Avex Globe

Avex Globe is a dance-oriented Japanese pop sub-label, created in 1995 by the producer and songwriter Tetsuya Komuro, as the third label from the group, and also the band Globe's label. As a band, originally consisting of Komuro, Keiko Yamada and Marc Panther, the group's singles consistently entered the charts. In late 2002, Yoshiki, the drummer and pianist for X Japan, joined the group, but he left the band about a year later.

In the climb of his fame, producer Komuro organized one of his castings, searching for new singers in 1994 (especially one that was called Eurogroove Night). The young girl Keiko Yamada assisted, encouraged by her friends, and her voice undoubtedly attracte Komura's attention instantly. He chose her initially for a solo career. Another one of the careers that TK was thinking about producing at that time was that of the model and MTV VJ Marc Panther, who knew English and French as well as from Japanese. Komuro finally had the idea to make a band using Yamada and Panther as main vocalists and himself as keyboard player and also some vocals.
The band signed with the Avex label in 1995, creating its own sub-label called "Avex Globe". In August 1995, the first single, "Feel Like Dance", was released.The fourth single, "Departures", released in 1996, sold more than 2 million copies. The label's first studio album, Globe, also released in 1996, managed to sell more than 4 million copies according to Oricon. It was the best selling album of the year. After having obtained such sales in only two years of work, with more than 12 million singles sold (only in Japan) and 13 million copies of albums, the label was established as a leading pop label in Japan.
The label released a second studio album, Faces Places, on March 12, 1997. To promote it, the label began its large scale tour called Globe@4Domes in which they performed at the four biggest Japanese domes: Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Tokyo. A few months later, the band began its first overseas tour around Asia with Namie Amuro and TRF, also from the Komuro stable. In 1998, they released four singles in about one month in a project called the "Brand New Globe 4 Singles". One of them, "Wanna Be a Dreammaker", won the grand prix award at the Japan Record Award.
After a regular period of singles and albums, including a hit "best-of" compilation, Cruise Record 1995-2000 (#1 at Oricon), the band started to experiment with its music, exploring new musical areas. The first big step in this new era was the "Globe Featuring" project in 2000, in which each member of the band released one single as a solo artist. The most successful of the three singles was Yamada's "On the Way to You", and she went on her first solo nationwide tour of Japan because of the success.
As new music influences were being received in Japan, electronic music like trance became one of the main styles that Globe decided to try. However, this new style was not so well received by Globe's fans. Their fourth studio album, Outernet, sold poorly compared to previous works. Globe went from selling millions of copies of an album to selling a mere 100 thousand. Komuro, though, was not willing to give up his new style of music for the pop tunes that made Globe so popular in the early 1990s.
In 2002, Avex Globe was even more into the trance style, releasing two studio albums that year: Lights and Lights2. In July 2002, Avex Globe and the Belgian DJ Push collaborated on the single "Dreams From Above" for the set of Avex's Cyber Trance series. On September 1, Yoshiki, the former drummer and pianist for X Japan, joined Globe as its fourth member. Meanwhile, the band was appearing in A-Nation, and the news of the change quickly spread throughout Asia and the world. On November 22, it was announced that Komuro and Yamada were marrying. The ceremony was televised live, causing considerable controversy. The new era of Globe, known as Globe Extreme (now with Yoshiki), began some weeks later, with the single "Seize the Light", a song created by Yoshiki and produced by Komuro. A second "best of" album was also released to commemorate the first eight years of Globe's musical career, entitled 8 Years: Many Classic Moments (#2 at Oricon).After a regular period of singles and albums, including a hit "best-of" compilation, Cruise Record 1995-2000 (#1 at Oricon), the band started to experiment with its music, exploring new musical areas. The first big step in this new era was the "Globe Featuring" project in 2000, in which each member of the band released one single as a solo artist. The most successful of the three singles was Yamada's "On the Way to You", and she went on her first solo nationwide tour of Japan because of the success.
As new music influences were being received in Japan, electronic music like trance became one of the main styles that Globe decided to try. However, this new style was not so well received by Globe's fans. Their fourth studio album, Outernet, sold poorly compared to previous works. Globe went from selling millions of copies of an album to selling a mere 100 thousand. Komuro, though, was not willing to give up his new style of music for the pop tunes that made Globe so popular in the early 1990s.
In 2002, Globe was even more into the trance style, releasing two studio albums that year: Lights and Lights2. In July 2002, Globe and the Belgian DJ Push collaborated on the single "Dreams From Above" for the set of Avex's Cyber Trance series. On September 1, Yoshiki, the former drummer and pianist for X Japan, joined Globe as its fourth member. Meanwhile, the band was appearing in A-Nation, and the news of the change quickly spread throughout Asia and the world. On November 22, it was announced that Komuro and Yamada were marrying. The ceremony was televised live, causing considerable controversy. The new era of the band, known as Globe Extreme (now with Yoshiki), began some weeks later, with the single "Seize the Light", a song created by Yoshiki and produced by Komuro. A second "best of" album was also released to commemorate the first eight years of Globe's musical career, entitled 8 Years: Many Classic Moments (#2 at Oricon).

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