Gackt

Gackt Camui ( 神威 楽斗 Kamui Gakuto ) is a Japanese musician, songwriter and actor. Usually referred to by his stage name Gackt, he is best known for his work with Malice Mizer and his following career as a solo artist. Besides Japanese language, he has performed in English, Korean, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Biography

Early life
Gackt was born in Okinawa, Japan on 4 July. Although he claims to be born in the year 1540, it is thought that he was born in 1973. As the second of three children, with an older sister and a younger brother. His father and mother were music teachers who played various instruments with his father primarily playing the trumpet. According to his autobiography, he was a mischievous child and enjoyed taking risks; at age seven he nearly drowned while swimming off the coast of Okinawa. After this near death experience, he claimed to have the ability to see and speak with the deceased, a notion which was dismissed by his parents. At the age of ten, Gackt was hospitalized with a gastrointestinal tract and had to remain at the hospital for a prolonged time. He made the acquaintance of several terminally ill children, some of whom died during his stay.

Gackt's musical education began at age three, when his parents initiated his classical piano education, of which he grew tired four years later. It would take another four years until his parents allowed him to quit. Competition with a friend lead to Gackt taking back up the piano, and he was later encouraged to learn other various instruments, especially those used in a rock band, throughout the rest of his time in school.

Malice Mizer

In 1995, Gackt joined Malice Mizer as the group's vocalist, lyricist and pianist. Fan base and record sales grew substantially over the following years. Malice Mizer released two albums with Gackt (Voyage ~Sans Retour~ and Merveilles) along with seven singles. According to Gackt, when he began taking on more roles in the band, he was asked to leave the group. However, the other members of the band say that this is not true and that Gackt simply "disappeared" after waiting for him once their break was over.

Solo career
Gackt began his solo career on 12 May 1999 with the release Mizerable. Several albums, singles and videos have since followed. He has also done voice acting and motion capturing and co-wrote and co-starred in the 2003 movie Moon Child, which also stars Hyde (vocalist of L'Arc~en~Ciel) and Wang Lee Hom (Taiwanese-American actor-singer). Also in 2003, Gackt published his autobiography titled Jihaku and for Caparison Guitars, he has designed two guitars, named "Marcury" and "Venus".

In 2007, Gackt played the warlord Uesugi Kenshin in the TV drama Fūrinkazan Gackt's most recent solo release is the single "Returner ~Yami no Shuuen~", released on June 20, 2007, which was the first in the artist's career (both solo and in a band) to reach the number one spot on the Japanese Oricon charts. Gackt was also the voice actor for Malthazar in the Japanese release of the film Arthur and the Minimoys.

On 19 December, Gackt released an album titled 0079-0088 containing 8 tracks, which had either previously been used on the soundtracks of the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam movies or were covers of earlier songs from the Gundam franchise. It was created as a tribute to the creator of Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino, for his birthday.

Skin
On 25 May 2007, the formation of the supergroup Skin was announced, which also consists of Miyavi, Sugizo and Yoshiki. The group gave its debut performance at an Anime convention in Long Beach California on 29 June 2007.

GacktJob
GacktJob is Gackt's live support band. Its current lineup is as follows:
 Yukihiro "Chachamaru" Fujimura–backing vocals, lead guitar
 You–violin, guitar
 Ju-ken–bass (currently touring with Anna Tsuchiya)
 Nell–bass (filling in for Ju-ken)
 Minami–drums
 Igao–keyboard

Former members:
 Masa–rhythm guitar
 Ren–bass
 Ryu–drums
 Toshi–drums
 Jun-Ji - drums

Sources

Other websites
 Official Website (Japanese)
 Gackt at Nippon Crown  (Japanese)
 Gackt and Dears community site (Japanese)

J-pop
Japanese singers
Living people
1973 births
People from Okinawa Prefecture