LDH-mania

JONTE

JONTE is one of the recruitments that LDH made after the VOCAL BATTLE AUDITION. He has Korean roots so they tried to launch his music career in Japan, China and Korea at the same time. He also has some songs that are covers of Korean ones which are sung in Korean too. As a singer, he debuted in 2007 with the record label rhythm zone and released the single Yureru and a mini-album titled JONTE is… (both released on August 22^nd2007). JONTE’s main genre is ballad with a little Soul flavor. This is strongly related with Korean’s ballad genre which is known for its slow tempo, romantic lyrics and strong vocals.

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His singles:

Yureru – August 22^nd 2007

Michi no Saki ~and you~ - March 5^th 2008

Dear… - October 8^th 2008

if – February 4^th 2009

Friend – December 4^th 2010

Aishiteta – March 8^th 2012

Hikari / Driving / Melody (digital) – June 20^th 2012

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Albums:

JONTE is… (mini-album) – August 22^nd 2007

HAN (Korean songs cover album) – January 20^th 2010

Through my Life – December 12^th 2012

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He wrote the lyrics for his song if (2009) whilst the music was written by ATSUSHI.

In 2009 he joined Gekidan EXILE (EXILE’s theatrical troupe) and then left in 2011 in order to focus on his music career.

He also released in January 20th of 2010 a Best Album titled My Way ·~Hajimari no Basho~. After his last release of 2012, JONTE went back to perform on stage plays and musicals, such as TEREBI no Namida (March of 2013) or WEEZU ~OZU no Mahou Tsukai~ (a musical based in The Wizard of OZ).

He left both LDH and the label rhythm zone earlier this 2015, in March 31st. He will continue to pursue his acting career as well as keep on singing. In July 29th, producer Ryuichiro will launch the single RIDE ON! featuring JONTE, being this his first musical release in 3 years. The song is an upbeat dance-pop track.

He has also scheduled a live concert to celebrate his 8th anniversary from his debut in August 21st of this 2015.

Soucres:

http://ameblo.jp/jonte/

http://www.weblio.jp/content/JONTE

http://jonte.official-web.jp/

http://www.generasia.com/wiki/JONTE

COLOR part 2

Yuichiro Maeda (YUICHIRO), Keisei Amou (KEISEI) and Ryouta Maeda (RYO) were chosen to become TAKA’s new companions to continue with the group activities. TAKA became the new leader and their music kept the R&B/Soul sound, which was strongly influenced by groups like Boyz II Men and US R&B legends that ATSUSHI had already collaborated with on October 2006 and later on would trace a nice friendship with.

From this new chapter (2006 to 2009) the group stayed active as part of LDH’s company but also as part of the EXILE family, doing more than just one feature with them and even having their own versions of EXILE’s songs.

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This era’s singles:

Namida ga Ochinai you Ni (While teardrops fall) – April 25^th 2007

Blue Sky – May 26^th 2007

Aoi Tori (Blue bird) – November 28^th 2007

Kimi no Inai Michi (A road without you) – January 23^rd 2008

Midnight Call – June 18^th 2008

Miss You – November 12^th 2008

With You ~Luv merry X’mas – December 3^rd 2008

Long Distance – January 28^th 2009

The song With You ~Luv merry X’mas~ is a cover from LUVandSOUL’s original song, the group KIKURI, original member of COLOR, would join in 2011. Thanks to this cover, the group LUVandSOUL started to draw some interest from the audiences. That single also had a cover of the song Tada… Aitakute, written by SHUN and Hitoshi Harukawa for EXILE. The group called LUVandSOUL was produced by Daisuke DAIS Miyachi, one of the most recurrent producers for EXILE as well as the composer of the song COLOR covered, as well as Yuichi Ohno, another of LDH’s regular. The song Namida ga Ochinai you Ni is also a cover from a LUVandSOUL song, written by Daisuke Miyachi.

The albums of this period:

BLUE ~Tears from the sky~ - January 23^rd 2008

BLACK ~A night for you~ -July 30^th 2008

WHITE ~Lovers on canvas~ - February 4^th 2009

Their second album included the track 24karats –type C- featuring DOBERMAN INC, as their own version of EXILE’s clothing brand’s theme.

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During this chapter, in May 2007, they collaborated with Miliyah Kato for the song My Girl. They also had two tours around the country: the COLOR LIVE TOUR 2007 BLUE and the COLOR LIVE TOUR 2008 BLACK, being their first solo tours ever.

