fan and player like his namesake, Kamenashi once represented his country in the junior world leagues as shortstop though he had to give up the sport professionally due to lack of spare time after he was accepted into Johnny's Entertainment at age 12. During the audition stages for the agency, he was coincidentally in the same interview group as current KAT-TUN bandmates, Jin Akanishi and Yuichi Nakamaru.

Recording career

Pre-debut

Made up of five other members (Akanishi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Tatsuya Ueda and Nakamaru), Kamenashi is the "K" of KAT-TUN and together with Akanishi, he is one of the two main vocalists and arguably the most popular members of the group. Although he is the youngest of the six, he is considered their unofficial front man being good at public speaking and often acting as MC for KAT-TUN on television programs and concerts.

Though the group was originally chosen and formed as backup dancers for Kōichi Dōmoto of KinKi Kids in 2001, their unexpected popularity led the talent agency to allow them to expand into a separate group which, strangely enough, was not allowed to make their debut until 5 years after their formation. Nakamaru later indicated that over time, the group had become increasingly worried that they would never be an established act and Kamenashi and Akanishi went to their agency's president to talk about the problem. They received assurances that the members needed only to concentrate on their present work and were told to keep the faith. ["Episode 55 - Cartoon KAT-TUN, NTV"; aired April 23, 2008]

olo ventures

In 2005, Kamenashi co-starred in the television school drama, "Nobuta wo Produce", with Tomohisa Yamashita of NEWS. The opening theme for the show, "Seishun Amigo", was released as a single under the name "Shūji to Akira" ("Shūji and Akira"), after the names of their respective characters. "Seishun Amigo" was a massive hit debuting at number 1 upon its release on November 2, 2005 and sold more than 1 million copies in less than 4 weeks. It went on to spend 34 weeks in the Oricon weekly singles chart and became the best-selling single of 2005 in Japan. The song also continued its lengthy chart run into early 2006 and became the third best-selling song of 2006. [http://wiki.theppn.org/Seishun_Amigo Seishun Amigo] , Wiki.theppn; retrieved on August 1, 2008.] Kamenashi has also written and performed a song named "Kizuna" for the second season of "Gokusen" which was one of the B-sides on the "Seishun Amigo" single and also penned a duet with bandmate Junnosuke Taguchi called "Special Happiness". [ [http://wiki.theppn.org/Kamenashi_Kazuya Kamenashi Kazuya] , Wiki.theppn; retrieved on August 1, 2008.]

Commercial success with KAT-TUN

KAT-TUN's vast fanbase made it one of Japan's most prominent J-pop idol groups by 2006 and the group officially debuted on March 22, 2006 with their single "Real Face", which debuted at number 1 on the Oricon weekly singles charts selling over more than 700,000 copies before going on to sell more than a million units by the end of the year. Their debut album, "Best of KAT-TUN", featuring songs made popular during their live performances and some which were written for the album, sold more than 500,000 copies in its first week and also topped the Oricon album chart.Cite web|title= KAT-TUN|url="http://wiki.theppn.org/Best_of_KAT-TUN"|work=WikiThePPN|accessdate=2008-07-11] Two singles from KAT-TUN's second album, "Signal" and "Bokura no Machi de", debuted at number 1 upon their releases selling more than 400,000 units in July and December 2006 respectively in the first week.

Two weeks before the release of the album, the group's late-night talk show, "Cartoon KAT-TUN", began airing on April 4, 2007 and is still broadcasted weekly on Wednesday nights on NTV. Their sophomore record, "Cartoon KAT-TUN II You", was released on April 18, 2007 and continued their chart-topping act when it debuted at number 1 with more than 270,000 copies sold. KAT-TUN's extraordinary run on the charts continued when singles from KAT-TUN's third album, "Yorokobi no Uta", "Keep the Faith" and "Lips" all debuted at number 1 in June 2007, November 2007 and February 2008 respectively selling more than 1 million units altogether before the group's third album, "KAT-TUN III -Queen of Pirates-", was released in June 2008. Their third original album again peaked at number 1 upon its release moving more than 240,000 copies in its first week. The group's seventh single, "Don't U Ever Stop", continued their success on the music charts when it debuted at number 1 selling 381,672 copies. As of July 2008, KAT-TUN has sold over 5 million records in just over two years. [ [http://wiki.theppn.org/KAT-TUN KAT-TUN music profile] , Wiki.theppn; retrieved on August 1, 2008.]

Acting career

Kamenashi made his acting debut in October 1999 in the fifth season of "3 nen B gumi Kinpachi Sensei" as Akihiko Fugakawa. Unlike most Japanese television dramas, the series ran for 23 episodes and ended in March 2000. He later reprised his role in the epilogue special episode which aired in 2001. Kamenashi also began appearing on stage in supporting roles of musicals, "SHOW geki SHOCK", "SHOCK is Real SHOCK" and "DREAM BOY" from 2001 to 2004. In late 2004, he took over the lead role in "DREAM BOY" from Hideaki Takizawa and also played the lead character in later seasons of the musical in January 2006, September 2007 and March 2008.

