Chris Hart (musician)
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is an American-born Japanese singer, songwriter, and producer who gained popularity as a
J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...
artist in Japan.


Early life and education

Chris Hart was born August 25, 1984, in
Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...
to musician parents, who separated when he was 2 years old., English translatio
here
He has an older sister and a younger half-brother. Hart developed an interest in Japanese music, language, and culture when he was 12 years old after taking a Japanese class at his school in the
Palo Alto Unified School District The Palo Alto Unified School District is a public school district located near Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. It consists of twelve primary schools, three middle schools, two comprehensive high schools, an alternative high schoo ...
. In college he majored in music and Japanese and took jobs in an airport and with a Japanese cosmetics company to maintain his connection. Upon moving to Japan, he took a job working on vending machines.


Career

In 2003, Hart was vocalist of the band NIKITA w/Metallic Beasts, which covered Japanese
visual kei , abbreviated , is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of '' Bounce'' wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it " ...
artists. In 2007 Hart began a solo band called LYV. As LYV, Hart wrote all lyrics and music in Japanese. He released a digital album titled ''Voyager''. Upon relocating to Japan, Hart performed around Japan independently 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, events, festivals, on TV programs and at weddings. In 2011, Hart was a part of the vocal unit "Triple Trip" with whom he did a regular radio program on Kawasaki FM. They released one digital single titled "NEW WORLD". Hart is also credited for the English lyrics of the Tsukuba Daigaku theme song, "Imagine The Future". In 2012, a YouTube video Hart made was noticed by executives for the
Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...
show Nodojiman The World, a reality contest that features non-Japanese singing Japanese songs, and he was invited to compete in the show. He appeared three times in 2012. Producer
Jeff Miyahara Jeff Miyahara (born February 4, 1977) is a Koreans in Japan, Japanese-Korean record producer and songwriter based in Tokyo, Japan. Beginning his career in the music industry in 1999, he has worked with many Japanese artists such as JUJU, Kana Ni ...
noticed Hart's performance, and asked to produce him. In 2013 his cover of the Yusaku Kiyama song "Home" reached number 8 in Japanese sales on the
Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...
. His album of cover songs, released soon after, reached third, selling over 300,000 copies. Hart released an original collaboration single, "Yume Ga Samete", with JPOP Legend, Matsuda Seiko for their label, Universal Sigma's 10th anniversary. Hart and
Seiko Matsuda , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer-songwriter, known for being one of the most popular Japanese idols of the 1980s. Since then, she has continued to release new singles and albums, go on annual summer concert tours, perform at wi ...
sang "Yume ga Samete" at the 64th annual
Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...
. On February 26, 2014, Hart released his first original single, "I LOVE YOU", and his first original album ''Song for You'' on March 19, 2014. It ranked #7 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. Hart released his follow-up to "Heart Song", called "Heart Song II", on June 25, 2014. It ranked number 2 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. He later released a Christmas album, ''Christmas Hearts'', on November 12, 2014. The album ranked number 8 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and would be Hart's fourth consecutive album to rank in the top 10. It was later announced that Hart would participate in the 65th annual Kōuhaku Uta Gassen. He sang his cover "Ito" by
Miyuki Nakajima (born February 23, 1952, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and radio personality. She has released 44 studio albums, 48 Single (music), singles, 6 live albums and multiple compilations as of January 2020. Her sales have ...
. In 2015, it was announced that Chris Hart would release a single with
Gospellers The Gospellers (ゴスペラーズ) are a Japanese a cappella vocal group made up of Tetsuya Murakami, Kaoru Kurosawa, Yuji Sakai, Yoichi Kitayama and Yutaka Yasuoka. History Originally formed by Murakami and Kurosawa (along with 4 other memb ...
titled "Tsuzuku Michi with Gospellers" and embark on his third nationwide tour. The 47-prefecture hall tour titled "Chris Hart 47 Prefecture Tour 2015-2016~Tsuzuku Michi~ Presented by IBJ", was the first for a non-Japanese artist. On June 25, 2015, it was announced that Hart had exceeded cumulative album sales of 1 million units. It was also announced that the theme song to the TV Asahi mystery drama ''Saikyo no Futari'' would be sung by him. The new original song from Hart, "Anata e", was announced with a single release date of August 26, 2015. It is Hart's third original single. In 2016, Hart co-wrote the song "Boku wa kokode ikiteiku". The song would be featured on NHK
Minna no Uta , literally ''Everyone's Songs'' ( English title: ''Songs for Everyone''), is a five-minute NHK TV and radio program which is broadcast several times daily in Japan. The program started on April 3, 1961. It is one of NHK's long-running program ...
. He also announced his 47 prefecture tour's final show at
Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wres ...
titled after the single, "Chris Hart Nippon Budokan LIVE 'Boku wa kokodeikiteiku' 47 prefecture tour 2015-2016~tsuzuku michi~ Final". Hart announced his follow up tour, a second 47 prefecture tour titled, "Chris Hart 2nd 47 Prefecture Tour~My Hometown~" lasting from 2016 to 2017. The tour featured local mascots for each show, ending in Tokyo at the
Tokyo International Forum The is a multi-purpose exhibition center in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. The complex is generally considered to be in the Yūrakuchō business district, being adjacent to Yūrakuchō Station, but it is administratively in the Marunouchi district. Toky ...
Hall A. In total Hart would hold 98 concerts between the two consecutive 47 Prefecture Tours. On April 6, 2017, Hart announced his naturalization to Japanese citizenship. On December 5, 2017, he announced on his official blog that he would take an indefinite hiatus to continue his study of music and spend time with his family. Hart also released his first compilation album "Kokoro no Uta~Chris Hart BEST~" which featured a collection of his previously released original and cover songs. The album would feature a newly recorded cover of
Kazumasa Oda is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and composer. He was the leader of folk rock band Off Course from 1969 to 1989, and has done solo work since 1985. As the vocalist of Off Course, Oda wrote many Japanese standard numbers in the 1970s and 1980 ...
's song "Daijoubu" and a new original song "Dreams". The promotional video for "Dreams" featured a dance routine performed by renowned ballet dancer, Shoko Nakamura. Hart performed his last one-man show at NHK Hall on April 13, 2018. There he performed the duet song "Fanfare" with singer Murakami Keisuke. The song was co-written by Hart, Murakami and songwriter Paul Ballard. In 2018, Chris Hart's original song "I Love You" would shoot up the charts to reach #13 for the 2018 Oricon Karaoke Ranking. Singer, FUKI, would release the first official cover of Hart's song. Various artists would go on to cover the song. In 2019, Hart began a new project with songwriter Paul Ballard, called A.P.E. They would co-write the music for the song "For One's Smile feat Chris Hart" for the artist,
Ai Kawashima is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter and pianist. After overcoming her tragic childhood, she released her debut single ''Asueno tobira'' (Door to Tomorrow) as the duo I Wish (band), I Wish in 2003. She is well known for her numerous street perform ...
. Hart would also provide vocals for the song. As A.P.E, they are credited for the arrangement of artist May J.'s cover of Chris Hart's original song "I Love You", for her album "Heisei Love Song Covers". A.P.E. is credited for the score and sound design of the Canadian film "Viaticum" directed by, and starring Lara Daans. The film won a Gold Award for Best Sound Design with the Mindfield Film Festival - Albuquerque (November 2019). In 2021, Hart released 3 digital singles, monochromatic, chanto~mother's blues~, and flashback. The singles were followed by his 3rd original album, COMPLEX. These were Hart's first self-produced and self-written singles and album. Hart is credited for various compositions, lyrics, arrangements, and full production of the album. In September 2022 Hart was featured on the remix of the song "Life Was a Beach" by German singer
Lena Meyer-Landrut Lena Johanna Therese Meyer-Landrut (; born 23 May 1991), also known by the mononym Lena, is a German singer. She rose to fame after representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, winning the event with the song "Satellite (Len ...
after the original song gained popularity in Japan. In January 2025, Hart announced he departed ways with his record label
Universal Sigma Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...
, citing personal life conflicts.


