Avu-chan
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

is a Japanese singer, songwriter, producer and actor. They debuted as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the band
Queen Bee A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are develope ...
in 2009, and took on a side project as the lead vocalist and trumpeter of the supergroup Gokumontō Ikka in 2015. As a producer and songwriter, Avu-chan uses the name , and has written songs for Meg,
Rina Satō is a Japanese voice actress with hundreds of television and video game productions, many multi-year, and is active in film and as a singer as well. She won the Best Lead Actress Award at the 8th Seiyu Awards. Satō has been appearing since 200 ...
, Ai Shinozaki,
Hey! Say! JUMP Hey! Say! JUMP (HSJ or JUMP) is an nine-member Japanese boy band under the Japanese talent agency Smile-Up (formerly known as Johnny & Associates). The group is split into two sub-groups: Hey! Say! BEST and Hey! Say! 7. In Japan they sold more ...
,
LiSA Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...
, KERENMI, and the
SUPERNOVA A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...
sub-unit Funky Galaxy. They also produce the alternative vocal-and-dance boy group Ryugujo, formed in 2023 through the audition program "0th Class 0 - Avu-chan's Classroom" (0年0組 -アヴちゃんの教室-).


Biography

Expressing interest in music since middle school and inspired by the Japanese pop/electronic group
Perfume Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...
, Avu-chan formed the band
Queen Bee A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are develope ...
in 2009 with classmates in
Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...
,
Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...
. They started performing at their school's cultural festivals and gained considerable popularity doing so, after which Queen Bee went on to perform at
live house A is a Japanese live music club – a music venue featuring live music. The term is a Japanese coinage ( wasei eigo) and is mainly used in East Asia. It most frequently refers to smaller venues, which may double as bars, especially featuring ...
s in the
Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...
. The band made their first major concert appearance at the
Fuji Rock Festival is an annual music festival, rock festival held in Naeba Ski Resort, in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The three-day event, organized by Smash (Music promoters), Smash Japan, features more than 200 Japanese and international musicians, making it th ...
in July 2010, where they performed as a part of the very selective "Rookie a Go-Go" section, sometimes called the "road to success" for new artists. Having released their debut album ''Witch Hunt'' independently in March 2011, the band signed to Sony Music Associated Records, and in September of the same year released their second album ''Peacock''. The band was called the "Japanese '' Hedwig''" during their debut, as the gender identities of the members remain a secret. Not long after signing a contract with Sony Music, Queen Bee found early success with their song "Desco", which was featured in the romantic comedy film ''
Moteki is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mitsurō Kubo. It was serialized in ''Evening'' magazine from 2008 to 2010, with its chapters collected into four ''tankōbon'' volumes by Kodansha. It was adapted into a Japanese televi ...
'' (2011), where the band had also made a cameo. In 2013, Avu-chan had to pause all band activities, explaining the decision with burnout and technical inexperience. Unsure whether to return home or stay in Tokyo, Avu-chan decided to continue pursuing music after being encouraged by a staff member at Avu-chan's record label, who insisted that Queen Bee's signing was not a fluke. Around this time, Avu-chan asked an acquaintance, a former Blankey Jet City drummer
Tatsuya Nakamura is a Japanese musician, drummer and actor. After performing with several prominent punk rock bands, Nakamura rose to fame as drummer of Blankey Jet City from 1987 to 2000. In 1996, he founded his solo project Losalios, where he performs every ...
, if the two could create something together, to which he immediately agreed and introduced Avu-chan to bassist KenKen of the band
Rize Rize (; ; ; ka, რიზე}; ) is a coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Rize Province and Rize District.Ryosuke Nagaoka , is a Japanese musician, and singer and guitar player for the band Petrolz. Under the stage name , he was the second guitarist for Ringo Sheena's band Tokyo Jihen from 2005 until 2012. In 2013, Nagoka joined the band Gokumontō Ikka, a project ...
from
Tokyo Jihen , also known as Tokyo Incidents, is a Japanese rock band formed by Ringo Sheena, after leaving her solo career. The band's debut single "Gunjō Biyori" was released in September 2004, and they ended activities in February 2012. The band sold 2.3 ...
, whose presence Avu-chan described as "essential", as it gave a sense of unpredictability to the group. The newly formed supergroup, now known as Gokumontō Ikka, made their debut performance at the
Rising Sun Rock Festival Rising Sun Rock Festival is an annual rock festival held in Ishikari, Hokkaido, Japan. The two-day event is organized by WESS. It chiefly features Japanese rock , sometimes abbreviated to , is rock music from Japan. Influenced by American and ...
in August 2013. Only touring and releasing demos online at first, the band then released their first
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
''Jitsuroku! Gokumontō Ikka'' during their November 2015 tour. During the hiatus, Avu-chan also collaborated with singer Mariko Gotō for '' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute'' in 2014, performing a cover of "Ai no Senshi". Queen Bee reformed in February 2014 after a one-year hiatus. The band's comeback single, "Venus", was used as the theme song for the drama '' Spooky Romantics'' (2015), which preceded their fourth album ''Kirei'' (2015). In the same year, Avu-chan collaborated with a South Korean boyband
Supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...
, writing and performing on the leading track "Jesus", from their sub-unit Funky Galaxy's debut extended play. In 2016, Queen Bee and Gokumontō Ikka released a split single, "Kinsei" / "Shibō Yūgi". The packaging for the limited edition of the split single was styled to resemble
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...
s, with the cover art illustrated by
Kinu Nishimura is a Japanese video game and anime concept artist and illustrator. Currently freelance, she is best known for her Game art design, character design and promotional art for Capcom's fighting games during the 1990s. Career Kinu Nishimura began wor ...
, whose work on the ''
Darkstalkers ''Darkstalkers'', known in Japan as , is a fighting game series and media franchise created by Capcom. The series is set in a pastiche gothic fiction universe with characters based on monsters from international folklore, and features a stylized ...
'' series has been considered a longtime favorite by Avu-chan. In 2017, Avu-chan debuted as a stage actress with a production of ''
The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror genres from the 193 ...
'', in the role of Columbia. The production toured Japan in late 2017. Queen Bee's sixth album ''Ten'' (2019) was released to commemorate the band's ten-year anniversary, and was also their first album to ever reach the top 10 on the
Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...
charts in Japan. It featured several tracks used as theme songs for
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
, such as "Half" in ''
Tokyo Ghoul is a Japanese dark fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Sui Ishida. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from September 2011 to September 2014, with its chapters collected in 14 vo ...
:re'', and "Fire" in ''
Dororo is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka's childhood memory of his friends pronouncing as ''dororo'' inspired the title of the series. ''Dororo'' was first serialized in Shogakukan's '' ...
''. In 2019, Avu-chan returned to the stage, now in the role of Yitzhak in a Japanese production of ''
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Hedwig and the Angry Inch may refer to: * ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (musical), 1998 ** ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (soundtrack), 1999 * ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (film), 2001 {{disambig ...
''. In late 2020, Avu-chan produced the song " Ōkami Seinen" for an anonymous boyband called Honey Bee, who were later revealed to be
Hey! Say! JUMP Hey! Say! JUMP (HSJ or JUMP) is an nine-member Japanese boy band under the Japanese talent agency Smile-Up (formerly known as Johnny & Associates). The group is split into two sub-groups: Hey! Say! BEST and Hey! Say! 7. In Japan they sold more ...
, and in 2021, collaborated with the singer
LiSA Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...
on the song "GL", from her 10th anniversary mini-album ''
Ladybug Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles. They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in the United Kingdom; "lady" refers to mother Mary. Entomologists use the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles ...
''. In 2022, Avu-chan starred in the
Masaaki Yuasa is a Japanese director, screenwriter, and animator affiliated with Science SARU, a Japanese animation studio which he co-founded with producer Eunyoung Choi in 2013. Yuasa previously served as president of Science SARU, but stepped down from th ...
-directed animated film '' Inu-Oh'' as the title character. In 2023, Avu-chan composed and wrote the lyrics for the song "8th Heaven" released by
Shouta Aoi , is a Japanese singer and actor. Under the stage name Showta (stylized as "SHOWTA."), he debuted as a singer with the song "Negaiboshi" in 2006 and released his first studio album, ''Eve (Showta album), Eve'', in 2008. In 2009, he left his agenc ...
, which was used as the theme song to the live-action drama adaptation of '' One Room Angel''. Avu-chan had been close friends with Harada, the creator of ''One Room Angel'', and had written the song specifically for the series.