Kamenashi only returned to the small screen as an actor four years later in 2005 starring opposite Yukie Nakama and bandmate Jin Akanishi in the second season of "Gokusen" as Ryū Odagiri, a troubled high school student. The show remained popular with viewers finishing its run with an average viewership rating of 27.8% and was awarded "Best Drama" while Kamenashi was awarded "Best Supporting Actor" at the 44th Television Drama Academy Awards. Additionally, he also won "Best Supporting Actor" for his performance at the 8th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix. He also co-starred with Juri Ueno the same year in the special television movie of "Kinda'ichi Shōnen no Jikenbo" taking over the role of Hajime Kinda'ichi from Jun Matsumoto who last portrayed it in 2001. Kamenashi capped the year with his lead role of Shūji Kiritani in "Nobuta wo Produce" which won him further acting accolades when he was named "Best Lead Actor" at the 47th Television Drama Academy Awards. The show also won "Best Drama" at the 9th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix. [ [http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Nobuta_wo_Produce Nobuta wo Produce] , Wiki.d-addicts; retrieved on August 1, 2008.]

In 2006, Kamenashi starred in Fuji TV's romance drama, "Suppli", and was the lead character in NTV's two-part tv movie, "Yuuki", based on a true story of a man who died at 23 years old after being diagnosed with an illness that started with the partial collapse of his cranial bone resulting in a subsequent battle with seven types of incurable diseases. This "tanpatsu" was highly rated with an average viewership rating of 22.7%. [ [http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Yuuki Yuuki] , Wiki.d-addicts; retrieved on August 1, 2008.] Kamenashi also starred opposite Haruka Ayase and bandmate Koki Tanaka in romance drama, "Tatta Hitotsu no Koi", the same year. He only made one guest appearance in 2007 in the ninth episode of Tanaka's comedy series, "Tokkyu Tanaka 3 Go", before taking on the lead role of Kōsaku Hatanaka in the live-action adaptation of manga, "1 Pound no Fukuin", in 2008.

Other ventures

Radio

Kamenashi joined the rest of his KAT-TUN bandmates as a radio host on April 4, 2008 when he launched a twenty-minute radio segment, "Kamenashi Kazuya Kase by Kase", which airs every Friday night in two parts. This is in addition to KAT-TUN's other existing radio programs, "KAT-TUN STYLE", which is broadcasted from Monday to Thursday from 2006 onwards ( usually airing for 10 minutes) and hosted by Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka and formerly Jin Akanishi. "R-ONE KAT-TUN", a 30-minute program broadcasted on Tuesdays has been hosted by Tatsuya Ueda and Yuichi Nakamaru also since 2006.

Discography

Filmography

Dramas

Radio programs

*Kamenashi Kazuya Kase by Kase aired by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting; April 4, 2008 - present

Accolades

Awards won
* 2004-2005: 8th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix: Best Supporting Actor for "Gokusen 2" [en icon [http://www.tokyograph.com/info/Nikkan_Sports_Drama_Grand_Prix Tokyograph: Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix] 2004-2005. Retrieved December 19, 2007.]
* 2005: 44th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for "Gokusen 2" [en icon [http://www.tokyograph.com/info/Drama_Academy_Awards Tokyograph: Drama Academy Awards] Winter 2005. Retrieved December 19, 2007.]
* 2006: 47th Television Academy Awards: Best Actor for "Nobuta wo Produce" [en icon [http://www.tokyograph.com/info/Drama_Academy_Awards Tokyograph: Drama Academy Awards] Fall 2005. Retrieved December 19, 2007.]
* 2006: 1st Annual 2006 NTV Commercial Award [ja icon [http://www.ntv.co.jp/info/news/363.html 2006年度日テレＣＭ大賞決定！！～ＮＴＴＤｏＣｏＭｏ「ＦＯＭＡ　一人旅　篇」～] Retrieved December 18, 2007. ]
* 2006: 23rd Best Jeans Award: Best Male Jeanist [en icon [http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-137 Tokyograph: Koda, Kamenashi named Best Jeanists] September 4, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2007.]
* 2007: 24th Best Jeans Award: Best Male Jeanist [ja icon [http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/f-et-tp0-20070912-255120.html 亀梨、倖田がベストジーニスト連覇] September 12, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2007]
* 2007: 1st Astar TV Drama Awards: Best New Asian Star of 2007 for Japan [en icon [http://english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/1444424_11858.html KBS GLOBAL: Ju Ji-hoon Selected New Asian Star of 2007] Retrieved December 19, 2007]
* 2008: 25th Best Jeans Award: Best Male Jeanist [en icon [http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-3720 Koda, Kamenashi 3-peat as Best Jeanists] September 2, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2008]

References

External links

*en icon [http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kamenashi_Kazuya Kamenashi Kazuya] D-addicts wiki page (also source)