GACKT

Beginning in January 1999, GACKT accomplished a lot during the first year of his solo career. By April, he had become a regular performer on the nationwide FM radio program "Radio's rajio ougon jidai - kuwareta youkan to kajirareta mikan," which was broadcast on 32 regional channels across Japan. During the same month, he held his first performance called GACKT Easter Live - Resurrection, which was held in the Omiya Arche. On June 30th, GACKT released his first single titled Mizérable Single Box, which included a video containing the music video clip and a making of documentary.

The following month GACKT appeared in SHOXX WAVE ILLUSTRATION '99 in Osaka and Tokyo. He finished the year off with the release of his second single, Vanilla, in August. The single's title track was used as the ending theme for the show "Romihi" and ranked #4 on the Oricon charts. Even after this, Vanilla's success continued and the single stayed in the charts for over ten weeks.

Within February and March 2000, GACKT released three singles and in April he released his first solo album, MARS. The album kicked off his nationwide tour "MARS - Sora kara no homonsha", which consisted of sixteen performances beginning in Omiya Sonic City and ending on July 1st in Yokohama Arena. A few months later in October, he released a VHS titled MARS - Sora kara no homonsha - kaisou. This release featured footage from the final live event from his nationwide tour and reached #1 on the monthly video charts on Countdown TV.

GACKT started 2001 with his first release on March 14, Kimi no tame ni dekiru koto, which was used as the ending song for "CDTV." Beginning on April 15, he became a regular performer on "Domoto Kyoudai," better known as "The Domoto Brothers." A week and a half later, he released his second album, Rebirth. The remainder of the year was filled with many more releases and another nationwide tour.

On April 1, 2002, GACKT appeared on the Nippon Broadcasting show, "GACKT's @llnightnippon.com." Twenty-four days later, he released his single, Wasurenai kara, with both the title and b-side track being used for different commercials. Wasurenai kara was used for the Fuji color digital camera print campaign and Doomsday was used for the Takanyuri commercial. June 9th saw the beginning of his nationwide tour, Dears Presents Special Talk & Live Addition. During these tour dates, GACKT released his third album, MOON, and appeared in a television commercial for Tateyama Brewing.

A couple months later, on September 22nd, he had his first overseas live event held at the Beijing Worker's Gymnasium, holding up to 50,000 people, in China. He also appeared in the large musical event "China-Japan: Holding Hands, Moving Together," which commemorated 30 years of correction relations between China and Japan. As if GACKT hadn't already accomplished enough in 2002, he had his third nationwide tour, GACKT Live Tour 2002 Kagen no tsuki, starting on October 14th and continuing through December 24th, Christmas Eve. To show that touring wasn't going to hold him back from continuing his own works, he released his twelfth single, Jyuunigatsu no Love Song, on November 27th. The 2001 version of the song was sung in Japanese, whereas the 2002 version was sung in English. Subsequently, a new language version of Jyuunigatsu no Love Song has been released each year.

The year 2003 was another busy year for GACKT. On March 19th, he released his thirteenth single. That same month he stopped appearing as a regular performer on "Domoto Kyoudai" and on "GACKT's @llnightnippon.com." Even though he ended these two activities, he did become a regular personality on the new Nippon Broadcasting show "GACKT no furachi na otokotachi" on April 5th. Later that month, on the 19th, the movie "MOON CHILD" was released and had GACKT starring alongside popular musician HYDE. GACKT helped work on the script for the movie and also did his own action scenes. As if a movie and new television show wasn't enough, he didn't give up on his yearly tradition of a nationwide tour in early May. Also throughout June he modeled and provided the narration for Rau Wong, the lead character in the PlayStation 2 game BUJINGAI. On December 3rd, he released his seventeenth single, Jyuunigatsu no Love Song, but this version, a duet with famous Taiwanese artist Wang Leehom, was sung in Chinese. That same day, GACKT released his fourth album, Crescent.

A little over two months after releasing that album, GACKT released his fifth album, THE SIXTH DAY, which is actually a single collection. A couple months later, he held another nationwide tour, GACKT Live Tour 2004 THE SIXTH DAY & SEVENTH NIGHT, which was comprised of 15 performances total. Keeping with the theme of the tour, THE SEVENTH NIGHT, an album consisting of acoustic arrangements of previously recorded tracks, was released a month after the tour began. Toward the end of the year, on October 27th, he released his 18th single titled Kimi ni aitakute, which was the ending theme for the television show "The Wide." In December, GACKT was awarded "Best Asian Rock Artist" at Korea's largest musical event, m.net/Km MUSIC VIDEO FESTIVAL. That same month, he released Jyuunigatsu no Love Song in Korean.

