Kazutoshi Sakurai

Infobox musical artist
Name = Kazutoshi Sakurai


Img_capt = Kazutoshi Sakurai, from Barks Photo Session
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = Birth date and age|1970|3|8|mf=y
Tokyo, Japan
Died =
Origin =
Instrument =
Genre = J-Pop, J-Rock, Rock
Occupation = Musician, singer, songwriter, composer, producer, entrepreneur
Years_active = 1992-present
Label = TOY'S FACTORY
Associated_acts = Mr.Children, Bank Band, ACID TEST
URL = [http://www.mrchildren.jp Mr.Children Official Web Site]
Notable_instruments =

nihongo|Kazutoshi Sakurai|桜井和寿|"Sakurai Kazutoshi"|extra= real name nihongo2|櫻井和寿 March 8, 1970 in Tokyo is a Japanese musician and entrepreneur. He composes and writes almost all of the songs for his band Mr. Children, in addition to writing lyrics and singing for his solo project group Bank Band. In 2006, Sakurai ranked #8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time" [cite web | url=http://www.hmv.co.jp/news/newsDetail.asp?newsnum=512120070 | title=nihongo2|日本のシンガーTOP30 - 第8位 (Top 30 Japanese singer -Top 30- #8) | accessdate=2007-07-09 | language=Japanese] and in 2007 was voted #4 as the "ideal father image" by Oricon. [cite web | url=http://career.oricon.co.jp/news/45551/ | title=nihongo2|理想の父親像アーティストランキング、桑田佳祐が1位 (Ideal father image artist rank and Keisuke Kuwata is #1) | accessdate=2007-07-27 | language=Japanese] As an entrepreneur, he co-founded 'AP Bank', short for "Artists Power", where he personally provided $1 million dollars of seed money to launch and fund the nonprofit lending group which finances environmentally friendly projects. [cite web | url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1663317_1663322_1669926,00.html | title=TIME Magazine: Moguls & Entrepreneurs - Kazutoshi Sakurai and Takeshi Kobayashi | accessdate=2008-01-08]

Musical career

Kazutoshi Sakurai is a person that many people, regardless of interest, recognize and respect in the Japanese music industry. As a lyricist, he is regarded as one of the best out there, even going as far to being deemed a genius for the genre of j-pop and rock by many of his fans and peers, causing his lyrics to be frequently analyzed in music magazines, [cite book | title = HOMEnihongo2|のしるし -デザイン- (Shirushi's Home -design-) | publisher = Kadokawa television | series = nihongo2|別冊カドカワ総力特集 Mr.Children (Separate volume Kadokawa special issue Mr.Children) | year = 2007 | pages = p. 171 | language = Japanese | isbn = 978-4-04-894488-5 ] and is one of the main reasons why Mr. Children is still popular after 15 years in Japan. As a lyricist, the topics Sakurai focuses on ranges from various subject such a social issues ('So Let's Get Truth'), science/technology ("Everything is made from a dream"), depression ("Surrender"), love (nihongo|"Shirushi"|しるし), and war (nihongo|"1999 Nen, Natsu, Okinawa"|1999年、夏、沖縄). As a vocalist, his voice is very distinct thus making Mr. Children songs easy to recognize. Alongside his vocal and writing talents, he can also play various instruments including the guitar, piano and harmonica.

For most of Sakurai's musical career, he has been part of Mr. Children, but has done other work including in 1995 where he sang and produced the charity single nihongo|"Kiseki no Hoshi"|奇跡の地球 with Keisuke Kuwata (from Southern All Stars) for the Act Against AIDS campaign, in addition to being a disc jockey for "Music Gambo" on FM802. Sakurai has two side project bands: Acid Test (a John Lennon tribute band which is no longer active) and Bank Band. Along with fellow band member Kenichi Tahara from Mr. Children, they created the short live group, Acid Test, for the concert ‘'Dream Power John Lennon Super live broadcasting'’ on October 9, 2001. The live was part of Yoko Ono’s Dream Power and educational platform where artists came together to hold a charity concert to raise money for school construction funds for children in Africa and Asia. [cite web | url=http://www.dreampower-jp.com/ | title=Dream Power ジョン・レノン スーパー・ライヴ (Dream Power John Lennon Super live broadcasting) | accessdate=2008-06-29 | language=Japanese] The John Lennon song covered by Acid Test, "Mother", was later recorded and released on a tribute album ‘Happy Birthday, John’, which was released on September 30, 2005.