Personal life

Chris Hart grew up in Palo Alto, California and attended
Gunn High School Henry M. Gunn Senior High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California, the other being Palo Alto High School. Established in , Gunn High School was named after Henry Martin Gunn, who served as the Palo Alto superintendent fr ...
. He married Japanese singer Hitomi Fukunaga in 2012, having 3 children with her, and was married to Mayuko Kaneshita, who he has 2 children with, as of 2024. Hart became a Japanese citizen in 2017; in accordance with
Japanese nationality law Japanese Nationality Law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of Japan. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the 1950 Nationality Act. Children born to at least one Japanese parent are generally automatical ...
, Hart relinquished American citizenship.


Discography


Albums

*''Heart Song'' (2013) *''Heart Song -Special Edition-'' (2013) *''Song for You'' (2014) *''Heart Song II'' (2014) *''Christmas Hearts'' (2014) *''Heart Song III'' (2015) *''Kokorono Uta -Chris Hart Best'' (2017) *''Complex'' (2021)


Singles

*"home" (2013) * (2013) *"I LOVE YOU" (2014) *Mamoritai ~magic of a touch~ *Tsuzuku Michi with Gospellers 2015) *"I LOVE YOU" (2020)


Awards and certifications

;28th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards *New Artist of the Year (Japanese Domestic): Chris Hart *5 Best New Artists (Japanese Domestic)


References


External links


クリス・ハート
- official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Chris 1984 births Living people 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century Japanese male singers 21st-century Japanese singers American emigrants to Japan Singers from San Francisco Japanese-language singers of the United States J-pop singers Musicians from Palo Alto, California Naturalized citizens of Japan 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers Japanese people of African-American descent Japanese male singer-songwriters Former United States citizens Gunn High School alumni Universal Music Japan artists