Ryuichi Kawamura

Ryuichi Kawamura (河村 隆一) is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and author.

He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989.

On May 6, 1989, he was invited by Inoran to join their band Lunacy.

In 1991, hide of X Japan found them on the indie circuit and eventually got them signed to X Japan co-founder Yoshiki's Extasy Records, where they changed their name to Luna Sea.

They went on to become very successful, having sold more than 10 million certified units in Japan, and are considered one of the most influential bands in the visual kei movement.

Ryuichi provided vocals for the B-side version of hide's 1994 song "Scanner".

He started a solo career in 1997, three years before Luna Sea disbanded in 2000.

In 1997 alone, with his mini and full-length albums and four singles (of which "Glass" sold over one million itself), he sold over six million records.

Ryuichi Kawamura started his musical career as vocalist of the bands Cradle and Slaughter, while still in high school, under the name Rayla.

During Luna Sea's temporary break in 1997, Ryuichi started his solo career.

Going by his full name, Ryuichi Kawamura, he changed his vocals and music from the powerful rock sound to more of a pop idol sound.

That year, he released four singles, one mini-album and his first full-length album, Love.

The album includes his cover version of the song "Namida Iro", which was formerly sung by Japanese female singer Noriko Sakai with his songwriting.

Love topped the Japanese Oricon charts with sales of around 1,021,000 copies, making him the only solo male artist ever to have an album sell over one million copies within its initial week of release in Oricon charts history.

In total, Love sold over 2,788,000 copies.

Kawamura later started his own production house titled RK, and in 1999, he went on to produce many artists including Azumaya Toga, Hideki and Izam.

Luna Sea disbanded at the end of 2000.

Billboard later quoted music critic Hiromichi Ugaya as saying that the band broke up due to conflict between Kawamura and the other members.

That same year, Kawamura started his first solo tour and created a subsidiary of RK intended for the production of film music.

Shortly after, he composed music for the film So Faraway.

In mid-2001, his fan-club RKF (Ryuichi Kawamura Family) opened.

Later, Ryuichi released the singles "Shizuka na Yoru wa Futari Iyou" and "Julia".

Kawamura started appearing on popular music shows including Music Station and Hey x3.

Following the release of the single "Kimi no Mae de Paino wo Hikou", he landed a role in the film Picaresque based on the life of Osamu Dazai.

His first international solo tour came in 2002 when he performed an exclusive concert in Seoul.

When he returned to Japan, there were several meet and greet events at Zepp Fukuoka and Zepp Osaka, where he sold special merchandise (including manga he illustrated and figurines, etc.).

Later, Kawamura starred as a lead role in the TV Asahi drama series Kowloon de Aimasho and also wrote the ending theme "Sugar Lady".

A special photobook was released in 2003 during his new tour.

While putting his album and single releases on pause that year, he went on to produce artists such as Memory Cats and Kiyoshi.

In 2004, Kawamura released the single "Spoon" and the album Vanilla, followed by a handful of tours.

His fellow Luna Sea's bandmate Inoran was also a guest during his New Year's Eve live.

In 2005, Kawamura formed Tourbillon with fellow Luna Sea member Inoran and Hiroaki Hayama.

After taking a short vacation in Europe, Kawamura reunited with Inoran and Hiroaki Hayama to announce the formation of their band Tourbillon in 2005.

Their first official concert was held at the Nippon Budokan on July 2 and it received good attendance and reviews.

The band would release two albums, Heaven and A Tide of New Era in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

In 2006, Kawamura released his first cover album, titled Evergreen ~Anata no Wasuremono~.

In March 2008, Tourbillon's single "Break the Chain" was used as an opening theme of Kamen Rider Kiva.

He rejoined Luna Sea when they reunited in August 2010.

Kawamura's first full-length album Love topped the Oricon chart with sales of around 1,021,000 copies, making him the only male solo artist to have an album sell over one million copies within its initial week in Oricon charts history.

That same album sold over 3,200,000 copies by the end of the year, therefore it holds the record for best-selling male solo album.