Shikao Suga
Shikao Suga スガ シカオ | |
---|---|
Birth name |
Shikao Suga 菅 止戈男 |
Born |
Hino, Tokyo, Japan | July 28, 1966
Genres | J-pop, pop rock, funk rock, soul, smooth jazz |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, record producer |
Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass |
Years active | 1995–present |
Labels |
Universal/Mercury/Kitty MME (1997–2003) Augusta/BMG Japan/Ariola Japan (2003–2013) Victor/Speedstar (2013–present) |
Website | Shikao Suga Official Website |
Shikao Suga (スガ シカオ Suga Shikao, born July 28, 1966) is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter from Tokyo. Though he uses katakana for his recording name, the kanji for his name are 菅 止戈男, but the romanization is the same. Suga is his family name and Shikao is his given name.
After graduating from Tokyo Keizai University, he worked as a "salaryman" for four years in the advertisement industry. Debuting with a major label EP album release in 1997, his J-Pop music has jazz, funk and soul influence.
Several of his songs have been used in the anime TV series show Honey and Clover, including Hachigatsu no Serenade, Tsuki to Knife and Yubikiri. Yozora no Mukō, the song he wrote the lyrics to, and sung by Smap, has appeared in several Japanese music textbooks. He also did the theme song to the movie xxxHOLiC: Manatsu no Yoru no Yume, Sanagi ~theme from xxxHOLiC the movie~ and the theme song to the xxxHOLiC TV series called Jūkyū-sai. Manatsu no Yoru no Yume has appeared in the recent Death Note live action movie as an insert song. Also, his song Yūdachi was used as the closing theme for the movie Boogiepop and Others,[1] the opening theme for the 2000 anime series Boogiepop Phantom and Nobody Knows was used as the opening theme of the second season of the xxxHOLiC TV series, xxxHOLiC Kei. More recently, Hajimari no Hi was used as the first opening theme to Letter Bee. After a year and three months, he released the second opening of the sequel, Yakusoku. Sofa was another song used in xxxHOLiC: Shunmuki in February 17, 2009.
From October 3, 2005, until March 27, 2006, he was hosting a radio program called Night Stories Monday on J-Wave radio station which was downloadable as a podcast.[2]
He is involved in the poster campaign for Chica Umino's seinen manga series, March Comes in Like a Lion with Anne Watanabe.[3]
In February 2013, xxxHOLiC drama started on Wowow, and Suga Shikao's "Aitai" is used as its opening theme song.
Collaborations
He has been a member of Fukumimi, a band formed by artists from the same label Office Augusta; it consisted of Shikao Suga, Chitose Hajime, Masayoshi Yamazaki, Kyoko (杏子), COIL, Araki Yuko (mi-gu), and Sukima Switch. He has provided work to other artists:
- Kyoko: Ijimete Mitai (music, lyrics), Happy Birthday (music, lyrics)
- Smap: Koko ni Iru Koto (music, lyrics, arrangement), Yozora no Mukō (lyrics), Ringo Juice (lyrics)
- Chisato Moritaka: Tanpopo no Tane (music, arrangement), Mahiru no Hoshi (music)
- KAT-TUN: Real Face (lyrics)
- Arashi: Aozora Pedal (music, lyrics)
- Kamenashi Kazuya: Ai ni Tsuite (music, lyrics)
Discography
Studio albums
- Clover (September 7, 1997)
- Family (June 24, 1998)
- Sweet (September 8, 1999)
- 4Flusher (October 25, 2000)
- Smile (May 7, 2003)
- Time (November 17, 2004)
- Parade (September 6, 2006)
- FUNKAHOLiC (September 10, 2008)
- FUNKASTiC (May 12, 2010)
Mini album
- 0101 (1995)
Live, compilation & other albums
- Sugarless (October 3, 2001)
- The Best Hits of Live Recordings -Thank You- (November 5, 2003)
- All Singles Best (January 24, 2007)
- All Lives Best (October 10, 2007)
- Sugarless II (August 10, 2011)
Singles
- "Hit Chart o Kakenukero" (ヒットチャートをかけぬけろ) (February 26, 1997)
- "Ōgon no Tsuki" (黄金の月) (May 28, 1997)
- "Dokidoki Shichau" (ドキドキしちゃう) (July 30, 1997)
- "Ai ni Tsuite" (愛について) (November 21, 1997)
- "Story" (ストーリー) (May 27, 1998)
- "Bokutachi no Hibi" (ぼくたちの日々) (November 18, 1998)
- "Yoake Mae" (夜明けまえ) (June 23, 1999)
- "Amai Kajitsu" (あまい果実) (August 18, 1999)
- "Spirit" (SPIRIT) (August 2, 2000)
- "Affair" (AFFAIR) (October 12, 2000)
- "Hachigatsu no Serenade" (8月のセレナーデ) (August 1, 2001)
- "Aozora/Cloudy" (青空/Cloudy) (January 17, 2002)
- "Asymmetry" (アシンメトリー) (May 29, 2002)
- "Sayonara/Kimagure" (サヨナラ/気まぐれ) (February 26, 2003)
- "Himitsu" (秘密) (May 12, 2004)
- "Climax" (クライマックス) (August 25, 2004)
- "Hikari no Kawa" (光の川) (October 27, 2004)
- "Kiseki/Natsukage/Sanagi" (奇跡/夏陰/サナギ) (August 10, 2005)
- "Jūkyū-sai" (19才) (April 26, 2006)
- "Manatsu no Yoru no Yume" (真夏の夜のユメ) (June 21, 2006)
- "Gogo no Parade" (午後のパレード) (September 6, 2006)
- "Phonoscope" (フォノスコープ) (June 13, 2007)
- "Nobody Knows" (NOBODY KNOWS) (May 14, 2008)
- "Kono Yubi Tomare" (コノユビトマレ) (September 3, 2008)
- "Party People" (July 15, 2009) #7 . 1st week sales - 14,639 . Total sales - 17,326
- "Hajimari no Hi feat. Mummy-D" (はじまりの日 feat. Mummy-D) (November 25, 2009)
- "Sayonara Homerun" (サヨナラホームラン) (April 28, 2010)
- "Yakusoku" (約束) (February 23, 2011)
- 「Re:you」 (June 27, 2012)
- "Aitai" (アイタイ) (April 10, 2013)
DVDs
- +731 (February 26, 2002)
- 1095 (February 26, 2002)
- 20 Music Clips of Suga Shikao (May 12, 2004)
- The Best Music Clips of Suga Shikao 2004-2011 (August 10, 2011)
References
- ↑ Boogiepop wa Warawanai: Boogiepop and Others. IMDb.com, Inc. Accessed March 26, 2008.
- ↑ Night Stories Monday (Shikao Suga). (Japanese) J-Wave, Inc. Accessed March 25, 2008.
- ↑ 3月のライオン | 白泉社 (in Japanese). Young Animal/Hakusensha. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
External links
- Shikao Suga official website (Japanese) (Office Augusta)
- Shikao Suga official website (Japanese) (Universal Music)
- Shikao Suga official website (Japanese) (BMG Japan)
- Shikao Suga official website (Japanese) (Speedstar Records)