Name	Tetsuya Komuro
Background	solo_singer
Born	November 27, 1958
Origin	Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan
Instrument	Keyboard, Piano, Guitar, Organ
Genre	J-Pop, Eurobeat, Dance, Tribal house, Oldschool jungle, Trance, Progressive rock, Hard rock, Contemporary R&B;
Occupation	Composer, singer, lyricist, music producer, instrumentalist
Years active	1975–present
Label	Epic/Sony Records/ SMEJ 1984-2000 Avex Group 1991-present Geneon 1995-2001 Pony Canyon 1998-2001 Rojam 2001-present
Associated acts	TM Network, Globe
Url	KomuroTetsuya Official Blog

, also known as TK, is a Japanese keyboardist, guitarist, singer, songwriter and music producer born on November 27, 1958 in Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan. He is recognized as being the most successful producer in Japanese music history and introduced dance music to the Japanese mainstream. He was also a former owner of the discothèque Velfarre located in Roppongi, Tokyo.

He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in J-pop throughout the 1990s. In the Oricon singles chart of April 15, 1996, he monopolized all the Top 5 positions as the songwriter and producer, a world record. In 1995 he monopolized all Top 3 positions of the copyright distribution rankings for the JASRAC Award, a record in Japan's music history.

At his peak as a record producer the artists he predominantly produced for came to be known as TK Family and at one time included Namie Amuro, hitomi, TRF, Tomomi Kahala and Ami Suzuki amongst others.

To date, singles composed by him have sold more than 70 million, singles whose lyrics he wrote have sold more than 42 million, and all in all records produced by him have sold more than 170 million in Japan alone.

Life and career

1979–1994: Early career and TM Network

His career started as a keyboardist for Speedway in 1979. In 1984, he build up TM Network with Takashi Utsunomiya and Naoto Kine. A year later, in 1985, his first solo work was the soundtrack Vampire Hunter D for the anime Vampire Hunter D, and his band, TM Network, did the closing credits song "Your Song". He subsequently composed other soundtracks such as Heaven and Earth and Seven Days War.

As a solo singer, Komuro released singles "Running to Horizon" and "Gravity of Love" in 1989. "Running to Horizon" topped the Oricon charts. "Gravity of Love" also topped the Oricon charts, beating out Seiko Matsuda's "Precious Heart." In 1989 and 1990, Komuro collaborated with Warren Cuccurullo.

TM Network released single "The Point of Lovers' Night" on July 7, 1990. The single also topped the Oricon weekly charts, beating out Wink's single "Yoru ni Hagurete (Where Were You Last Night)."

TM Network changed its name to TMN in 1990. In 1991, he collaborated with X Japan's Yoshiki as V2. TMN once disbanded in 1994.

1994–1997: Komuro boom as a record producer

By the early 1990s, Komuro was spending much of his time writing songs for and producing many other musicians and bands. He was also an early pioneer of dance music in Japan, and came to stardom in the 1990s as producer with a long string of hits with artists such as TRF (TK Rave Factory), Tomomi Kahala, Namie Amuro, Ami Suzuki, hitomi, Ryoko Shinohara and H Jungle with t. In 1994, he composed the musical score to the Japanese anime film , based on the Capcom video game. Ryoko Shinohara sang the theme song of the anime film, "Itoshisato Setsunasato Kokorozuyosato," with Tetsuya Komuro. The single of the theme song was released on July 21, 1994. In total, the single "Itoshisato Setsunasato Kokorozuyosato" sold over two million copies on the Oricon charts. This score was removed from the US release of the film.

He was mainly helped in this task by the mix engineers Pete Hammond and Dave Ford. Both were working for PWL, which was the home of the British producing team Stock Aitken Waterman. Not only that, "TK" is also credited for the rise to fame of Daisuke Asakura, a popular Japanese composer, keyboardist and music producer who began his major musical career as a backup keyboardist for TM Network. Asakura is reported to view Komuro as his "Sensei" or "Teacher".

In 1997, he started his overseas career with the remix of the theme music of the action movie , which Japanaese MMA Legend Kazushi Sakuraba later adopted as his entrance music.

1998–2007: Following career

Komuro also released albums as a solo singer or musician and was involved in the bands Globe, Kiss Destination and Gaball. On December 31, 1998, his band Globe's song "Wanna Be A Dreammaker" received the grand prix award at the 40th edition of Japan Record Award. In 1999, Komuro, Utsunomiya and Kine reunited under their old name of TM Network, and remain active to this day.

Komuro worked in collaboration with French keyboardist Jean Michel Jarre from 1998 to 2001. The duet wrote the theme song for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Together Now as well as several other tracks and remixes. He and Jean-Michel also performed a concert on beaches in Okinawa on January 1, 2001.

