About Miyavi Miyavi (雅-miyavi-), born September 14, 1981 in Hyogo, Japan, is a Japanese solo Japanese rock artist and former guitarist (under the name Miyabi (雅, Miyabi)) for the vis...

About Miyavi
Miyavi (雅-miyavi-), born September 14, 1981 in Hyogo, Japan, is a Japanese solo Japanese rock artist and former guitarist (under the name Miyabi (雅, Miyabi)) for the visual kei indies band Dué le quartz, which disbanded in 2002. In the same year, Miyabi announced that he was going solo, changed his name to Miyavi, and released his debut album "【雅楽】-gagaku-" He soon signed a contract with PS Company along with other artists such as Alice Nine, Kagrra,, Gazette, and Kra.

In October 2004, Miyavi released his first major single "ROCK no gyakushuu -SUPERSTAR no jouken (ロックの逆襲-スーパースターの条件-, ROCK no gyakushuu -SUPERSTAR no jouken?)" (under Universal Records Japan) and began to credit himself in the songwriting credits in his liner notes as "MYV". His first major album, "【雅-miyavizm-主義】", was released in June 2005.

Early Life
Miyavi was born in Nisikujo, Japan. His mother is Japanese and his father is a second generation Zainichi Korean whose parents immigrated to Japan from the Korean island of Jeju. His family's Korean surname was Lee(李) before changing it after moving to Japan. Miyavi has stated that though he has never been to Jeju he would like to do so when he has the opportunity. Although Miyavi does not speak Korean he has expressed interest in learning the language sometime in the future. Miyavi's parents divorced when he was young. Soon after he moved with his mother to Hyogo to live near his maternal grandparents, where he grew up. As a child, Miyavi was a good student and enjoyed playing soccer. Miyavi started playing the guitar and writing music at a young age after a soccer injury left him unable to play.

Career
In 1999, at the age of 18, Miyavi joined the visual kei band, Dué le quartz. The band broke up in September of 2002, and soon after Miyavi released his first solo album 【雅楽】-gagaku- under the indie label PS Company. Miyavi's significant change in music and visual styles since leaving Dué le quartz caused many of his original audience to disperse, but attracted a new audience that he did not originally have. Since embarking on his solo career Miyavi has enjoyed great success not only in Japan but around the world as well. Following his signing with Universal Records Japan in late 2004, he changed his name to "MYV", an apparent shortening of "Miyavi", although magazines and his website still refer to him as "Miyavi" presently.

In addition to his musical career, Miyavi also starred as himself in the 2004 film "Oresama (おれさま, Oresama)" and is regularly featured in various J-Rock magazines such as Fools Mate, Arena 37c, and Shoxx magazine. In the past he has modeled in the Gothic & Lolita Bible and for various brands such as the clothing line Fotus.

In 2004 Miyavi was scheduled to put on a concert at Pacific Media Expo but had to cancel last minute due to staff issues, and was replaced by the Japanese band Psycho le Cému.

Last edit by ThoughtsPersist on Monday 15 Sep, 2008 at 22:54 +1.4%

Last edit by suglove on Wednesday 27 Aug, 2008 at 15:09 +1.5%

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