Fumiya Fujii
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
Template:Nihongo is a Japanese musician, actor and former lead singer of The Checkers born in Kurume. His younger brother is Naoyuki Fujii, a musician and former sax player for The Checkers. His eldest son is Fuji TV announcer Kōki Fujii.<ref>藤井フミヤの長男弘輝さん フジTVアナウンサーに</ref> He formerly belonged to Yamaha Music Foundation and Three Star Pro (both during the Checkers era), and now he is part of a private agency, FFM Co.
Biography
Fujii was born as the first child to a father who was a Japanese National Railways employee and a mother who was a beautician. When he was a junior high school student, he encountered the Japanese rock band CAROL and started playing music.<ref>"藤井フミヤ"ができるまで</ref> After graduating from Nanchiku High School, he joined the Moji Railway Administration Bureau of the Japan National Railways (now Kyushu Railway Company), and after a six-month apprenticeship at Tosu Station, he worked as a freight train operator at Haiki Station, maneuvering and switching freight trains. He belonged to the National Railway Workers' Union (Kokurō).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1983, after retiring from the Japanese National Railways, Fujii made his debut as the lead singer of The Checkers and had many hits. Not only his singing ability, but also his appearance and behavior attracted attention, and more and more young people imitated his progressive fashion. He also wrote lyrics for most of the original songs released as singles, and became a central figure in songwriting. In 1992, The Checkers disbanded, and the following year, 1993, Fujii changed the spelling of his first name from kanji to katakana, and started his solo career. Naoyuki Fujii, his younger brother, was also a part of The Checkers and began pursuing a solo career as well. Together they did the project F-Blood in the late 1990s. At the time of the breakup, Fujii was invited to the U.S. by Gota Yashiki, who was living in Los Angeles at the time. Kenji Suzuki, who also lived in Los Angeles, chose him and bought him a Gibson B-25 guitar. The first song he composed using this guitar was "True Love". The song, released the same year, sold 2.4 million copies,<ref name="seto">Template:Cite web</ref> and "Another Orion", released in 1996, sold over 1.2 million copies.<ref name="seto" />
Fujii conceptualized the game Baby Universe; Sony Computer Entertainment Japan helped develop the game, which was released for the PlayStation in Japan and Europe by Sony Computer Entertainment in 1997. It is an interactive art video game where the player manipulates the surreal visuals of items like a kaleidoscope with the controller while equally psychedelic music plays in the background. Players can also insert CDs after removing the game disc to listen to music during the simulation in a manner similar to Vib-Ribbon. Fujii co-owns the copyright to the game.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In addition to singing, he has held solo exhibitions under the name "FUMIYART"<ref>扶桑社「FUMIYART」書籍詳細</ref> and produced the Nagoya City Pavilion "Tower of the Earth" for Expo 2005 (recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest kaleidoscope).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has also appeared in many TV dramas, and provided the voice of Rock Holmes for the 2003 Astro Boy series, in addition to writing and singing its ending theme "Boy's Heart."
His songwriting credits include "Shiroi Kumo no Youni" (composed by Naoyuki Fujii) for the band Saruganseki and "Hoshizora no Katasumi de" (lyrics and composition) for Misia. He has also produced four songs, including "Heart-Shaped Tears" for Hinano Yoshikawa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His many contributions to the local community include composing the Kurume song "Furusato no Sasayaki" for his hometown Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, providing the design for the Kurume Citizen Card, creating the logo for Fukuoka Broadcasting Corporation, and designing the uniform for his alma mater Nanchiku High School.<ref>INLIFE 男の履歴書 藤井フミヤ</ref> The nickname of Kagoshima City FM, the first community radio station to open in Kagoshima Prefecture on October 1, 1997, "FRIENDS FM 762," was named by Fujii.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has also designed the countdown T-shirts for the 1998 Winter Olympics. The T-shirts were engraved with the number of days remaining until the day of the 1998 games, and Fujii was in charge of designing the shirts from 500 to 401 days before the games.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2007, Fujii wrote the lyrics and composed the song "Chinju no Sato" in praise of the 62nd Jingū Shikinen Sengū. It is included in the single "Kimi ni Naru." He stayed in Ise, Mie for three days and composed the song on the riverbank of the Isuzu River near the Uji Bridge.<ref>式年遷宮奉賛曲「鎮守の里」収録CDを発売－藤井フミヤさん</ref>
On December 31, 2008, at a countdown live performance at the Nippon Budokan, Fujii tied with Eikichi Yazawa for first place with 102 performances, including performances during the Checkers era, under the name F-BLOOD, and as a solo artist.<ref name="oricon080929">Template:Cite web</ref> In response, he said that he was honored to have stood on the same stage as Yazawa at the Budokan since CAROL (with Yazawa) was the reason why he started his music career.<ref name="oricon080929"/>
In November 2019, Fujii opened an official channel on YouTube.
