Kyosuke Himuro (氷室 京介) is a former Japanese musician and singer-songwriter. He was the lead vocalist of the rock band Boøwy from 1981 to 1988. After the band disbanded, he went on to have a successful solo career, becoming one of Japan's best-selling artists. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked Himuro at number 76 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Life and career

Himuro has frequently played music with Steve Stevens, best known as the backing guitarist for Billy Idol. Stevens participated in Himuro's album as a guitarist and his concert tour after his album I·De·A. On August 22, 2004, he held a concert, entitled "21st Century Boøwys Vs Himuro", at the Tokyo Dome. He sang many Boøwy songs for the first time in sixteen years. "Wild Romance" was used as the ending theme music for the Japanese dubbed version of Van Helsing and for the Japanese releases of Yakuza 5 Himuro's song "Calling", from his 1989 album Neo Fascio, was used in the ending credits to the 2005 film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. The film's director, Tetsuya Nomura, noted that Himuro's music has been highly influential in his own work. When asked about his contribution to the film, Himuro said that he was happy his work would be used in "the best CG movie ever made in Japan". From August 5 to August 6 2006, he held a concert called "Kyosuke Himuro + Glay 2006 at Ajinomoto-Stadium "Swing Addition"" with Japanese band Glay in Ajinomoto Stadium. In addition, Himuro released his first collaborated single with Glay, called "Answer", on August 2, 2006. The Japanese release of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete featured a new ending song by Himuro: "Safe and Sound", which features My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way and replaces "Calling". "Safe and Sound" was released on the iTunes Store on April 29, 2009. However, the North American release continues to use "Calling" instead of "Safe and Sound". Himuro held two consecutive sold-out charity concerts at the Tokyo Dome on June 11 and 12, 2011 which attracted over 104,000 people, making them the biggest charity live event ever held in Japan. The raised sum of 669,220,940 yen (around US$8.7 million) was donated to Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate prefectures for recovery after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. In 2016, he held a retirement tour in Japan and officially retired from music activities due to his hearing impairment. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California,

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Compilations

Live albums

Others

Home videos

Cover songs

Himuro has covered several songs and composed his rendition of "Keep the Faith".