Ken Hirai

[MHtrStevie]

Greetings!

According to nt2099.com, J-soul singer Hirai Ken has been selected as one of 14 international artists to appear on a new tribute album dedicated to the work of Stevie Wonder. He'll be appearing along with major artists such as Eric Clapton, John Mellencamp and Mary J. Blige. Apparently Hirai will be covering Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life".

Cool to see another J-Pop star getting some recognition in the U.S. market... hopefully a sign of things to come.

:cool:

[Twisted]

He recently did an MTV unplugged session in New York. Would be interesting if that show would get airtime in the U.S.
Apparently all of his songs were rewritten in English for this session.

[den4]

curious about that mtv unplugged....has it shown yet...I haven't seen anything....and I thought it was only for mtv Japan they were doing it for... :O

[Twisted]

I don't know exactly. It's probably going to be shown on MTV Japan, but given that all the songs were done in English and he is to appear on that Stevie Wonder tribute album, Sony obviously has international plans with him.

And why not? Anything related to R&B sells very good in the US. Don't know about the rest of the world though. The European R&B market is not that big.

[Ancella]

Hah!!! Really!!!!?????:shock:
I just heard about it now. Oh.... Ken :love:
I'm really proud of him :spray: :happy: :beer:

[Eve]

I think his singing skills are unique..I think its the blues rhit?

Btw where can i Dl "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" and "Life is another story"

Discuss about him -.-

He said hes full japanese but he looks mixed :?

[Dream Time]

no he is pop with R&B and Soul influences
'You are the sunshine of my life' is actually originally by Stevie Wonder

[Eve]

oh cool..

yea i know i think he sang that song in stevie wonder's thing when he died. It's so awesome!!

[-Yu-]

Indeed, he looks like mixed besides he is very tall for Japanese.
The latest song of his is "Bo ku no to mo da chi" yes? I like it.

[Dream Time]

oh cool..

yea i know i think he sang that song in stevie wonder's thing when he died. It's so awesome!!


oh he did? I didn't know that :p

he sang that song in MTV Unplugged in New York,with a female singer name Nivea

[Apollo]

Yes, he is good-looking and a good singer...
I think he was born in the United States.
I am not sure about whether he is mixed...he certainly looks like it, but my friend said he wasn't. :?

[okaeri_man]

i dont know how he can sing that high. when he trys to sing upbeat stuff it sends shivers of confusion down my spine.

[Winter]

Wait...Stevie Wonder died?

[Eve]

I think so -.- do a search for it. yea that song was awesome but i couldnt find it on the net

[Apollo]

Wait...Stevie Wonder died?
NO! Not to my knowledge....He is still alive.

I did a search on Vh1, CNN, MTV, BBC - and could find nothing reporting about his death...Not his fansite either...

[kirei_na_me]

Stevie Wonder is still alive. Maybe you're thinking about Ray Charles?

[necrozombie]

hrm... *goes to look for picture of him*
..oo... he kinda does look mixed..

[Dream Time]

*reads the post by Eve again*
:p

no Stevie Wonder is still alive, maybe Eve was thinking about Ray Charles

[Eve]

Stevie Wonder is still alive. Maybe you're thinking about Ray Charles?

Im not sure but he did do a dedication with some other singers around the world because they praise Stevie Wonder..and He sang "You are the sunshine of my life" which was Stevie Wonder's song

[Winter]

So....if people dedicate a song to someone, they have to be dead?

Jeez....makes me wonder about myself. My wife has dedicated many a song to me. *pinch*

Nope. I'm alive.

[Eve]

lol i guess ur right. But 9 different artists around the world sang in this concert. Thats prolly why I thought stevie wonder died -.-

[Winter]

I'm sure if it was a concert dedicated to the memory of someone, they'd clearly state it was dedicated to the 'memory'.

Still, yeah, I can see how you had the idea.

[Eve]

yea i found this

http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1760 :p

so yea i couldnt find that two songs i want badly

[Dream Time]

yea i found this

http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1760 :p

so yea i couldnt find that two songs i want badly


ah~
interesting,thanks for providing the info
I am also interested in that album,gonna try getting some mp3s of that

[-Yu-]

Okay, now the confusioin about whether he died was solved, let's get back to the topic:Hirai Ken.
I think he is a pure Japanese, who was born in Osaka and got brought up by normal Japanese.
(I don't know if a pure Japanese or a normal Japanese sounds right in this sentence, what I mean is not being mixed)

[Winter]

Hirai kinda scares me a bit due to the fact that he looks exactly like my oldest brother.

[Eve]

He looks mixed though. Thats kinda scary too

And yea damn I cant find any songs i wanted on the net -.-

[Apollo]

I think he is a pure Japanese, who was born in Osaka and got brought up by normal Japanese.

I have been told by my Japanese friends that he is 100% Japanese...... :? Although he looks mixed I agree.

[Winter]

He looks mixed though. Thats kinda scary too

Its scary that he looks mixed? I look mixed too. I am mixed. Is that something to be afraid of?

[RockLee]

QUOTE KEN HIRAI : "I really wanted to change my face. I wanted a flat, very typical Japanese or Asian face," he recently told Time. Although he is pure Japanese, his decidedly Caucasian profile and curly hair set him apart and suit his choice of music style. UNBELIEVABLE...maybe something genetic, he so looks NON 100% Japanese :souka:

[Eve]

Its scary that he looks mixed? I look mixed too. I am mixed. Is that something to be afraid of?

i didnt mean scary like SCARY. I meant scary as in weird

[kirei_na_me]

Mixed is good. Very good.

