# Rake (singer)

Rake (レイク, Reiku, born 15 August) is a Japanese singer-songwriter who debuted under Sony Music Entertainment Japan in 2010.

## Biography

Rake was born in Sendai, Japan. He began an interest in music by playing an antique guitar at his family home, and in high school, was a member of a hard rock band. In university, Rake considered singing for the first time, and began steps to becoming a professional musician.
Rake performed as the opening act to Japanese band Kimaguren's 2009 tour Kid in the Sky, and the following January debuted under Sony Music Japan, with the single "Fly Away." The song was used as the theme song for the Tokyo MX drama Taxmen, and while few copies were sold, the song received such extremely heavy airplay across Japan that it topped Billboard's Japan Hot 100 chart for two weeks. Rake, after releasing his debut extended play All You Need Is, performed his first solo concert in July, followed by performances at summer festival Summer Sonic in August.
In 2011, Rake had his first hit single, "Hyakuman-kai no "I Love You"," which was used in a television commercial campaign for Yokohama Tire. The song was successful on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart in its first week, debuting at number six. However, due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami occurring several days after the single's physical release in Rake's hometown, many promotional events for the song were cancelled. Rake was at his home in Sendai at the time of the earthquake.
In 2015 he went into retirement as a singer-songwriter until 2018 when he resumed under a new project called "Samurai Japan Project".

## Discography
### Album

| Year | Album Information | Oricon Albums Charts | Reported sales |
| 2011 | First Sight Released: 1 June 2011 Label: Sony Music Japan (BVCL-202) Formats: CD, digital download | 20 | 24,000 |

### Extended play

| Year | Album Information |
| 2010 | All You Need Is... Released: 9 June 2010 Label: Sony Music Japan (BVCL-96) Formats: CD, digital download |

### Singles

| Release | Title | Notes | Chart positions | Chart positions | Chart positions | Oricon sales | Album |
| Release | Title | Notes | Oricon Singles Charts | Billboard Japan Hot 100 | RIAJ digital tracks | Oricon sales | Album |
| 2010 | "Fly Away" | Billboard No. 1 for two weeks. | 159 | 1 | — | 300 | All You Need Is.../First Sight |
| 2010 | "Sekai wa Kyō mo Bokura o Nosete Mawaru" (世界は今日も僕らをのせてまわる, "Today, the World Keeps Turning and Carrying Us") | | — | 75 | — | — | All You Need Is... |
| 2011 | "Hyakuman-kai no "I Love You"" (100万回の「I love you」, "The Millionth 'I Love You'") | Certified platinum for full-length cellphone downloads. | 25 | 33 | 6 | 16,000 | First Sight |
| 2012 | "Futari Hitotsu" (フタリヒトツ, "Two People, One Person") | | TBA | 66 | 13 | TBA | WONDERFUL WORLD |
| 2012 | "Subarashiki Sekai/Taisetsu Na Hito" (素晴らしき世界/大切な人, "Wonderful World/Precious One") | ED song for Space Brothers anime. | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | WONDERFUL WORLD |

### Other charted songs

| Release | Title | Chart positions | Chart positions | Album |
| Release | Title | Billboard Japan Hot 100 | RIAJ digital tracks | Album |
| 2010 | "All I Need Is..." | 99 | — | All You Need Is... |
| 2011 | "Chikai" (誓い, "Oath") | — | 88 | First Sight |