Sakurai was temporarily hospitalized on July 21, 2002, after a blockage in his cerebellum was detected [cite web | url=http://www.zakzak.co.jp/geino/n-2002_07/g2002072308.html | title=nihongo2|ミスチル桜井が漏らした重病のホンネ (Serious illness of Mr.Children's Sakurai leaked) | accessdate=2007-06-16 | language=Japanese] and spent 4 months recovering from the surgery, which required all his music activities, including Mr. Children's 'The Wonderful World tour' to be canceled, but returned to the stage on December 21, 2002 for a one night live, later released on DVD, titled "Wonederful World on Dec. 21".In June 2003 Sakurai help co-found AP Bank, a nonprofit bank, with a goal of tackling environmental problems. Along with music producer Kobayashi Takeshi, and world-renowned composer Sakamoto Ryuichi, the bank invests only in environmentally friendly projects as renewable energy. Together the 3 men invested 100 million yen each. [cite web | url=http://web-japan.org/trends/business/bus050610.html | title=The eco-friendly bank | accessdate=2007-10-06 | language=English] In addition to the bank, Sakurai also co-started AP Bank fes., a yearly festival that raises awareness about environmental issues such as recycling and global warming, with all profits from the festival going to fund more projects at AP Bank.

As a solo act, Sakurai has co-wrote and sang the single nihongo|"Te wo Dasuna!"|手を出すな！ with Gaku-MC on May 31, 2006, and as Bank Band teamed up with Salyu to release the song 'to U' on July 19, 2006. In 2007, he was a guest vocal on Kai Yoshihiro's '10 Stories' album which did a cover song of nihongo|"Kurumi"|くるみ and appeared as a secret guest at Golden Circle Vol.10 on April 8 and April 9. Sakurai along with Yumi Matsutoya, Yohito Teraoka, and Yuzu performed 'Dandelion', 'Mamotte agetai', 'Destiny', 'Natsu iro', and 'Music'. [cite web | url=http://www.faith-group.co.jp/YohitoTeraoka/gc10_liverepo.htm | title=Golden Circle Vol.10 live report | accessdate=2007-10-06 | language=Japanese] From the songs performed, Sakurai co-wrote the lyrics to 'Music' which was later released on July 11, 2007 but did not join in the recording of the single. With Bank Band, Sakurai announced in July 2007 he had written a new theme song for ap bank fes. '07 titled nihongo|"Yoku kita ne"|よくきたね. [cite web | url=http://www.apbank-ecoreso.jp/07/livearea/message/index.html | title=ap bank fes. '07 (Message from Kazutoshi Sakurai) | accessdate=2007-07-27 | language=Japanese] . On September 1, 2007 Bank Band released their first iTunes only song titled nihongo|Harumatsu ibuki|はるまついぶき. The song was used as the theme song for the Japanese movie 'Midnight eagle', with the lyrics written by Kazutoshi Sakurai. Part of the profits from the song were donated to people affected by the Nigata earthquake, with the rest of the profits going to fund more projects at Ap bank. [cite web | url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/music/47576/ | title=Bank Bandnihongo2|の新曲が、配信のみで急遽リリース決定！ (Bank Band new song release, by download only!) | accessdate=2007-10-05 | language=Japanese] He released his second album with Bank Band,

Singles

Bank Band

# to U (2006)
# (2007)

Albums

Bank Band

# (2004)
# (2008)

ACID TEST

# HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN! ~A Tribute to John Lennon~ (2005)

DVD

Bank Band

# BGM Vol.2 (2004)
# ap fes '05 (2005)
# ap fes '06 (2006)
# ap fes '07 (2008)

References

External links

* [http://www.mrchildren.jp/ Mr.Children Official website]
* [http://www.toysfactory.co.jp/mrchildren/ Mr. Children at Toy's Factory]
* [http://www.apbank.jp/ AP Bank Official website]
* [http://www.artistspower.com/ Artists Power Official website]
* [http://www.apbank-ecoreso.jp/ AP Bank fes. Official website]