GLAY

Ever since the release of their first album, Hai to Diamond, GLAY has been a band to reckon with as they dominate the charts. Formed by two childhood friends in 1988, few could have foreseen the impact that this four-man band would have on the music scene in Japan. With their years of experience, GLAY has continued to create and perform catchy and unassuming rock with a light touch of pop.

In 1988, high school friends Takuro and Teru decided to form a band together. They soon added a second guitarist, Hisashi, to their line-up and started calling themselves GLAY. The name GLAY came from a deliberate misspelling of the word ‘gray.’ They chose this name because it described their music as a mixture of black, which represents rock, and white, which represents pop.

The group gained quite a bit of popularity in their hometown in Hokkaido before moving to Tokyo to further pursue their musical ambitions. However, things didn't go as smoothly for them as they had hoped, and like most young bands, they struggled in the big city. However, they did find a bassist, Jiro, who joined with them as an official member in 1991. As the years passed, GLAY's hard work paid off and they began to attract larger and larger crowds at their shows - and the attention of YOSHIKI, who was with X JAPAN at the time and running his own label, Extasy Records. The same night he first saw them play live, he offered GLAY a contract, and they accepted and signed to Extasy Records. GLAY released their first single, RAIN, on YOSHIKI’s new label Platinum Records in 1994; the single ended up being the theme song for the movie "Yamato Takeru." On the same day RAIN was released, their first indies album HAI TO DIAMOND was also released.

Following their debut release, GLAY continued to pick up steam as they sold out more and more venues. Their second single MANATSU TO TOBILA was used as the opening theme for the anime "Yamato Takeru." Later, their fourth single, Freeze my Love, became the first to make it onto the Oricon charts, and the band's fan base continued to grow at a rapid rate.

In May of 1995, GLAY went major with their first major album, SPEED POP, which went all the way to eighth on the Oricon charts. Their next album released in 1996. BEAT Out! went straight to first place on the Oricon; a benchmark for what would become a standard of the band. During this year, they had quite a few accomplishments: their first book EIEN NO ¼ GLAY STORY and their first photo book Midnight Sun were published by Sony. In May 1996, they even opened up their first official fan club, HAPPY SWING. All of their lives were always sold out, and many even sold out immediately. In September, they performed at the famous Budokan for the first time. Later on, in November, their third album Beloved would be the first of many albums to reach over a million in sales.

The year 1997 was spent touring, with more and more people attending their lives. The first tour of the year, BELOVED YOU, brought in a total of 100,000 people, and the second tour of the year brought in 250,000 people. The only album GLAY released in 1997 was a best-of album which sold three million copies in the first week and became Japan’s best selling album at the time. During 1998, GLAY started to work on the soundtracks of two different dramas among their many tours and releases. One of the dramas was RYAKU DATSU AI ABUNAI ONNA, in which their single HOWEVER was used as the main theme song, and Takuro worked on all of the music for it. In March, GLAY was chosen as the character image for TDK’s mini disc XA series; it was their first ever appearance in a commercial.

After, they spent most of the time touring. Then, in 1999, GLAY held a concert called 'GLAY Expo 1999 Survival'. With 200,000 people who attended, it is to this day the largest single concert ever held in Japan. In 2001 and 2004, GLAY held more expos: the 2001 expo was stretched out over three different locations, while the 2004 expo was held to celebrate the band's 10th anniversary. In addition to their dome tours in 1999, GLAY continued to work on other projects and releases as well, such as their appearance on the hide tribute album Spirits, for which they covered the song Misery. In October, GLAY’s albumHeavy Gauge was released, and it was a very controversial album as it was a major change from their usual sound.

GLAY's activities started to slow down, and most of 2000 was spent doing secret lives, releasing a few singles and performing on their GLAY ARENA TOUR 2000 “HEAVY GAUGE". By this tour, the total number of fans attending the tour was up to a million people. The next year, the band started to do various new projects as a band and individually. The band began their first regular TV program called "GLAY Global Communication" on TV FUJI in April. Around the same time, TAKURO and TERU participated in a zero landmine campaign, releasing the song ZERO LANDMINE, which was produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto. In the next month, the two started to promote Expo 2001: GLOBAL COMMUNICATION all over Asia, in cities like Taipei, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Seoul. At the same time, HISASHI was appearing in Lawson convenience store TV commercials.

The next year, the members of GLAY met the Chinese president at the time, Jiang Zemin, in Beijing. The next month they performed their first overseas live in Beijing, bringing in 35,000 people. The live, GLAY ONE LOVE in Beijing was a memorial live celebrating the 30th anniversary of restoring diplomatic relations between Japan and China.

When GLAY switched management companies in the beginning of 2003, from Pony Canyon to Toshiba EMI, it became the most expensive label transfer in Japan, costing about four billion yen. The next year, the band concentrated on the 10th anniversary of their major debut by doing many events and even having another arena tour.

After their many years together, the members of GLAY took a brief hiatus after their anniversary in 2005. Guitarist Takuro took some time off to spend with his family, while the other members worked on side-projects: Teru and Hisashi formed Rally, while Jiro created The Predators with the pillows guitarist Yamanaka Sawao. The only release for GLAY this year was a collaboration single with EXILE called SCREAM, which was released in July.

February of 2006 brought an end to GLAY's break as the band re-grouped to play shows at both ZEPP Tokyo and Nippon Budokan. In July, they released their first single of nearly two years, G4. The next month, a collaboration single called ANSWER was released as GLAY feat. KYOSUKE HIMURO, with a joint live performed the next week. After various events, they ended 2006 with a massive tour in November and December.

2007 brought a new single and, finally, a new album entitled Love is Beautiful, which helped GLAY become the top all-male band with the most #1 albums in Japan. They held this title briefly until Mr. Children beat them later that year. In August of 2008, GLAY performed in the US for the first time. The performances were called Verb Tour 2008 in U.S. Despite the word "tour," they only performed three shows in California - once in San Francisco and twice in Los Angeles. They continued The Verb Tour in Japan until the beginning of 2009.

In 2009, GLAY has several activities in store to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their major debut. The first release of the year was a single called Say Your Dream, in which the thirteen minute title song is said to be about the history of GLAY. Their second single of the year, I am xxx, is a single released exactly fifteen years after the release of their major debut single RAIN. In addition to these singles and another best-of album released in June, GLAY also has several concerts and another stadium tour planned this year. In September, GLAY will return to the US for their GLAY U.S.TOUR 2009 THE GREAT VACATION tour to play another three shows at the same cities and venues as the year before.

With such an impressive history behind them, GLAY will undoubtedly continue to create new and amazing music, delighting their fans for many more years to come.