is a Japanese singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also has a successful solo career, with six studio albums and five singles topping the Japanese music charts. Inaba collaborated with Slash on the latter's 2009 single "

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

", and with

Stevie Salas Stevie Salas (born November 17, 1964) is an American guitarist, author, television host, music director, record producer, film composer, and former advisor of contemporary music at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Salas ...

on the albums '' Chubby Groove'' (2017) and ''Maximum Huavo'' (2020).

Early life

Koshi Inaba was born and raised in

Tsuyama, Okayama is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. In February 2023, the city had an estimated population of 97,507 in 45,653 households and a population density of 190 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Tsuyama is located in nort ...

, and enrolled in Yokohama National University's Faculty for Education in 1983 to become a qualified mathematics teacher. Inaba made his musical debut in 1985 whilst still a student, contributing vocals to Toshiya "Ran" Matsukawa's album ''Burning ~Dedication to Randy Rhoads~'' under the stage name Mr. Crazy Tiger. He graduated in 1987 when he also formed a short-lived band.

B'z and solo career

Beginning with '' B'z'' in 1988, Inaba has, together with guitarist Tak Matsumoto, continued to release new material and tour as part of B'z almost every year since. He has also periodically released solo material, starting in 1997 with the album ''Magma'', produced whilst B'z were on a brief hiatus. It was one of the albums to receive the "Best Rock Album of the Year" award at the 12th Japan Gold Disc Awards. Unlike in B'z, where he contributes only lyrics, Inaba has composed the music for his solo releases. All his studio albums and singles until now have topped 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 ...

music charts. Additionally, the first studio album with 1,001,160 sold copies was the 21st best-selling album of the year, second ''Shian'' with 438,930 copies was the 39th in 2002, third ''Peace of Mind'' with 297,103 copies was 48th in 2004, fourth ''Hadou'' with 177,984 was 38th in 2010, and '' Singing Bird'' with 107,551 was certified Gold by

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include prom ...

. As for singles, "Tooku Made" with 663,660 sold copies was the 28th best-selling single of the year 1999, "Ki" with 275,957 copies was 25th in 2003, "Wonderland" with 225,229 copies was 36th in 2004, "Okay" with 134,381 copies was 45th in 2010, and "Hane" was certified Gold and was 51st in 2016. His live video recordings also topped the charts, hence cumulatively, according to reported yearly sales and certifications he sold over 3.4 million records. Inaba has also sung on other artists' releases, such as the

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

song "Asian Sky" from the album '' The Ultra Zone'' in 1999. On September 29, 2009, it was announced that Inaba would be featured in Slash's 2010 solo album, '' Slash''. Inaba sang on the first single, "

", released on November 11, 2009, in Japan. The song, for which Inaba wrote the lyrics, was featured as the 15th track of the Japanese edition of the album. The single charted at #4 on the Oricon weekly singles chart. On February 24, 2010, it was announced that single "Sahara" won the Western "Single of the Year" award at Japan Gold Disc Award held by

. In 2017, Inaba released a collaborative album with

under the name "Inaba/Salas". The album, '' Chubby Groove'', went to #2 in the Japanese album charts and was certified Gold by RIAJ. Hiroshi Inaba takes care of his physical condition by not drinking alcohol and not using the air conditioning much during the tour to protect his throat. Marty Friedman once listed Hiroshi Inaba as the best vocalist in the whole world. The reason for this, he says, is that his voice hasn't faded after more than 20 years of singing hard rock songs. He performed the Japanese dubbing voice for Clay Calloway in ''

Sing 2 ''Sing 2'' is a 2021 American animated jukebox musical comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination (company), Illumination, and distributed by Universal. The sequel to ''Sing (2016 American film), Sing'' (2016), it was written ...

''.

Discography

With B'z

Albums

As soloist

As Inaba/Salas

Singles

Digital Exclusive Singles

Other appearances

Videography

Songwriting credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Inaba, Koshi B'z Japanese male rock singers Japanese male pop singers Japanese male singer-songwriters English-language singers from Japan 1964 births Living people B Zone artists Singers from Okayama Prefecture Yokohama National University alumni 20th-century Japanese male singers 21st-century Japanese male singers