Ryuji Imaichi
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is a Japanese singer and actor. He is a vocalist of the
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 ...
dance and vocal group Sandaime J Soul Brothers from Exile Tribe. He joined the group after winning the ''Vocal Battle Audition 2'', alongside Hiroomi Tosaka. As a member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers, he has received the
Japan Record Awards is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Established in 1959, the Japan Record Awards are one of the oldest and most prestigious music awards in the countr ...
twice. Since 2014, he has become the Thursday host for
J-Wave J-Wave is an commercial radio station based in Tokyo, Japan, broadcasting on 81.3 FM from the Tokyo Skytree to the Tokyo area. J-Wave airs mostly music, including J-pop, C-pop, and Western music, covering a wide range of formats. The station i ...
's "Spark". The first solo single was released in January 2018 with the digital single "One Day", while remaining a member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers. For his solo activities he uses his birth name stylized as RYUJI IMAICHI. He debuted as an actor in 2019 in the short film ''On The Way'' of the drama anthology ''Sono Shunkan, Boku wa Nakitaku Natta -Cinema Fighters project-.''


Early life

Ryuji Imaichi was born on September 2, 1986, in
Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...
, Japan, but was raised in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. He played baseball in elementary school and junior high school as a
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
. According to himself, he was a rebellious teenager and dropped out of high school at the age of 16. He then started to do different part-time jobs, including dish washing at a
ramen is a Chinese noodle dish popularized in Japan. It includes served in several flavors of broth. Common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen h ...
shop, and spent his wages playing with the
pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Gambling in Japan, Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of l ...
and
slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...
s in his free time. After a year and a half, one of his friends, a
construction worker A construction worker is a person employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure. Definitions By some definitions, construction workers may be engaged in manual labour as unskilled or semi-skilled workers ...
in the neighboring city, invited Imaichi to work together at his company and become a construction worker too. Imaichi chose to specialize in pressure
welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melting, melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Co ...
since the job paid a higher salary than for a normal construction worker. He achieved to earn all the required licenses to become a welder. Imaichi became a big fan of Atsushi as early as 2000 when he saw him taking part in the
Asayan ''Asayan'', originally known as was a talent search variety show that aired on TV Tokyo from 1995 to 2002. Some idols that were originally discovered through Asayan auditions produced by Tsunku, formed groups that worked under the umbrella group ...
talent search TV show. When Atsushi debuted as the vocalist of
Exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...
later on, Imaichi quickly became a big fan of the group and learned to sing their songs. However, he did not initially have the dream of becoming a singer. In 2006, his then girlfriend encouraged him to participate in the ''Vocal Battle Audition 2006: Asian Dream'', an audition to find a new vocalist for Exile. He passed the first round without much preparation but failed to pass the second round. Despite his loss, he became serious about pursuing a career as a singer, and he was determined to get revenge for his failure. From that point on he started attending vocal training lessons at the Vocal Academy of Tokyo at nights, after a full day of work as a construction worker. In 2009, he won runner up Grand Prix in the artist category of the ''
avex Avex Inc. ( kabushiki gaisha , commonly known as Avex and stylized as avex) is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi ...
WORLD AUDITION 2008'', and started being enrolled in the Avex Artist Academy as a scholarship student. From 2006 to 2010, he took part in more than 100 different auditions.


