Takamasa Ishihara, better known by his stage name Miyavi, is a Japanese guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor known for his finger-slapping style of playing a guitar.
31 Facts About Miyavi
2.
Miyavi has been active since 1999, first as guitarist for the visual kei rock band Due le quartz and then as a solo artist starting in 2002.
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In 2014, Miyavi appeared in the motion picture Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie, and went on to undertake smaller roles in American productions such as Kong: Skull Island and Stray.
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Since 2013, Miyavi has been a volunteer at UNHCR, visiting refugee camps around the world.
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Miyavi was born in the Nishikujo district in Konohana-ku ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, to a Japanese mother and a Korean-Japanese father.
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Miyavi says that as a child he was a good student and enjoyed playing football.
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Miyavi was accepted into the junior team of Cerezo Osaka, a J-League team.
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Miyavi bought a guitar and began covering songs by Ray Charles.
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In 1999, at the age of 17, Miyavi moved to Tokyo, and joined the visual kei rock band Due le quartz, where he went by the stage name "Miyabi".
10.
Miyavi starred alongside his former bandmate Sakito in a movie, Ryoma no Tsuma to Sono Otto to Aijin.
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Miyavi left for America for the next six months to study the English language and take dance classes, and, on the weekends, went to Venice Beach and gave street performances.
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Miyavi performed at Animagic in Bonn, Germany, and in Seoul, South Korea.
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In 2009, on January 3, Miyavi performed at the 10th Anniversary Commemorative concert by PS Company at the Nippon Budokan.
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Miyavi held 17 concerts in Europe, visiting Austria, Hungary and Italy for the first time.
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Miyavi performed in South America at the Maquinaria festival in Chile, and visited Venezuela, Peru and Colombia for the first time.
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In 2012, Miyavi performed on February 19 at the second EMI Rocks event in Saitama Super Arena.
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Miyavi played the role of Imperial Japanese Army sergeant Mutsuhiro Watanabe, nicknamed "The Bird", in what was Angelina Jolie's second feature film as director.
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Miyavi commented that as the movie was somewhat sensitive to the Japanese people, he had hesitated as to whether he should take this role.
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Miyavi was featured in the same month's edition of Vogue Italia.
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In 2013, Miyavi was nominated for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Japanese Act, and at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan he won the Best Collaboration category with Yuksek.
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In 2014, Miyavi went on his fourth world tour, "Slap the World", which started on February 22 in Malaysia.
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Miyavi continued throughout Europe, followed by the European release of his latest studio album, and visited Mexico City and Los Angeles, with United States release of the album, before returning to Japan for a nationwide tour.
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Miyavi composed the music for the single "Top of the World" by SMAP, which topped the Oricon singles charts.
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Miyavi embarked on a solo international tour entitled Fire Bird World Tour.
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In 2018, Miyavi covered "Pink Spider" for the Hide tribute album Tribute Impulse, and was cast as Byakuya Kuchiki in the live-action film adaptation of Bleach.
26.
On February 23,2019, Miyavi performed an album release concert for Samurai Sessions Vol.
27.
Miyavi, who had been independently active in the music industry for 10 years, explained his decision by mentioning that during those years he often wished for friends to work with and that he resonated with LDH's values, especially their approach to international expansion.
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Miyavi announced that he would release two solo albums in 2020 and was planning a Japan tour.
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Miyavi performed in Japan Expo Malaysia 2020 Goes Virtual on July 19,2020.
30.
In 2021, Miyavi made his voice acting debut as the character Koketsu in the anime film Bright: Samurai Soul.
31.
In November 2022, Miyavi was announced as a member of the supergroup The Last Rockstars, along with fellow musicians Yoshiki, Hyde, and Sugizo.