D-51

D-51 (Di go ichi) consists of two musicians who create upbeat music with a summery feeling to it. Their songs can be categorized as Jpop, but as the two members have a strong connection to the tropical island where they grew up, they mix pop with reggae influences and other latin-like rhythms. Although they usually sing, once in a while they rap some parts.

According to the members, their name was taken from the steam locomotive type D51, which was invented by Japan National Railways and was built around 1936.

Biography
In June 2003, the 19-year old Yu (Kamisato Yū) and the 21-year old Yasu (Yoshida Yasuhide) started a musical unit together. They started with outdoor performances in a park called 'Carnival park', situated in the town Chatan, on one of the many islands of the Okinawa islands group, which is known for it's tropical climate.

They didn't have their own songs then, they simply brought two microphones and a mini-disc player, performing karaoke style to their own favorite songs.

They continued performing like this, whether the rain was pouring down or they were almost collapsing from the heat. Their efforts paid off though, and they gradually became use to singing in front of an audience. They became noticed more and more and recorded their own song Let’s Try, which they released on the local independent label, Chatan Records.

In February 2004, they released a mini-album on the same label, called Street Breeze. In April, it was distributed nationwide. They drew more attention and got a deal with the major label Pony Canyon, on which they released their first major maxi-single in July.

The maxi-single No More Cry, which was released in February 2005, was used as the theme-song for the dorama Gokusen. It became a huge success and gave the group the big break-through that they had been waiting for. The single ranked second on the Oricon charts, and over 400,000 copies have been sold so far.

Shortly after, they released their first album called Oneness, which was released in a normal version and a version just for Okinawa. The album did very well too, and is their most popular to date.

The duo continued in the same fashion and so far they have released a large number of singles, and two more albums. In 2008, they released a best-of album, compiling their most popular songs to date which includes Brand New World, the 6th opening to OnePiece. In December 2010, D-51 released Star which featured songs like,GOLDEN TIME, Step & Go, and Familia, the 15th ending to Katekyo! ( or Home Tutor!) Hitman Reborn. The title track of their upcoming new single, which will be their eleventh, has been used for a commercial for the soft drink Calpis Water, which helped the band to gain even more recognition. · close