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| Toshi |
| Toshimitsu
Deyama was the vocalist of X Japan. Born on the 10th October
1965 in Chiba (Japan), he has 3 older brothers. His mother
is a piano teacher. Toshi - like Yoshiki, who knew each
other since kindergarden, always loved music. Mainly singing
for his own at home and for excercising, he also learned
to play guitar and to play piano. |
When
Yoshiki and Toshi formed in 1982 a coverband, Toshi actually
wanted to be the guitarist. Since he was the one who had
the best voice he had to be the singer. His voice covers
about 3 octaves.
Yoshiki always said that Toshi was a normal
person, so being on stage with X Japan, Toshi always felt
like playing a role he doesn't fit into. He also said once
in an interview that the music was the main reason why he
quit X Japan in 1997. He always had to be in a painful mood
to carry across the emotions of the songs and could not
cope with it anymore.
In February 1997 (a few months prior to him leaving X Japan)
he married the actress Kaori.
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Toshi
joined the cult Masaya (a cult where music is used as therapy).
He even cut off any contact with all his old friends. Toshi
was still making music, but not the way he had before, he
played infront of a handful of people and according to him
he was very happy with how things turned out. In 2004 Toshi
retired from the music business, due to the rumours about
child abuse and brain washing in the Masaya cult. |
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| hide |
| Hideto
Matsumoto, was born on the 13th December 1964 in Yokosuka
(Japan). Before becoming twenty hide already was in a band
called "Saver Tiger". He went to a cosmetology
and fashion school. Because he figured he would not make
a living with music, he decided to become a hair stylist.
When Yoshiki called to ask him if he wants to join X, hide
agreed and the rest is history.
After the release of the X Japan mini-album
"Art Of Life" the band member stook some time
out to realise their solo projects. In 1994 hide's first
solo CD "hide your face" was released. When it
came to touring, hide hired his own band for the “Hide
Our Psychommunity Tour”. |
Only two
years later, in 1996 hide released his second solo album
called "Psyence", again followed by a tour (Psyence
A Go Go Tour) with the same backup band.
Besides releasing his solo albums hide
also collaborated with the band "Zilch", their
album was called 3.2.1. Later a remix album called "Bastard
Eyes" was released.
hide had plans to conquer the US music
market with this project, one song of Zilch also appeard
on the soundtrack for "Heavy Metal 2000". |
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After
the X Japan breakup, hide made his band for touring his
permanent band and called the band "Spread Beaver".
The band and hide started to record their album "Ja,
Zoo". Tragedy struck when hide was found dead on the
2nd May 1998. After a night of partying hide was found hanging
with a towel from a doorknob and was barely alive, he died
later in the hospital. Many rumors followed hide's death.
Some say it was suicide, others say he wanted to play a
prank to shock people that backfired. Most likely hide wanted
to stretch his back muscles (a common practice for guitarist).
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hide's death was not only a personal tragedy for his
connections, but also a tragedy for the whole country.
Over 70.000 people attended hide's funeral on the 7th
May 1998. Shocked and in disbelieve the members of X Japan
found together to bid hide a far awell, playing "Forever
Love" and "Scars".
With the help of hide's brother Hiroshi Matsumoto and
recordings that already existed before the band went into
the studio, they were able to finish the recording of
"Ja, Zoo".
Followed by a tour with the band members who played live
and with videos from hide in playing in the background.
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From
summer 2000 until 2005 (even though only planned for two
years) the hide museum opened in Yokosuka, putting his outfits,
his guitars and other belongings on display and giving the
fans a chance to say good bye.
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| Pata |
| Tomoaki
Ishizuka, born on the 4th November 1965 in Chiba (Japan),
joined X Japan as guitarist in 1987. Beforehand he already
was a studio guitarist for X Japan and helped them out on
tour when the original guitar player broke his arm. |
Pata
was quite the opposite from hide, being pretty quiet. Both
were able to play perfectly synchronized guitar.
After X Japan disbanded, Pata released
his first solo album called simply "Pata's 1st album",
followed by a second album called "Raised on Rock".
With his former bandmate Heath he formed
the group DopeHEADz.
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2003
he joined the band Ra:In (Rock And Inspiration). They released
the album "In Line" 2003 and their second album
"Before The Siren" was released in 2006. |
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| Heath |
| Hiroshi
Morie, born on the 22nd January 1968 was the youngest member
of X Japan and joined the band in 1992. Before he was in
X Japan he played in various japanese bands such as: Paranoia
and Media Youth. |
Heath was the replacement for Taiji who left the band
in 1992. The first few months were not easy for Heath,
since he felt he didn't really belong to the group, because
they all knew each other for so long time. Some of the
fans didn't like Heath either because of his more subtle
style and less agressive bass playing.
Those little starting problems were already long overcome
in 1993 when Heath recorded "Art Of Life" with
the band. Heath can also be heard on the last X Japan
album "Dahlia".
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1994
Heath released his first solo album called "Heath",
followed by his second solo album (after the breakup of
X Japan) called "Gang Age Cubist" in 1998. He
also played bass on the solo albums of his former bandmated
hide and Pata. Later Heath formed DopeHEADz with his former
bandmate Pata.
In 2003 Heath founded R.A.T.S., but the
band disbanded only one year later. Heath plays now in a
band called Lynx. |
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| Taiji |
| Taiji
Sawada, born on the 12th June 1966 in Chiba (Japan), was
the bassplayer for X Japan from 1985 until 1992. Before
joining X Japan Taiji already worked with bands such as:
Loudness and Cloud Nine. |
He
appears on the X Japan albums: Vanishing Vision, Blue Blood
and Jealousy.
Following his leaving of X Japan hard times
came up for Taiji. Affter the divorce of his wife he had
no money left and still no income.
After hide's death he decided to turn his
life around and get up on his feet again. After fighting
homelessness and his addiction, he continued to make music.He
released his autobiography in 2000.
In 2004 he played in a band called Otokaze
with his sister.
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In
2006 he plans a revival with his band D.T.R. and is working
on a project called "Gen&Taiji" with a bandmember
of Otokaze. |
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