Sources:

http://www.generasia.com/wiki/DEEP

http://www.jpopasia.com/group/colorjpop1/discography/

http://sp.mu-mo.net/aoyamarecord/interview/49color.html

http://www.luvandsoul.jp/

EXILE part 2

The second chapter of EXILE began after SHUN left the group to focus on his solo career, still being part of LDH but completely out of the EX FAMILY. When he left in June 2006, AKIRA from RATHER UNIQUE became part of the group. During this time MATSU had some health issues with his vision (he had been diagnosed with Behçet's Syndrome). Although he also contributed with his skills as an actor, there was still a gap in the group as a singer was missing.

AKIRA spent a short period of time between RATHER UNIQUE’s disbandment and his incorporation to EXILE, with a dance group named RAG POUND. This is where he met TETSUYA, a future member of the second generation of JSB (Nidaime J Soul Brothers). AKIRA had also debuted on stage with the play Atakku No.1 (Attack Number 1), which later on was staged by Gekidan EXILE. When he became a part of EXILE, he would also become one of the recurrent actors for Gekidan EXILE’s stage plays, such as Taiyou ni yakarete or the W-IMPACT part titled REDDOKURIFU ~Ai~.

From the first VOCAL BATTLE AUDITION came SHUN’s replacement, a vocalist named TAKAHIRO who joined on September 22^nd 2006 and then debuted with EXILE on December 6^th 2006 with the release of a single called Everything (that became #2 at Oricon charts). The song written by h-wonder and ATSUSHI, was accompanied by one of VBA’s songs, Giver, the song HOLY NIGHT, written by Daisuke Miyachi, Yuichi Ohno & ATSUSHI, and the song written by Michico and T.KURA titled EVOLUTION. This became the name of the first album of this new line-up. With TAKAHIRO’s arrival, EXILE songs started to become softer and more Pop-like, to the point where their releases were a constant chain of ballad after ballad as title tracks which seemed to be their best signature to chart high at Oricon. The other song used at the VBA, Lovers Again, became the next single launched on January 17^th 2007, achieving another #2 at Oricon, whilst the third single was the song that skyrocketed them to stardom, Michi (February 14^th 2007), reaching #1 at Oricon music charts.

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On March 7^th 2007, EXILE released their fifth studio album, the first of this new line-up, with the name EXILE EVOLUTION which achieved another number 1 at Oricon and stayed in the charts for 97 weeks. This album also included one of EXILE’s most acclaimed collaborations the song being WON’T BE LONG which was released as a single by Koda Kumi but with a different version. Plus there was another version featuring the hip-hop group NEVER LAND. The song had the particularity of being a 1990’s track from Da Bubble Gum Brothers that had also been part of the theme songs of the TV show CLUB DADA. The album overall still had a balance between up-tempos, mid-tempos and ballads, with enough club tracks but soon the ballads started over-filling their album compilations.

On December 12^th2007, they released their sixth album, EXILE LOVE, filled with slower tempo songs that suited the winter season, hitting another number 1 at Oricon and becoming 2008’s album of the year selling 1.470.959 copies. Despite it containing so many ballads, the album also had the first 24karats song in its –typeEX- , track that we will depict later.

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On January 25^th 2007, HIRO also announced the reboot of JSB with new members. On May 11^th 2005, around the end of EXILE EVOLUTION LIVE TOUR, the first members were revealed: NESMITH and SHOCHIKI who were contestants of the VBA plus KENCHI, KEIJI and TETSUYA. But we will talk about this revival later.

This second chapter of EXILE goes from 2006 to 2009, approximately until January of that year, and it was also the period when AKIRA took his acting career to the next level, landing a role in the popular movie Hana Yori Dango (2008) that gave a finale to the popular drama based on Yoko Kamio’s manga. ATSUSHI continued as the producer of COLOR, with the new line-up. And last but not least, USA began in 2008 his Project of DANCE EARTH, trying to explore the different dance styles around the Globe and inviting other dancers and artists to create with him.

The singles from this chapter are:

Everything – December 6^th 2006

Lovers Again – January 1^st 2007

Michi – February 14^th 2007

SUMMER TIME LOVE – May 16^th 2007

Toki no Kakera/24karats –type EX- -August 29^th 2007

I Believe – November 21^st 2007

Pure/You’re My Sunshine – February 27^th 2008

The Birthday ~Ti Amo~ - September 27^th 2008

LAST CHRISTMAS (a cover of Wham!’s original song) – November 26^th 2007

The albums:

EXILE EVOLUTION – March 7^th 2007