Years active 2003-present Name Chris Hart | Occupation(s) Singer Role Singer Instruments Vocals, Guitar Spouse Hitomi Fukunaga (m. 2013) | |
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Born 25 August 1984 (age 39) San Francisco, California, United States ( 1984-08-25 ) Awards Japan Record Award for Planning Albums Heart Song, Song For You, Heart Song II, Heart Song III Profiles | ||
Chris Hart (クリス・ハート, Kurisu Hāto, born August 25, 1984) is an African-American singer who gained popularity as a J-pop artist in Japan.
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Early life
Chris was born August 25, 1984 to musician parents in the San Francisco Bay Area, his parents separated when he was 2. He developed an interest in Japanese music, language, and culture beginning age 12 after taking a Japanese class at his school. He was moved by the kindness of the people he met in Japan the next year during his summer vacation. He majored in music and Japanese in college, and took jobs in an airport and with a Japanese cosmetics company to maintain his connection. From his teens until moving to Tokyo, Japan at age 24, Hart performed in Japanese as lead vocalist for the band Nikita w/Metallic Beasts, before starting his own solo rock band, LYV. During his time as LYV, Hart wrote all lyrics and music in Japanese. Upon moving to Japan, Hart took a job working on vending machines. Chris has an older sister and a younger half-brother.
Music career
In 2003, Hart was vocalist of a Visual-Kei/JROCK band, NIKITA w/Metallic Beasts.
In 2007 Hart began a solo band called LYV. He released a digital album titled "Voyager".
In 2011, Hart was a part of the vocal unit, Triple Trip. They released one digital single titled "NEW WORLD". Hart is also credited for lyrics of the English version of the Tsukuba Daigaku theme song, "Imagine The Future".
In 2012, a YouTube video Hart made was noticed by executives for the Nippon Television show Nodo Jiman Za! World, a reality contest which features non-Japanese singing Japanese songs, and he was invited to compete in the show. He appeared at least twice in 2012. Producer Jeff Miyahara 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. 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 sang "Yume ga Samete" at the 64th annual Kōuhaku Uta Gassen.
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.
Hart released his follow up to Heart Song, "Heart Song II", on June 25, 2014. It ranked #2 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. He later released a Christmas album, "Christmas Hearts" on November 12, 2014. The album ranked #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 "Ito" by Nakajima Miyuki.
In 2015, it was announced that Chris Hart would release a single with The Gospellers and embark on his 3rd nationwide tour. The 47 prefecture tour is the first for a non-Japanese artist.
On 6/25/2015 it was announced that Chris 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 Chris Hart. The new original song from Hart, "Anata E" was announced with an 8/26/2015 single release date. It is Hart's 3rd original single.
On April 6th 2017, Hart announced his naturalization to Japanese citizenship.
Discography
Awards and certifications
-Longest Consistent Top 10 Ranking for a Non-Japanese Male Solo Artist. (5 straight weeks in Top 10 as of 7/30/14)
- 1 Million+ Cumulative Album Sales