The year 2005 started off strong with the release of his 20th single, Arittake no ai de, and the song was used for the theme of Entertainment SPORTS for NNN News Plus 1. On Valentine's Day, GACKT released his first ballad album, Love Letter. The title tracks of his 21st and 22nd singles were also used as themes. Respectively, BLACK STONE was used as the song for the Daihatsu "Move Custom" TV commercial and Metamorphoze was used as the theme for Mobile Suit Gundam 2.

In June, Love Letter was re-recorded in Korea and was released into the Korean market. On August 10th, GACKT's 23rd single titled Todokanai ai to shitteitanoni osaekirezu ni aishitsudzuketa became the theme song for the Fuji television drama "Contract Marriage," Even though he had already released two albums earlier in 2005, his eighth, DIABOLOS, went on sale on September 21st. A couple days after its release he began his GACKT Live Tour 2005 DIABOLOS - A Sorrowful Poem tour. Early in November, he presented the leading out of bikes for the final presentations at the Kawaguchi Autorace track. For the first time, his songs were also played as the final race fanfare. The 2005 edition of Jyuunigatsu no Love Song was only available via the internet and was performed as a duet with Isoo from the Korean group MC the MAX.

The following year, in 2006, GACKT held his first Asian tour, GACKT Live Tour 2006 DIABOLOS - A Sorrowful Poem in Asia, the first performance of which took place in the Fencing Stadium at the Korean Olympic Park on January 14th. The following months saw the release of his 24th and 25th singles. REDEMPTION was used as the theme song for the PlayStation 2 game DIRGE of CERBERUS-FINAL FANTASY VI, while Love Letter was used as the theme for "Mobile Suit Gundam Z, Love is a Star's Beat." A DVD featuring his GACKT Live Tour, Christmas Eve, 2005. DIABOLOS - A Sorrowful Poem and Tears on Christmas Eve performance at Tokyo Dome hit the shelves on March 29th, followed by the simultaneous release of two more DVDs in August. From October 25th to November 22nd, GACKT's albums, MARS, Rebirth, MOON, Crescent, and Diabolos were all released as a series dubbed GACKT PREMIUM COLLECTION, which consisted of the re-release of each album with large-sized CD jackets.

In 2007, the year started with the February release of No ni saku hana no you ni, GACKT's 26th single, which jumped to number three on the Oricon chart. However, it wasn’t until his 27th release, RETURNER - Yami no shuuen, that one of his songs finally hit #1 on the Oricon chart. Aside from his chart topping singles, he also joined the line-up of S.K.I.N., a "Super Band" consisting of himself, YOSHIKI, SUGIZO, and miyavi. The band's debut performance took place on June 29th at the California convention Anime Expo. There has been no further information regarding the possibility of S.K.I.N.'s continued activity.

A couple months later, GACKT reached a new high when, during the span of two days, more than 100,000 people went to see him at The 82nd Kenshin Festival in Niigata. During the month of September, two voice roles that presented themselves earlier were released. Beginning with another video game role for the PSP "CRISIS CORE –FINAL FNATASY VII-," GACKT was the voice for the character GENESIS; and for the movie "Arthur and the Minimoys," where he played the voice of Marthazaar the Devil.

When October rolled around, GACKT joined the many musicians whose music was released on iTunes, which made purchasing of his music easier for overseas fans in twenty-two countries. GACKT continued the year off in a steady pattern of releases and performances. Among them was a unique photo collection titled Ryuu no keshin by Seiichi Nomura that depicted Kagetora Nagao, the god of war, as described in the TV-drama "Fuurinkazan."

Beginning his activity in March the following year, GACKT sang the national anthem at Kokugikan in Ryougoku for WBC Flyweight Title Holder Naitou. Continuing with another theme song, his song Ai senshi, which was used for the "Theatrical Version Mobile Suit Gundam," became available on iTunes. He also appeared in a period drama, along with another television commercial. At the end of the month, he wrote a song HEROES~to my treasure~ for Toru Furuya, who is one of his dearest friends.

A couple amazing things happened for GACKT fans across the world. First, on April 16, he opened his official MySpace, and second, it was announced that he would be appearing in the Hollywood film Bunraku, working with well-known actors such as Josh Hartnett and Demi Moore. For the second consecutive year, he performed at The Kenshin Festival in September, however, the attendance had increased by 100,000! Ending the year off strong, GACKT held a long-awaited nationwide tour with a record number of 51 performances in 42 cities.

As usual, GACKT has become busier in 2009 than previous years. Within an eight month span, he has already released seven singles. Four, of which, were released ten days of each other during the month of June through the beginning of July. In May, it was announced that GACKT would sing the theme song for the August release of the movie “Kamen Rider Decade All Rider VS Great Shocker.” Other than music, he has also made an appearance in the second episode for the Japanese drama “Mr. Brain.”

GACKT is one hardworking individual. He has a passion and determination to push himself beyond any obstacles and all the while, doing what he does best: provide the best music for his fans.