Discography
Singles
| Year | Album | Chart positions (JP)<ref name="Oricon_Chart"/> |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | "True Love" | 1 | Pony Canyon |
| 1994 | "Eros" | 3 | |
| "Angel" | 15 | ||
| "Days" | 5 | ||
| 1995 | "Time Machine" | 4 | |
| "Heart Break" | 9 | ||
| "Get Up Boy" | 17 | ||
| 1996 | "Girl Friend" | 7 | |
| "Another Orion" | 1 | ||
| "Snow Crystal" | 16 | ||
| 1997 | "Do Not" | 7 | |
| "Go the Distance" | 15 | ||
| 1998 | "Template:Nihongo" | 8 | Sony Music |
| 1999 | "Template:Nihongo " | 13 | |
| "Moonlight Magic" | 11 | ||
| 2000 | "Stay with me" | 20 | |
| "Inside" | 10 | ||
| 2001 | "Upside Down" | 18 | |
| Template:Nihongo | 22 | ||
| "All this love" | 18 | ||
| 2002 | "Seven Wonders" | 14 | |
| 2003 | "Boy's Heart" | 12 | |
| 2004 | "Thrill up" | 22 | |
| Template:Nihongo | 9 | ||
| 2005 | Template:Nihongo | 33 | |
| Template:Nihongo | 12 | ||
| 2006 | Template:Nihongo | 23 | |
| 2007 | Template:Nihongo | 13 | |
| 2010 | Template:Nihongo | 14 | |
| 2013 | Template:Nihongo | 10 | |
| 2022 | Template:Nihongo | 13 | independent |
Digital singles
| Year | Single | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "Owaranai Christmas Eve" |
<ref name="Digitalsingle_mora"/> |
| 2015 | "Tomo yo" |
<ref name="Digitalsingle_mora">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2016 | "Miracle Smile" |
<ref name="Digitalsingle_mora"/> |
| 2020 | "Te no naru Hou he" |
<ref name="Digitalsingle_mora"/> |
Albums
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| JPN Oricon <ref name="Oricon_Chart">Template:Cite web</ref> | ||
| Angel |
|
1 |
| Rock'en Roll |
|
2 |
| 'Tears |
|
2 |
| Pure Red |
|
3 |
| Template:Nihongo |
|
5 |
| 2000-1 |
|
9 |
| In and Out |
|
7 |
| Club F |
|
11 |
| Equal |
|
8 |
| Right Here Right Now |
|
7 |
| Lady Sister Baby |
|
14 |
| Cloverfield |
|
10 |
| Pop Star |
|
16 |
| Template:Nihongo |
|
15 |
| With The Rawguns |
|
13 |
| Order Made |
|
8 |
| F's Kitchen |
|
8 |
| F's Cinema |
|
14 |
| Life is beautiful |
|
6 |
| Winter String |
|
8 |
| Template:Nihongo |
|
6 |
| Template:Nihongo |
|
5 |
| Template:Nihongo |
|
4 |
Compilation albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| JPN Oricon <ref name="Oricon_Chart"/> | ||
| Standard |
|
2 |
| Singles |
|
7 |
| Fumiya Fujii Anniversary Best "15/25" |
|
8 |
| Fumiya Fujii Anniversary Best "25/35" |
|
8 |
Self-cover albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| JPN Oricon <ref name="Oricon_Chart"/> | ||
| Re Take |
|
6 |
Cover albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| JPN Oricon <ref name="Oricon_Chart"/> | ||
| My Carol |
|
- |
Remix albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| JPN Oricon <ref name="Oricon_Chart"/> | ||
| The Party Remix |
|
- |
Live albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| JPN Oricon <ref name="Oricon_Chart"/> | ||
| Fumiya Fujii Symphonic Concert |
|
- |
Other appearances
| Title | Year | Artist | Album/Single |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Kizetsu suru hood Nayamashii" | 1997 | V.A | Psyche-Delicious Char Tribute Album |
| "Rock'n Roll Widow" | 2004 | V.A | Yamaguchi Momoe Tribute Thank you for... |
| "Cinderella" | 2015 | V.A | A tribute to cools |
| "Yuki no Hana" | 2016 | V.A | Mika Nakashima Tribute |
Songwriting credits
| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Shiroi Kumo no You ni" | 1996 | Saru Ganseki | Shiroi Kumo no You ni |
| "Generation Gap" | 1997 | V6 | Generation Gap |
| "Heart Kabe no Namida", "Rururu Kataomoi" | Hinano Yoshikawa | Heart Kabe no Namida | |
| "Usagichan Say Goodbye", "Shitteru yo" | Usagichan Say Goodbye | ||
| "Tenshi no Yubikiri", "Fun" | 1998 | Mai Fukuda | Tenshi no Yubikiri |
| "Pure" | 1999 | Noriko Sakai | Pure |
| "Katahou no Tsubasa" | Hitomi Kuroki | Katahou no Tsubasa | |
| "Tsubasa no Sekkeizu" | 2000 | V6 | "HAPPY" Coming Century, 20th Century Forever |
| "Under the sky" | 2003 | Issa (Da Pump) | Extension |
| "Hitomi no Naka no Galaxy" | 2004 | Arashi | Hitomi no Naka no Galaxy |
| "Hoshizora no Katasumi de" | Misia | Singer for Singer | |
| "Daydreamer" | 2007 | Tackey & Tsubasa | Takitsuba Best |
| "Nobara no Yume" | Tokiko Kato | Chanteuse2 -Nobarano Yume- | |
| "Love Tear Drops" | Takashi Tsukamoto | Jiyuu Honpou | |
| "Yawarakai Jikan" | Daikohara Yuki | Grape Home | |
| "Amatsubu no Birthday" | 2012 | Sowelu | Best |
| "Abunai Onna Karinai Otoko" | 2015 | Tube | Your Tube + My Tube |
| "Bang On!" | 2017 | Kishidan | Manyoshu |
| "Kimi wo Daisuki Da" | 2019 | Kis-My-Ft2 | Kimi wo Daisuki Da |