Miyavi is a name that many fans both easily recognize and adore. The solo artist has broken many boundaries, openly experimenting with a large variety of styles and sounds both musically and visually.
The talented guitarist’s interest in music began early on in his young teen years when he took up guitar after an injury lead to him leaving the school’s soccer team. His love for playing the guitar quickly blossomed and he formed his very first band, a small garage band named, “Loop” in his early teens. Miyavi himself has expressed that the band was hardly worth mentioning, but it didn’t take long for him to join the band that eventually helped him skyrocket to fame and establish his successful solo career.
Dué le quartz had formed in December of 1998, but had suffered the loss of their original guitarist in May of the following year. It didn’t take long for Miyavi, only 17 at the time, to join the band under the stage name, “Miyabi” on June 29th. The visual band had a successful run, performing a countless number of lives as well as a few releases. However, years later in 2002, the fateful decision had been made, Miyavi wanted to become a solo musician. The band accepted and announced their decision to disband. They later held their final live together in August of the same year.
Miyabi then took the stage name, “Miyavi” and set off to create his solo career. His first release, an album entitled, “Gagaku” was released in October of 2002, just shortly after his departure from his previous band. With the release, Miyavi debuted a completely new sense of style, more punk than his previous gothic visual style. His style of music also was completely different than what he had been making in Dué le quartz, featuring a mix of heavy guitar, catchy beats, as well as a mix of pop, rock, and punk flare.
His solo career really took off just two years later in October of 2004, when it was announced that Miyavi had been signed onto Universal Music Group and would be going major. In the following few years, Miyavi kept his growing career strong with new releases, sold out lives, and continuously evolving his sound. In 2006, the popular musician decided to take some time off from his busy career to spend some time in the USA. For six months he attended English, dancing, and other lessons during his stay. While on the weekends he had off from his training, he would do street performances at Venice Beach.
However, 2006 wasn’t a slow year for Miyavi as his absence and extensive training was leading up to a very big announcement. On December 30th, Miyavi announced that he would officially be joining a new band. However, it wasn’t until May 25th 2007 at the Jrock Revolution Festival that it was announced that the band he would be joining was the super group, called “S.K.I.N.” made up of famous musicians such as Yoshiki, Gackt, and Sugizo. The surprise announcement caused an uproar from excited fans around the world. The super group performed at the Anime Expo convention in California, but has since been inactive due to the busy schedules of the members.
Most recently, Miyavi has really seemed to have hit the ultimate peak of his extremely successful solo career, holding his first world-wide tour in 2008. The tour entitled, “This Iz The Japanese Kabuki Rock Tour 2008″ took him throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Following the tour, on February 16th 2009, Miyavi announced that he would be graduating from PS Company. This eventually led up to his announcement shortly after that he was opening his very own company named, “J-Glam, Inc.” and that he would be the president of the company. In the following month, there was another big announcement, Miyavi’s second world tour, entitled, “NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK”. This tour took him throughout South America, Asia, and Europe again, unfortunately however, the North American side of the tour had to be postponed due to an injury Miyavi had sustained during his live in Paris, France.
Also during this time, the surprise announcement of Miyavi’s marriage to the pop-singer Melody was announced along with the exciting news that he was expecting his first child with his new wife. On July 29th, 2009, Melody gave birth to Miyavi’s first born daughter, Lovelie Miyavi Ishihara, and Miyavi, ever the proud father, announced her birth to the world. Despite these life changing events, Miyavi’s solo career hasn’t slowed down. On January 1st, 2010, he announced that he had signed a record deal with the recording giant, EMI. Shortly after, in March of 2010, it was announced that the previously postponed North American portion of the “NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK” world tour was now officially rescheduled for summer of 2010.
Currently, Miyavi is preparing for the upcoming North American tour that will kick off next month in June! Despite his hectic schedule, we were able to take a moment of his time and ask him a few questions.
Great interview! It’s really sweet he got a new tattoo done as a tribute to his daughter. I’m sure everyone is really looking forward to seeing him live soon, I know I am!