1. Gakuto Oshiro, better known by his mononymous stage name Gackt, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor.
72 Facts About Gackt
1. 2.
Gackt has been active since 1993, first as the frontman of the short-lived independent band Cains:Feel, and then from 1995 the now-defunct visual kei rock band Malice Mizer.
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Gackt started his solo career in 1999 with debut mini-album Mizerable and first full-length album Mars.
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Gackt has released nine studio albums and, with forty-eight singles released, holds the male soloist record for most top ten consecutive singles in Japanese music history.
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Gackt was born on July 4,1973, as the second of three children in a Ryukyuan family, in Okinawa of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan.
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Gackt's father was a music teacher, who primarily played the trumpet, and his mother was a teacher.
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Gackt lived in Okinawa until he was 7 years old, because of his father's job, living in many different cities on Honshu and Kyushu islands in addition to Okinawa: Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Shiga, Osaka, and Kyoto.
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Gackt studied in the Moriyama High School in Shiga, and was enrolled in the Kyoto Gakuen University.
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However, after losing a piano competition to a boy he met in the middle school, Gackt voluntarily returned to his piano studies, even writing orchestral scores.
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When Gackt was twenty-years old, he met guitarist You Kurosaki, his future solo career support guitarist, at a music live house in Kyoto.
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The group lacked a vocalist, so Gackt became the frontman, and the band went to record a demo tape before disbanding.
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Gackt moved to Tokyo and joined them in October 1995.
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At the beginning of the year, Gackt was joined by support guitarist and associate producer Chachamaru.
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For Caparison Guitars, Gackt designed two guitars, named "Marcury" and "Venus", which he occasionally uses in his live performances.
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On December 16,2000, Gackt released the first in the series of Platinum Boxes.
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In 2001, on March 14, Gackt released his eighth single, "Kimi no Tame ni Dekiru Koto", which peaked at number six, and charted for 18 weeks, Gackt's longest-charted single until 2009.
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On September 22,2002, at the Beijing Worker's Gymnasium, in China, a large musical event "China-Japan: Holding Hands, Moving Together" was held as part of "Japan-China Diplomatic Relations Normalization 30th Anniversary Commemoration", and Gackt was among the handful who represented his homeland.
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On New Year's Eve, Gackt performed "Junigatsu no Love Song" at the 53rd Kohaku Uta Gassen.
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On New Year's Eve, Gackt performed "Last Song" at the 54th Kohaku Uta Gassen.
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On New Year's Eve, Gackt performed "Kimi ni Aitakute" at the 55th Kohaku Uta Gassen.
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In January 2005, Gackt released the single "Arittake no Ai de", which peaked at number seven, and his fifth studio album, Love Letter, on Valentine's Day.
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Gackt launched his nationwide tour, Diabolos ~Aien no Shi~, including 36 concerts across Japan, which ended with a final Christmas Eve spectacle at the Tokyo Dome, in front of more than forty-two thousand people and costing 500 million Yen.
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In December 2008, Gackt returned to the story of "Requiem et Reminiscence", releasing his twenty-eighth single "Jesus".
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Gackt appeared in the film as Decades iteration of the character Joji Yuki.
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In 2010, on February 14, Gackt participated as a representative of Japan at the Asia Pops Festival held in Niigata, in homage for the victims of 2007 Chuetsu earthquake.
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In July and August 2011, Gackt toured Europe for the second time with Yellow Fried Chickenz, and later toured across Japan.
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On March 18 and 19,2012, Gackt appeared at the Gala party for FilmAid Asia, and the 6th Asian Film Awards, where he performed, as part of Hong Kong International Film Festival in Hong Kong.
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Gackt stated he personally would not decide to do the project from a musical perspective because he was not fond of EDM.
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Gackt chose the DJs on a first-come, first-served basis, and, because of the great interest for participation, he believed in a second collaboration in the near future.
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Gackt expressed his concern on the decline of originality and growing irrelevance of music in modern daily life.
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Gackt joined the live broadcast of Fuji TV as a special guest commentator for the main and semi-final matches.
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On March 22,2019, Gackt participated as a representative of Japan at the Hong Kong Asian-Pop Music Festival.
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In June and July 2021 held a live tour "Last Songs 2021" with South Korean singer-pianist K On September 8,2021 it was announced that Gackt would go on an indefinite hiatus for a medical treatment of prolonged neurological disorder from childhood which caused severe dysphonia, a neurological vocal condition that prevents him from singing and other activities.
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On January 28,2023, Gackt sang the national anthem at the sumo retirement ceremony in honor of Hakuho Sho.
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Gackt assisted as a model and provided the voice and the motion capture for a main character Lau Wong in the video game Bujingai by Taito and Red Entertainment.
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Besides that, Gackt composed and performed two theme songs for the first game, which were released in the single "Redemption".
