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| Hideto Takarai / HYDE |
Hideto Takarai (寶井 秀人 Takarai Hideto, born January 29, 1969 in Wakayama, Japan),[1] known exclusively by his stage name Hyde,[Note 1] is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known as lead vocalist of the rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel. He is also lead vocalist of Vamps and has a solo career.
Birth name
Hideto Takarai (寶井 秀人)[1]
Also known as
HYDE P'UNKHYDE DARKHIDE
Born
January 29, 1969 (age 50)
Wakayama, Japan
Origin
Osaka, Japan
Genres
Alternative rock hard rock pop rock
Occupation(s)
Musician singer-songwriter record producer actor
Instruments
Vocals guitar keyboards saxophone harmonica
Years active
1988–present
Labels
Ki/oon/Haunted Gan-Shin(EU) Tofu(US)
Associated acts
L'Arc-en-Ciel Vamps Jerusalem's Rod
Website
hyde.com
In 1991, he joined L'Arc-en-Ciel after leaving the band Jerusalem's Rod for which he was the guitarist. In addition to being the lead singer and main lyricist of L'Arc-en-Ciel, Hyde has released 4 solo albums and 8 singles. In 2008, he formed Vamps with K.A.Z, and started his own independent record label called Vamprose.
Career
2000 - 2003 : Solo Project
After L'Arc-en-Ciel released the single, "Spirit Dreams Inside -Another Dream-" in 2001, the band went on an unofficial hiatus as each of the members began work on solo careers. This was Hyde's debut as a solo artist. In October 2001, Hyde released his first solo single, "Evergreen". After two more singles, "Angel's Tale" and "Shallow Sleep", Hyde released his first solo album, Roentgen, on March 27, 2002. An overseas edition featuring English lyrics was released in July the same year.
Hyde's next two singles, "Hello" and "Horizon", were released June and November 2003 respectively, and second solo album, 666, was released on December 3, 2003. "Horizon" was used as the ending theme in Ryuhei Kitamura's film Sky High.
In 2003, Hyde starred alongside Gackt in the film Moon Child. In a duet as part of the project, Hyde and Gackt sang "Orenji no Taiyou", and when sang live, Hyde could not be there because he was on tour. The song was also released on Gackt's fourth full-length album, Crescent. In December 2003, Hyde's song "Shining Over You" from his 666 album was used as the commercial song for the video game, Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean.
2003 - 2004 : L'Arc~en~Ciel Returns
After a three-year hiatus, L'Arc-en-Ciel regrouped for a series of seven concerts titled "Shibuya Seven Days" in June and July 2003. At the conclusion, they announced a new album, Smile, which was released in March 2004.
In the summer of 2004, L'Arc-en-Ciel had their North American debut (as part of their "Smile" tour) in Baltimore, Maryland at Otakon, the performance was later released on the Live in USA DVD.
Also in 2004, Hyde took on the role of the guitarist Adam in the movie Kagen no Tsuki ("Last Quarter"), a movie based on the manga by Ai Yazawa. The movie's theme song, "The Cape of Storms", came from Roentgen.