Personal life

Avu-chan identifies with gender aspects of both men and women. In school, Avu-chan related to characters who had non-traditional experiences of gender in films, such as Hedwig from ''
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Hedwig and the Angry Inch may refer to: * ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (musical), 1998 ** ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (soundtrack), 1999 * ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (film), 2001 {{disambig ...
'' (2001) and the character of Angel in ''
Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...
'' (2005). Avu-chan does not like people who categorize others by gender and racial labels. Avu-chan's official website biography written in 2012 used she/her pronouns, as well as an article with
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
from 2015, however as of 2019 the biography was updated to no longer use pronouns. Often, Japanese language sources will use the Japanese pronoun (the equivalent of she/her). Avu-chan is of partial
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
descent and based the Queen Bee song "Half" (the ending theme song for the anime '' Tokyo Ghoul:re'' (2018)) on childhood experiences in Japan, when people questioned Avu-chan's ethnic background. As a child, Avu-chan wondered why people felt the need to ask about heritage and identity, and did not like the word ''
hāfu is a Japanese language term used to refer to a person born in Japan with half-Japanese and half non-Japanese ancestry. The word can also be used to describe anyone with mixed-racial ancestry in general. As many consider Japan to be one of the m ...
'' ("half" the Japanese term for mixed race children), as Avu-chan did not feel like "half" of something. Avu-chan's younger sister is former Queen Bee drummer Ruri-chan. Avu-chan identifies as a
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
.


Discography


Queen Bee

*''Witch Hunt'' (2011) *''Peacock'' (2011) *''Snake Princess'' (2012) *''Kirei'' (2015) *''Q'' (2017) *''Ten'' (2019) *''BL'' (2020)


Gokumontō Ikka

*''Jitsuroku! Gokumontō Ikka'' (2015)


Guest appearances


Songwriting credits


Bibliography

*


Filmography


Film


Television


Theater


Web


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Avu-chan 21st-century Japanese actors 21st-century Japanese singer-songwriters Japanese Buddhists Japanese rock musicians Japanese musical theatre actors Japanese music video directors Japanese LGBTQ singers Japanese LGBTQ songwriters Japanese non-binary people Japanese people of African-American descent LGBTQ Buddhists Living people Singers from Hyōgo Prefecture Non-binary songwriters Non-binary singers 21st-century Japanese LGBTQ people 1991 births