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In 2007, Gackt played the Sengoku-period daimyo Uesugi Kenshin in the NHK Taiga drama, Furin Kazan, for which he was nominated for the TV Navi award as best-supporting actor in a drama category.
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Gackt recalls that Kenshin was always portrayed as a very tough man.
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In 2008, Gackt was filming in Romania for his first international film debut, Bunraku, which was released in 2010.
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Gackt voiced characters for two video games, Velskud in Dragon Nest, for which he composed and performed the theme song, "Ever", and pilot "Ex-" of Extreme Gundam the final boss in Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs.
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Gackt appeared in the TV drama, Tempest in which he played Jotei Gai, a Chinese eunuch who tries to take over the Ryukyu Kingdom.
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Gackt was a voice actor of Knight Commander and theme song "Until The Last Day" performer for the video game animated film, Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker.
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In 2012, Gackt appeared in the Sengoku Basara television drama, Sengoku Basara: Moonlight Party, as the games' depiction of warlord Oda Nobunaga.
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Gackt was seen in a dual role as a Professor of Neurology Shiki Takashi and Yumeoji in the drama Akumu-chan, which is based on the novel Yume Chigai by Riku Onda.
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In November 2013, Gackt appeared as a guest-star in two episodes of the Indonesian Tokusatsu series, Bima Satria Garuda, as "Noir", the mysterious "Bima Legend" Knight from Parallel World.
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Gackt collaborated with Square Enix on the role-playing game 3594e -Sangokushi Eiga- for iOS, based on the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a Chinese historical novel.
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In 2015, Gackt made a cameo appearance in Origami, a short film by director Cato Ochi.
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In early 2016, it was announced that Gackt was to have his first lead role after 14 years in the movie Karanukan directed by Yasuhiro Hamano.
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The movie is set at the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, and Gackt portrays photographer Hikaru Ooyama who falls in love with a girl, Mami who mysteriously disappears.
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The film was released in early 2019 to critical acclaim, and Gackt was nominated at the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.
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In May 2010, a play named Nemuri Kyoshiro Buraihikae was staged at Nissay Theatre in Tokyo, in which Gackt starred as the main protagonist.
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In 2012, Gackt announced a plan to continue the concept of Moon Saga with a stage theatre play written, composed and directed by him, 'Moon Saga - Mysteries of Yoshitsune, in which he starred as Minamoto no Yoshitsune, starting from July 15 at Akasaka ACT Theatre in Tokyo.
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Gackt has a low-pitched voice, with a vibrato pitch at D3-D4, and is capable of using falsetto like for example in song "Ares" and "4th" among others.
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Gackt often "stressed the beauty and importance of Japanese lyrics", writing "all of his music and lyrics to quality, not quantity".
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Gackt uses double meaning words, and lyrics are "meaningful and heartfelt".
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Gackt is known for his unique concerts, which he wants to preserve as works of art.
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Similarly his Camui Gakuen festival shows have Gackt performing cover versions conceptualized around a same-titled fictional school where Gackt acts as the student council president wearing a school uniform.
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Party tour featuring his rock songs, with Oricon review noting his eroticism and charisma while performing, and Gackt considering it his and worldwide's pinnacle of an all-out androgynous style by a man.
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Gackt has been compared to fictional characters like Griffith from Berserk, Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy, as well as having been an inspiration for manga characters.
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Gackt became associated with Japanese daimyo Uesugi Kenshin who he played in NHK Taiga drama Furin Kazan.
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Gackt was invited to act as Kenshin at Joetsu city's traditional 82nd Kenshin Festival in August 2007.
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Gackt was one of the judges of Japan's first season of Got Talent show which premiered on February 11,2023.
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Gackt appeared in many television commercials, including for Fujifilm, Shiseido, Daihatsu, Niconico, Tsutaya, Square Enix, and Konami, among others.
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From July 2014 to August 2016 in collaboration with Nestle Japan was started a gaming channel "Game Center" with daily video release of Gackt playing video games, gathering more than 15 million views in first season alone.
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In 2011, because of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Gackt founded the "Show Your Heart" charity for collecting money to buy supplies for the victims.
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Gackt reportedly experienced discrimination in a Paris hotel in 2015 for being Asian.
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Gackt's stated life and music goal is giving people hope, connecting them and uniting Asian countries.
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When he was 20 years old, Gackt was briefly married to a South Korean woman, and his "last big love affair" which ended in 2014 was reportedly with Japanese-born South Korean singer Lee Ahyumi.
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Gackt has lived for most of his life in Tokyo, Japan.
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Gackt has a second-degree black belt rank in ITF taekwondo, as well as experience in other martial arts like karate, boxing, jiu-jitsu among others.
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Gackt stated that his philosophical way of life is similar to Japanese Bushido.
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Gackt's family believed that their deceased members became gods and they should venerate them, hence exist two conceptions of Ryukyuan religion in Okinawa whether to venerate the ancestors or nature.