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Fumiya Fujii藤井 フミヤ
Background information
Birth name	Fumiya Fujii (藤井 郁弥)
Born	(1962-07-11) July 11, 1962 (age 62) Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan
Genres	J-pop, rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, actor, composer, producer, cg artist
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, harmonica
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Pony Canyon Sony Music Associated Records Chaya-zaka Records
Website	www.fumiyafujii.net

Fumiya Fujii (藤井 フミヤ, Fujii Fumiya, born July 11, 1962) 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. 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. 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).

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, and "Another Orion", released in 1996, sold over 1.2 million copies.

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.

In addition to singing, he has held solo exhibitions under the name "FUMIYART" 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). 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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

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. 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.

In November 2019, Fujii opened an official channel on YouTube.

Discography

Singles

Digital singles

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Self-cover albums

Cover albums

Remix albums

Live albums

Other appearances

Songwriting credits

References

1. ^ "About 藤井フミヤ Fujii Fumiya". YouTube.
2. 藤井フミヤの長男弘輝さん フジTVアナウンサーに
3. "藤井フミヤ"ができるまで
4. "藤井フミヤ、元「国鉄の職員」だった過去を告白 「鉄ちゃんの憧れのブルートレインをつないでた」". AOL News. June 16, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
5. ^ "Fumiya Fujii Concert Tour 2012 Life is Beautiful". 公益財団法人 瀬戸市文化振興財団. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
6. Publishing, Myway (January 25, 2018). PlayStation Kusoge Ranking プレイステーション クソゲー番付 (in Japanese). Myway Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-4865118346.
7. 扶桑社「FUMIYART」書籍詳細
8. "名古屋市パビリオン「大地の塔」". 愛・地球博 オフィシャルサイト. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
9. "吉川ひなの、23年の芸能生活語る – 生意気時代や歌手をやめた理由を告白". Mynavi Corporation. February 20, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
10. INLIFE 男の履歴書 藤井フミヤ
11. "会社概要". Kagoshima City FM. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
12. "500日前からカウントダウンTシャツオークションを開始". Japanese Olympic Committee. October 1, 1996. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
13. 式年遷宮奉賛曲「鎮守の里」収録CDを発売－藤井フミヤさん
14. ^ "藤井フミヤ、永ちゃんと並んで武道館通算公演回数1位に". Oricon. September 29, 2008. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
15. ^ "藤井フミヤの作品". Oricon (in Japanese). December 30, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
16. ^ "藤井フミヤの作品" (in Japanese). Mora. Retrieved December 2, 2023.

External links

• Fumiya Fujii on Twitter
• Fumiya Fujii's channel on YouTube
• Fumiya Fujii discography at MusicBrainz

• 1962 births
• Japanese pop musicians
• Living people
• Singers from Fukuoka Prefecture
• Musicians from Kurume
• Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists
• Japanese male actors
• 20th-century Japanese male singers
• 20th-century Japanese singers
• 21st-century Japanese male singers
• 21st-century Japanese singers