B'z is a Japanese rock duo consisting of guitarist, composer and producer Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto and vocalist and lyricist Koshi Inaba, known for their energetic hard rock tracks and pop rock ballads. B'z is one of the best-selling music artists in the world and the best-selling in their native Japan by certifications, having released 49 consecutive No. 1 singles, 25 No. 1 albums, and 3 No. 1 EPs on the Oricon music charts, and have sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
Takahiro Matsumoto is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan by certifications. He also has a successful solo career where, in addition to winning several Japan Gold Disc Awards, he won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Take Your Pick (2010), which he made in collaboration with Larry Carlton. Matsumoto is only the fifth guitarist in the world to have his own Gibson signature model guitar.
Eric Lee Martin is an American rock singer and musician who was active throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, both as solo artist and as a member of various bands. He rose to prominence as the frontman for the hard rock band Mr. Big, which scored a big hit in the early 1990s with "To Be with You", a song that Martin wrote during his teen years.
Takashi Matsumoto is a Japanese lyricist and former musician. After several years playing the drums in the rock bands Apryl Fool and Happy End during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Matsumoto decided to focus on writing lyrics for others in 1974. As of 2015, he had written over 2,100 songs, 130 of which entered the top 10 on the Oricon chart. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 49.8 million copies, making him the third best-selling lyricist in Japan. In 2017, he was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government for his work in music.
Jack Martin Blades is an American rock musician. He has worked in the bands Rubicon, Night Ranger, and Damn Yankees. He has also recorded with Tommy Shaw under the name Shaw Blades and has done work alongside the Tak Matsumoto Group. Blades' most recent efforts include a second solo album and three albums with Revolution Saints, which he was a member of until 2022.
Brian Tichy is an American musician, best known as having been the drummer for Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Foreigner, Sass Jordan, and Ozzy Osbourne. He was the drummer of Whitesnake from 2010 to 2013. His surname means silent in Czech, Slovak and other Slavic languages. In 2015, he became a full-time member of Operation: Mindcrime and The Dead Daisies.
Japanese rock duo B'z has released 22 studio albums, 12 compilation albums, nine extended plays (EP), 62 singles, and 20 live albums. With more than 86 million sales in Japan, the duo is the best-selling artist in Japan and with 100 million sales one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Chris Frazier is an American drummer. He is known in the professional ranks since he started recording and touring with guitarist Steve Vai from 1985 through 2001. Frazier was the touring drummer with classic rock singer Eddie Money from 2003 through 2006, when he was approached to become the drummer of veteran rock band Whitesnake.
TMG I is the only studio album by Japanese-based supergroup Tak Matsumoto Group, released on June 23, 2004. Eric Martin and Jack Blades, of Mr. Big and Night Ranger fame respectively, wrote all of the lyrics, while Tak Matsumoto, the founder of the band and of B’z fame, was responsible for all of the music. The album topped the Oricon Albums Chart, selling over 90,000 copies, while the single "Oh Japan ~Our Time Is Now~" reached number 3 on the Oricon Singles Chart with 98,346 copies and was the 95th best-selling single of the year.
B'z The Best "Ultra Pleasure" is a compilation double-album by the Japanese hard rock duo B'z. It was released on June 18, 2008, and it is part of their 20th anniversary celebration. It peaked at #1 at Oricon charts and Billboard Japan Top Albums.
B'z The Best "Ultra Treasure" is a compilation album by the Japanese hard rock duo B'z. It was released on September 17, 2008, and it is part of their 20th anniversary celebration. The album track listing was decided by fans who voted on a poll at the B'z 20th anniversary website. The fans could vote for all but three songs that have ever been released by B'z. "Brotherhood" was voted number one.
Take Your Pick is an album by guitarists Larry Carlton and Tak Matsumoto that was released by Vermillion on June 2, 2010, in Japan, and later on 335 Records in the US and on Forward in Taiwan. The album debuted at number 2 on the Japanese Oricon weekly album charts. The album won an award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards. It also won the "Jazz Album of the Year" award at 25th Japan Gold Disc Awards.
Epic Day is the nineteenth studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on March 4, 2015, more than 3.5 years after their previous studio effort, C'mon, their longest gap between studio albums. It came after a hiatus in which the members released solo projects, including vocalist/lyricist Koshi Inaba's Singing Bird and guitarist/composer Tak Matsumoto's New Horizon.
Rin is the seventeenth studio album by Japanese singer Shizuka Kudo. It was released a day shy of Kudo's 30th anniversary, on August 30, 2017, through Pony Canyon. The album marks Kudo's first studio album in over twelve years and includes nine original songs written by Japanese singer-songwriters Koji Tamaki, Tak Matsumoto and Kaori Kishitani, among others. it also features various collaborations with veteran songwriters, including lyricist Gorō Matsui, a long-time collaborator of Kudo's, as well as with new talent, such as Niconico utaite Mafumafu, the singer-songwriter duo Yoshida Yamada and first-time songwriter and author Shizuka Ijūin, while Kudo serves as the album's executive producer.
enigma is the eleventh solo studio album by Japanese guitarist Tak Matsumoto, of B'z. It is mostly an instrumental album and it was released by Being Inc. on April 27, 2016 in Japan. The album debuted at #4 on the Oricon weekly album chart and at #18 on the Billboard Japan album chart.
Dinosaur is the twentieth studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on 29 November 2017. It came after a hiatus in which the members released solo projects, including vocalist/lyricist Koshi Inaba's collaborative album with Stevie Salas, Chubby Groove, and guitarist/composer Tak Matsumoto's solo effort enigma and collaborative studio album with Daniel Ho Electric Island, Acoustic Sea.
New Love is the twenty-first studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on May 29, 2019, about a year and a half after their previous album Dinosaur. It is the first B'z album to not have an accompanying single, though music videos were produced for "Tsuwamono, Hashiru", "Wolf", and "Majestic".
Friends III is the sixth mini-album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on December 8, 2021. It's a concept album and is a sequel to their previous mini-album, Friends II, released in 1996.
"Oh Japan (Our Time Is Now)" (stylized as "Oh Japan ~Our Time Is Now~") is the only single by Japan-based supergroup Tak Matsumoto Group, released on March 31, 2004. It was used as the theme song for TV Asahi Network Sports 2004.
Takashi Masuzaki, is a Japanese guitarist, composer and arranger under Being Inc. agency and member of the fusion band Dimension He is former member of the pop group B.B.Queens and Bluew.