Career

In February 2010, Imaichi participated in the ''Vocal Battle Audition 2: ~Yume o Motta Wakamono-tachi e~''. As he turned 24 that year, he considered this chance as the last try for his dream to become a professional singer. He passed the first round and met Hiroomi Tosaka in the second round, and they both considered each other to be strong competitors after seeing their performances for the first round on Shûkan Exile's coverage of the audition. As Imaichi and Tosaka both were selected as two of the ten finalists after the third round, it was announced that the two winners of ''Vocal Battle Audition 2'' would become the vocalists of the new dance and vocal group Sandaime J Soul Brothers. On September 15, 2010, the final round of the audition was held at Akasaka Blitz music venue and Imaichi won the audition alongside Hiroomi Tosaka. The two officially became the vocalists of Sandaime J Soul Brothers. A few days later, as they finished recording Sandaime's first single, the seven members of the group met each other for the first time. On September 27, Imaichi and Tosaka made their first public appearance as singers during the ''Fantasy Goya-sai: Exile Tamashī'' (FANTASY後夜祭~EXILE魂~; ''FANTASY Late Night Festival ~EXILE Soul~'') live performance from
Exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...
at Toyota Stadium. On November 10, Sandaime J Soul Brothers with the single "Best Friend's Girl". In February and March 2012, Tosaka participated in ''VBA Live Tour 2012 Vocal Battle Stage'' held in Tokyo and Osaka, alongside other LDH's vocalists who have participated in ''Vocal Battle Audition.'' From November 2012 to March,2013, Imaichi appeared in TBS's music variety show ''EX-LOUNGE''. In 2013, he sang the national anthem of Japan on the stage of the IBF World Boxing Championship held in
Kagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kagawa Prefecture has a population of 949,358 (as of 2020) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, smallest prefecture by geographic area at . Kagawa Pr ...
. In 2014, Imaichi composed the lyrics for Sandaime J Soul Brothers' song "PRIDE", which was his first attempt at lyric composition. Since October 2014, he has become the Thursday host for J−WAVE's "SPARK". On the radio, Imaichi shares the songs and musicians that he loves with his listeners, and he introduced
Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...
on his very first broadcast. In 2015, he released his first solo song "All LOVE" as part of Sandaime J Soul Brothers' album '' Planet Seven'' under the name of the group. Furthermore, he was featured on Dance Earth Party's cover of "Beautiful Name" originally by
Godiego is a Japanese rock band founded in 1975, originally consisting of Yukihide Takekawa (lead vocals), Mickie Yoshino (keyboards), Takami Asano (guitar), Steve Fox (bass guitar), and Yujin Harada (drums). The band released its first self-titled ...
, which was released on August 5. He also featured on
Crystal Kay is a Japanese singer, songwriter, actress and radio host. After releasing her first single, "Eternal Memories" (1999), Crystal Kay gained fame for her third studio album, ''Almost Seventeen'' (2002), which debuted at number 2 on the Japanese O ...
's Japanese cover of " Very Special" by Debra Laws. In 2016, Sandaime J Soul Brothers released a documentary about themselves, ''Born in the EXILE''. The theme song of the documentary had the same title as the film and Ryuji Imaichi and Hiroomi Tosaka composed the lyrics of the song together to express the "soul" of the group. In the same year, Imaichi also released his first solo song under his own name titled "Forever Young At Heart" in ''HiGH & LOW ORIGINAL BEST ALBUM'', and the song was used as part of the soundtrack for the TV shows and films of the ''High & Low'' franchise, an action and music franchise produced by LDH. In September 2017, as Sandaime J Soul Brothers' member Kenjiro Yamashita starred in dTV×FOD's romance drama ''Love or Not'', Imaichi was appointed as the host of a music television program titled ''Love or Not♪'', which was part of the ''Love or Not'' project. The show ended in February 2018. On January 12, 2018, while remaining a member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers, Imaichi made his solo debut with the digital single "ONE DAY". The single immediately took first place on
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 ...
's weekly digital single chart. He continued to release more digital singles throughout the year, such as "Angel" on February 16, "Thank you" on March 16 and "Alter Ego" on April 20. He also befriended his longtime idol
Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...
, and the two collaborated to produce Imaichi's song "Thank you" when Imaichi stayed at Mcknight's home. Furthermore, Imaichi released his first photo essay titled ''TIMELESS TIME'' on March 26, which was produced by American Artist
Daniel Arsham Daniel Lambert Arsham (born 8 September 1980) is an American visual artist. He lives and works in New York City. Early life and education Born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Miami, Florida, Arsham was 12 when Hurricane Andrew destroyed hi ...
. After releasing his first solo album ''LIGHT>DARKNESS'' on August 1, he concluded his solo activities in 2018 by going on his first tour titled ''Ryuji Imaichi Live Tour 2018 "Light>Darkness"'' from August 11 to December 24. Brian Mcknight took part in Imaichi's show in
Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Chūō-ku, Saitama (city), Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum capa ...
as a guest star, and the two performed Brian McKnight's " Back At One" together. Prior to the release of the live footage from his first solo tour on March 6, 2019, Imaichi released his 5th digital single "Yoake Mae / Kore ga Unmei Nara" (夜明け前 / これが運命なら; ''Before Dawn / If This is Destiny'') on February 15. Furthermore, he made his acting debut in fall 2019 in the short film ''Uta Monogatari -CINEMA FIGHTERS project-''. It was also announced that he would release his first physical single "RILY" on October 30. Furthermore, he appeared on the cover of '' anan'''s issue 2175 at the end of the year, making it first solo magazine cover in his career. On January 15, 2020, Imaichi released his second studio album ''ZONE OF GOLD''. In January and February, Imaichi and Hiroomi Tosaka held their first joint dome tour titled ''LDH PERFECT YEAR 2020 SPECIAL SHOWCASE RYUJI IMAICHI / HIROOMI TOSAKA''. In January, Imaichi was also appointed as the 30th-anniversary ambassador of Jalan magazine, one of Japan's largest travel magazines. On July 1, the live footage of the joint tour, ''LDH PERFECT YEAR 2020 SPECIAL SHOWCASE RYUJI IMAICHI / HIROOMI TOSAKA'', was released and was ranked No.1 on Oricon's weekly DVD, BD and joint DVD/BD ranking at the same time with about 50.547 copies sold in the first week.


Personal life

Imaichi has a brother and a sister. He has been a fan of Atsushi since he was a teenager, and is a big fan of
Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...
. Both artists deeply influenced his music style. He is often compared to Atsushi, for his resemblance to him while wearing sunglasses. As a baseball lover, he built up a baseball team called NAKAMEGURO RYUJI 'S inside LDH, with the company's staff members and artists as its players and himself as the coach.


Discography


Studio albums


Singles


Digital singles


Other Solo Songs


Participating works


Video releases


Lyrics


Tie-ups


Filmography


TV programmes


TV Dramas


Short film


Advertisements


Radio series


Radio shows


Bibliography


Photo essays


Tours

''Ryuji Imaichi Live Tour 2018 "Light>Darkness" (2018)'' ''LDH Perfect Year 2020 Special Showcase Ryuji Imaichi / Hiroomi Tosaka(2020)''


References


External links

* at LDH Japan {{DEFAULTSORT:Imaichi, Ryuji 1986 births Living people Actors from Kyoto Prefecture Singers from Kyoto Prefecture LDH (company) artists 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese male singers