2008: Fraud

On November 4, 2008, Komuro was arrested and charged with fraud, for taking ¥500,000,000 in exchange for a promise to sell the copyright to his songs, which he had already sold to somebody else. Reportedly, he planned to use the money to pay a portion of his ex-wife's alimony. He admitted the fraud at his trial in January 2009.

In March 2009 Matsuura Masato, president of the Avex Group Holdings, recovered the losses for the plaintiff, paid him extra ¥100 million in compensation and a further ¥48 million in delay damages. Matsuura also stated that Komuro will work at Avex in a company position directly under his control.

On May 11, 2009, Komuro received a suspended three-year prison sentence. According to the sentencing judge, Komuro's acceptance of responsibility and the fact that restitution had been made greatly influenced the final sentence, and further went on to state that no good to society would come from Komuro's imprisonment.

2009–present: Comeback

At the Avex Group Holdings' concert tour a-nation 2009, Komuro made a surprise appearance on August 22, 2009. He played a medly of his hit songs at the piano and later reunited on stage with his fellow members of the J-pop group globe, Marc Panther and his wife Keiko.

Komuro composed AAA's double A-side single "Aitai Riyū/Dream After Dream (Yume Kara Sameta Yume)." The single was released on May 5, 2010.

He composed almost all the songs on the new album of Japanese pop-star Ayumi Hamasaki, called Love Songs.

Collaborations

Tetsuya Komuro worked with the following musicians. {|width="100%" |valign="top"|

AAA

Namie Amuro

Asami

Backstreet Boys

Bananarama

Blaque Ivory

BoA

Common

Cuiling

Dannii Minogue

DJ Krush

dos

Eriko Imai

Gaball

|valign="top"|

Geisha Girls

Globe

H Jungle with T

Hitomi

Ayumi Hamasaki

Tamaki Nami

Jean Michel Jarre

Olivia Lufkin

Tomomi Kahala

Keiko

Kimeru

Kiss Destination

Krayzie Bone

|valign="top"|

Kumi Koda

Seiko Matsuda

Tak Matsumoto (B'z)

Reika Miku

Rie Miyazawa

Arisa Mizuki

Kaori Mochida (Every Little Thing)

Mike Dierickx

R9

Ring

Akina Nakamori

Nile Rodgers

Ryuichi Sakamoto

|valign="top"|

Ryoko Shinohara

Ami Suzuki

Tohko

Joe Lynn Turner

TM Network (TMN)

Takashi Utsunomiya

Toshihiko Takamizawa

TRF

Yuki Uchida

Misato Watanabe

Y.U.M

Yoshiki (X Japan)

|}

See also

TM Network

Globe

EuroGroove

Eddie DeLena

Keith Cohen

References

External links

Tetsuya Komuro Official MySpace

Tetsuya Komuro Infosite

Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Japanese composers Category:Japanese fraudsters Category:Japanese guitarists Category:Japanese keyboardists Category:Japanese male singers Category:Japanese singer-songwriters Category:Japanese record producers Category:People from Western Tokyo Category:Sony Music Japan artists Category:Avex Trax artists

is a J-Pop singer. She is the daughter of Japanese musicians Ryuichi Sakamoto and Akiko Yano.

Discography

Albums

aquascape (November 26, 1998)

DAWN PINK (September 29, 1999)

Harmonious (May 24, 2006)

Oboro no Kanata, Akari no Kehai (December 12, 2007) - (Produced by SUGIZO)

Zoy (November 5, 2008)

PHANTOM Girl (May 19, 2010)

Singles

"Poppoya" (May 26, 1999) - composed and arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto, with lyrics by Tamio Okuda

"in aquascape" (September 8, 1999) - written by Miu Sakamoto, composed and arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto

"I'll believe the look in your eyes" (February 9, 2000) - written by Miu Sakamoto, composed by Yuka Kawamura, and arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto

"beautiful" (July 26, 2000) - written by Miu Sakamoto, composed and arranged by Yuka Honda

"Blank" (April 11, 2001) - written by Miu Sakamoto, composed and arranged by Toru Okada

"15fun" (May 23, 2001) - written by Miu Sakamoto, composed and arranged by Noriyuki Makihara

"Kaze Hikaru" (October 24, 2001) - written by Miu Sakamoto, composed and arranged by Kenji Kawai

"sleep away" (April 24, 2002) - written by Miu Sakamoto, composed and arranged by SUGIZO

"Kumanbachi ga tonde kita" (November 20, 2002) - written by Shigesato Itoi and composed by Akiko Yano

"The Never Ending Story" (November 16, 2005) - written by Giorgio Moroder, composed by Keith Forsey

External links

stellarscape - Miu Sakamoto's official website

Miu Sakamoto at MySpace

Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Japanese female singers