Crystal King | |
---|---|
Origin | Japan |
Genres | Pop rock, kayōkyoku |
Years active | 1971 | –1998-present
Labels | Pony Canyon |
Members | Monsieur Yoshisaki |
Past members |
Masayuki Tanaka Michio Yamashita Kimiharu Nakamura Hiromi Imakiire Ken Kanefuku Hidetoshi Nomoto Others |
Crystal King (クリスタルキング Kurisutaru Kingu) is a Japanese pop rock and kayōkyoku band. They won commercial success at the end of 1979 with their debut single "Daitokai", which sold 1.5 million copies, winning two popular song festivals, (18th Popcon and 10th World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo), others of their hits are "Shinkirō" in 1980 (750.000 copies sold), and "Setouchi kōshinkyoku (IN THE MOOD)" (1984). They are also remembered in Japan for "Asue no tabidachi" (1980), "Passion-Lady" (1981), and Ceccile (1982). And worldwide they are remembered for their composition and performance of the first two songs and hits of the anime "Fist of the North Star" such as "Ai wo torimodose" and Yuria ... Eien ni " , the original single of 1984 sold more than 500,000 copies, and adding the new versions that were released years later, sales should already be between 800,000 and 1 million copies.
Today, Monsieur Yoshizaki (leader and vocalist) has the rights of the band and he is still active under the name of "Crystal King" as a solo project.
Originally consisting of vocalists Monsieur Yoshisaki (ムッシュ吉崎 Musshu Yoshisaki) and Masayuki Tanaka, guitarist Michio Yamashita (山下 三智夫 Yamashita Michio), pianist Kimiharu Namakura (中村 公晴 Nakamura Kimiharu), keyboardist Hiromi Imakiire (今給黎 博美 Imakiire Hiromi), drummer Ken Kanefuku (金福 健 Kanefuku Ken), and bassist Hidetoshi Nomoto (野元 英俊 Nomoto Hidetoshi), the band broke up in 1995 and beginning in 2004, Yoshisaki began performing as Crystal King as a solo project. Tanaka began his own solo career, In 1986 he left Crystal King to start a solo career. But in June 1989 he lost his voice after being struck in the throat by a baseball and was never able to regain his original three-octave vocal range. The rest of the band performs as Cross Road (クロスロード Kurosu Rōdo), reuniting with Tanaka on occasion.