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Birth name | Motoyuki Ōtsuka |
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Tatsuno, Hyōgo, Japan |
March 4, 1964
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Website | morrie |
Motoyuki Ōtsuka (大塚基之 Ōtsuka Motoyuki, born March 4, 1964 in Tatsuno, Hyōgo), known mononymously as Morrie, is a Japanese singer-songwriter. He is best known as vocalist and co-founder of the influential heavy metal band Dead End, active from 1984 to 1990. When they disbanded, Morrie began a solo career for five years, before moving to New York City and going into hiatus. He reemerged in 2005 with the solo project Creature Creature, which utilizes several well-known Japanese musicians, and reunited with Dead End four years later.
In December 1984, Morrie formed Dead End alongside his fellow former-Liar band mate, Takahiro Kagawa, Tadashi Masumoto ("Crazy Cool Joe") and Masaaki Tano. Only he and Joe remained, and until the 1987 were joined by Yuji Adachi ("You") and Masafumi Minato, just before they signed a major contract with Victor Entertainment. Although achieved only limited commercial success in their homeland until January 1990, they managed to have a contract with an American label with their songs and videos aired on MTV and radio stations. Morrie's distinctive visual appearance and rough vocal style inspired many later prominent musicians in Japan's visual kei movement.
In 1990, Morrie started a solo career and gradually went to live in New York City. He went there because was interested, beside the Avant-garde music scene, in the production work by Roli Mosimann on Infected and Mind Bomb by The The. Ultimately he would produce all three Morrie's studio albums. His first release was the single "Paradox" on October 21, 1990, and exactly one month later his debut solo album "Ignorance" was published. In the upcoming five years, he released a few more singles (second "Shisen no Kairaku" featured cover of "In My Room" by The Walker Brothers) and two more studio albums, Romantic na, Amari ni Romantic na in 1992 and Kage no Kyoen in 1995, before seemingly withdrawing from the public eye for almost ten years.