Heath

Hiroshi Morie (森江 博), known exclusively by his stage name Heath, was a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter.

His first known band was the heavy metal group Paranoia, which he joined in 1986 as bassist.

They released one studio album in 1987 before splitting up the following year, with vocalist Nov moving on to the thrash metal band Aion.

In 1988, Heath joined Sweet Beet as vocalist for a year.

After moving to Tokyo in 1990, he was introduced to Hide of X through a common friend, and attended their Nippon Budokan concert in May.

In 1991 Heath performed at Extasy Summit '91, an event put on by X drummer Yoshiki's Extasy Records, with a band called Majestic Isabelle.

He was best known as bass guitarist of the rock band X Japan from 1992 to 1997, and again from 2007 until his death in 2023.

After performing in bands such as Paranoia and Media Youth, Heath joined X Japan in August 1992, replacing Taiji who had left earlier in the year.

In April 1992 he joined Sweet Death, a band produced by Extasy that he had previously played with in 1990.

That same year the band's new leader Kiyoshi (who years later joined Spread Beaver), decided to change their name to Media Youth.

Heath did not stay with them long, because in May 1992, Hide invited him to join X after a rehearsal with the band.

Heath explained that Hide asked him to record with X as they were lacking a bassist and gave him a demo tape of about five songs to learn.

After playing with the band in a studio, he received a phone call almost immediately after getting home from Hide, who told him that everyone liked him and to consider officially joining.

In June, Heath left Media Youth and on August 24, 1992, at a press conference in New York City at Rockefeller Center, it was announced that he had joined X Japan.

At the same time, the band announced the changing of their name from "X" to "X Japan".

Heath's first concert with them was the October 1992 Extasy Summit, and the following year they released Art of Life, which topped the Oricon Albums Chart.

However, that year the members of X Japan took a break to start solo projects.

They released two number one studio albums, Art of Life (1993) and Dahlia (1996), before disbanding in 1997.

Heath then focused on his solo career, which he started in 1995, before forming Dope HEADz with X Japan guitarist Pata and former Spread Beaver percussionist/programmer I.N.A. in 2000.

In 1995, Heath began a solo career with a self-titled box set, containing a five-track CD and a home video, that was released on February 22.

Dahlia, which would become the band's last album, was released on November 4, 1996, and once again, it reached the number one spot.

His October 1996 single "Meikyuu no Lovers" was used as the ending theme of the Detective Conan anime adaptation and reached number 10 on the Oricon Singles Chart.

In September 1997, it was announced that X Japan would disband.

They performed their farewell show, aptly titled The Last Live, at the Tokyo Dome on December 31, 1997.

His first album, Gang Age Cubist, followed in June 1998.

For the 1999 Hide tribute album, Tribute Spirits, Heath teamed up with X Japan guitarist Pata and former Spread Beaver percussionist/programmer I.N.A. to cover the song "Celebration".

He reunited with them in 2000 when they formed Dope HEADz, adding vocalist Jo:Ya.

The group ceased activity after its second album in 2002.

They released two singles and an album in 2002 when they recruited new singer Shame and released Planet of Dope, but ceased activity soon after its release.

On December 29, 2003, the bassist announced a new project with former Craze vocalist Shinichiro Suzuki called Rats, but after the release of their re-recording of Heath's "Traitor", the project was ended on August 29, 2004.

That same year he formed a band called Lynx, with Der Zibet vocalist Issay, but they did not release any recordings.

In 2005, Heath restarted his solo activities after a seven-year hiatus.

Desert Rain, his second and final studio album, was released on July 16, 2006.

According to a report by the newspaper Sponichi, X Japan vocalist Toshi visited drummer Yoshiki in Los Angeles in November 2006 to work on a song as a tribute to the late guitarist Hide.

Heath reunited with X Japan in 2007 and continued to perform and record with them sporadically for the next 16 years, until his death from colon cancer in October 2023.

The first band Heath became a fan of was Mötley Crüe, followed by Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Kiss.

He started playing in bands himself during junior high school.

When one of these groups decided each member should have a stage name, Hiroshi choose Heath, which was derived from his nickname "Hi-chan" (ひーちゃん).

In March 2007, Toshi announced on his website that he and Yoshiki had recently resumed working together, stating that a "new project" would commence soon.

Rumors of a X Japan reunion subsequently began, and in June Yoshiki was reported as having expressed interest in a tour and that he was in talks with Heath and Pata regarding their participation.