Kimeru

Kimeru (most often written either in Romaji (Kimeru) or with Katakana (キメル), but has been written as きめる (Hiragana) and (決める) (Kanji), born June 17, 1980) is a Japanese pop musician, singer, and stage actor.

He is most famous for his work with The Prince of Tennis.

He adopted the stage name Kimeru, which means "to decide" in Japanese, before debuting.

Kimeru's birth name has never been announced publicly.

Born June 17, 1980 in Kumamoto-ken in Japan, after graduating from high school, he originally became a mailman, but later decided to pursue a career as a singer.

On December 5, 2001 Kimeru released his first single, "You Got Game?"

with Absolute Productions/Birdie House Inc. The song was used as the first ending song for the anime テニスの王子様　(The Prince of Tennis, commonly called "TeniPuri" or "AniPuri"), which was based on a manga by the same name created by Takeshi Konomi.

He followed up this release one year later with "Make You Free", which was also used as an opening song for later episodes of TeniPuri.

In the spring of 2003, Kimeru originated the role of Shusuke Fuji, the prodigy of Seigaku Middle School's tennis club, in The Prince of Tennis musical production series (commonly called Tenimyu), and understudied the lead role of Ryoma Echizen.

The rising popularity of the musical brought rising popularity to his music, and on November 27, 2003 Kimeru released his first mini-album, The Beginning.

Kimeru would sing "You Got Game?"

at the end of each show for three of the musicals (the first musical, Remarkable 1st Match Fudomine, and Side Fudomine), and "Make You Free" for Dream Live 1st.

The end of 2003 also brought tragedy to Tenimyu.

Less than two weeks before the second musical of the series, Remarkable 1st Match Fudomine, the lead actor cast for the main role of Echizen, Kotaro Yanagi, was struck by a car and was in critical condition for some months.

Because the musical's rehearsals were well underway and performance dates already set, Kimeru had to step up into the role.

Takashi Nagayama (who was playing the role of Eiji Kikumaru) filled in as Fuji, and Yamazaki Ichitaro (who had left the series) came back as Kikumaru.

Kimeru was struck so hard by his friend's accident that when he released his third single, "OVERLAP" (a theme song for the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters), he also dedicated its coupling song, "Oath in the Storm", to Yanagi.

Kimeru returned to his role of Fuji when Yuya Endo was brought in as the new Echizen (Nagayama went back to Kikumaru as well, and Ichitaro permanently left).

A small joke about Kimeru playing Echizen was added in Dream Live 1st.

In late April/early May 2004, Kimeru went on his very first tour, "OVERLAP".

With only three dates (one in Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo), it was his stepping stone into real touring as a professional singer.

On August 25, 2004 he released his fourth single, "Be Shiny", as well as his first DVD with live footage and music videos.

To celebrate the release of his new material, he went on another tour in September and November 2004.

At the beginning of 2005, for his last show in Tenmiyu - Side Fudomine - Kimeru was reunited with a recovered Kotaro Yanagi, who would share the role of Echizen with Endo.

Kimeru's role of Fuji would be carried on by Hiroki Aiba, Yuuta Furukawa, Hashimoto Taito, Ryou Mitsuya and Yusuke Yata.

Not losing any steam, Kimeru released his fifth single "The Pleasure of Love", as well as toured yet again, adding two new stops to his route (Sendai & Fukuoka).

Kimeru's popularity was growing, and on May 21, 2005, he performed in his first seated live house (Shibuya Public Hall in Tokyo).

This live was later released on DVD.

In the summer of 2005 Kimeru was officially signed onto the Nippon Crown (Crown Records) label under "Crown Gold".

Being signed onto a larger and more well-known label proved beneficial for Kimeru, and with the release of his sixth single "Answer Will Come", he put on his special Kimeru-Land Summer Eruption 2005 tour, complete with games and selling of old merchandise.

He added an extra stop in Hiroshima as well as performed on two different days for Nagoya and Tokyo.

Winter of 2005 brought even more success to Kimeru.

After the release of his seventh single, "Love Bites", he released his first ever full-length album, Glorious.

He later released a piano score for the album.

At the start of 2006, Kimeru departed on another tour to promote Glorious, kicking off at the Kouseinunkin Hall in Tokyo on New Years Day, and hand-signing over 1000 posters that would be given out to each attendee.

Kimeru was also rewarded the "Rookie of the Year" award from Nippon Crown.

Spring of 2006 proved a busy time for Kimeru.

While his regular radio show "Kimeruのキラキラ☆レコーディング (Kimeru no KiraKira*Recording)" ended, Kimeru became a regular guest on shows for bayFM, FM Fukuoka and FM Kumamoto.

He also sang the song "Style", the ending song for the new anime "Musashi", created by Monkey Punch, as well as released his new single "恋のパフォーマンス: To Be with You (Koi no Performance ~To Be with You~") and his DVD Glorious Films, a recording of his glorious tour.

Starting from 2018 onward, with the release of his 16th single "go forward", the singer's name is now stylized as KIMERU.