Kōji Wada 和田 光司 |
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Born |
Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, Japan |
January 29, 1974
Died | April 3, 2016 Tokyo, Japan |
(aged 42)
Genres | Pop, rock |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Instruments | Vocals |
Years active | 1999–2016 |
Labels | Lantis |
Website | www |
Kōji Wada (和田 光司 Wada Kōji, January 29, 1974 – April 3, 2016) was a Japanese pop singer. He was best known for performing theme songs for several installments of the Digimon anime television series, including his recording debut in 1999 with his first and most famous single, "Butter-Fly", the theme song of the anime Digimon Adventure. He was signed with the Lantis recording label. His nickname is "Immortal Butterfly Anisong Singer" (不死蝶のアニソンシンガー).
Wada was born in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, Japan. In 2003, Wada released his first original album, All of My Mind, which included many of his previous works. He also collaborated in Michihiko Ōta's self-cover album Mirai e no Message: Ōta Michihiko Self-Cover, featuring in two tracks – a cover version of "Hontō no Tsuyosa" (本当の強さ) (Ken & Wormmon's Theme) and in "3 Primary Colors" (the Tamers theme), along with AiM. Later, he released an album called The Best Selection: Welcome Back!. It contains several of his earlier works as well as two new songs, titled "Pierce" and "Kimi no Keshiki." On August 1, 2008, he debuted a mini-album titled Ever, which contained five brand new songs. An album titled Kazakami no Oka Kara (風上の丘から), was sold at his live concerts in Japan throughout the end of 2009 in commemoration of his 10th anniversary in music, and it was released worldwide on January 11, 2010.
Wada had contributed songs to six of the seven Digimon anime series (with one of his songs reused for the seventh, to which he contributed no new songs), including opening themes for the first five of them. He also performed two songs used as ending themes for Digimon Frontier, "Innocent: Mujaki na Mama de" (イノセント~無邪気なままで~) and "an Endless Tale" (with AiM). He starred in various other songs for the series, such as "Bokura no Digital World" (the "memorial" theme for the Adventure series), "Yūki o Uketsugu Kodomo-tachi e" and also several Christmas songs. He also performed a song for Transformers: Robots in Disguise.