[Eve]

tasty and delicious too

[Dream Time]

the Stevie Wonder tribute album is called "Conception An Interpretation of Stevie Wonder's Songs"

in order to get the song "You're the sunshine of my life" by Ken Hirai,
you'll have to get the Japanese version of the album,
which means you probably have to buy it on the internet.

[Eve]

Cant i just "Get" it off the internet =P

[-Yu-]

Actually, there are people who have got a craggy face even though they are pure Japanese. I know 2 guys who look mixed but they actually are not ( none of them are my friend but they happen to go to same communities as I go to.

Quote--"I really wanted to change my face. I wanted a flat, very typical Japanese or Asian face," he recently told Time. Although he is pure Japanese, his decidedly Caucasian profile and curly hair set him apart and suit his choice of music style.

It's kind of funny, whereas most Japanese want a crabby face, he, who's got it just wanted to look a very typical Japanese.
Anyway, he looks cool. :cool:

[serewen]

Nope,he is not my taste...

[Dream Time]

video + lyrics
http://blog.makotow.com/p/music-hitomiwotojite.php
wait for the video to load

its the theme song of the new movie 'Crying Out For Love At The Center Of The World'
and I quite like the lyrics

http://www.awh.org/songs/hitomi_wo_tojite.html

Every time I open my eyes in the morning, the body that's beside me is just your shell,
and your back, where I always felt warmth, is now cold.
I stop my bitter smiling and throw open the heavy curtain
to the over-brilliant morning sun that chases me down each day.

The tear-stained face that you showed me that day, shining in the sunset,
and the warmth of your shoulder --
whenever I wish for these memories to disappear,
my heart and body suddenly remember you.
Your love forever

Closing my eyes and seeing you; that alone is enough
even if the seasons leave my heart deserted.

I suppose that sometime in the future, I may feel nothing for you.
It's better to go to sleep embracing my current pain, isn't it?


Even though the light that we wished on and searched for
as we looked at the starry sky that night has been extinguished,
my heart and body still sparkle because of you.
I wish forever

Closing my eyes and seeing you; I can't do any more that that
even if the world passes me by and leaves me.

Your love forever
Closing my eyes and seeing you; that alone is enough
even if the seasons pass me by and all the colours change.
I shall search for you in my memory; that alone is sufficient
because you gave me strength that overcomes what I lost.
Because you gave me that.

[yoshirotokagewaki]

he looks gay, especially in his POPSTAR PV!!!

[Dutch Baka]

he looks gay, especially in his POPSTAR PV!!!

Well, he is gay.

I like his music, and I think he has a great voice. I like the song Hitomi wo Tojite (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVxsgPLu348) a lot.

[yoshirotokagewaki]

hounto desu ka?!!! he's really gay??!! did he admit this publicly?!!! but what puzzles me is his Caucasian feature.. he can't be pure japanese!!! though he might be at least 98%, he can't be pure with that... I've known a neighbor who thinks she's actually pure Filipino but looks like pure Spanish,.. In reality, her parents were like 1% spanish and the recessive traits just went on to her.

[toshiego]

I like hirai ken
If someone like hira ken
I want exchange about favorite songs

[mico]

i've seen many japan artists that don't look like a japanese though they're 100% japanese just like this Ken hirai, and hyde..

ano..i hope i'm not OOT, does anybody know which Ken hirai's PV that won the music award for best vid clip??

[yoshirotokagewaki]

but hyde STILL looks somewhat Japanese... whereas Hirai Ken already had such strong Caucasian features....

[Cue]

It's very funny to me that he looks like mixed but when he talks, he speaks with real Kansai accent! xD
(No wonder, he's born in Osaka and grew up in Mie)

Wikipedia has a funny episode, too: He once was told "You speak Japanese very well".

@Mico
He won the "BEST POP VIDEO" for SPACE SHOWER Music Video Awards, according to wikipedia. ^^;

Cue

[mico]

i see...
hehe... when the first time i saw him, i though, wow there is west pple who makes a career to be Japanese singer^^;

you're right yoshiro-. buth when hyde already wearing the make up, sometimes, he just look like american..

[Dutch Baka]

Wikipedia has a funny episode, too: He once was told "You speak Japanese very well".


haha, I like this one :wave:

[yoshirotokagewaki]

how can people make a lot of jokes about Kansai when a lot of talented artists are from the Kansai region >< I love how Hirai Ken can be so good with the Kansai accent :p

[mico]

i wanna move to Kansai. No. they all moved to tokyo. then i'll live in tokyo.

[chiaki1992]

at the First time i saw hirai ken, in animax about a year ago, i thought he's western (i mean 100% non japanese) after i heard his voice, "waaah... very nice voice...but he's japanese???"<<my first thought bout him.... :blush:
Some how, i tought he's mixed japanese, but he said he's 100% japanese...:okashii: maybe a lot of japanese have unique face (like hyde n hirai ken) they're both look like mixed, in fact.. they 100% pure japanese, i adore them, they're both great!!! :-) *even i love hyde more... i mean most :cool:

[yna]

one of my tomodachi give a japanese song "hitomi wo tojite".. at first i found something on that song.. very meaningful especially the line "kokoro wa karada wa kimi ga kagayaiteru" (in my heart and in my body you're still shining)..:bluush::giggle::bluush:

oh! and the song Hug... with the lyric "hot earlobe"..wahahahaha:giggle:
totemo ureshii...:happy::happy:

the singer has a unique falcetto voice...ahhh sounds good to my ear,,
i played ken hirai 10th anniv. single collection 95-05 everyday:music2:... hahahaha.. and kiroro cds,, kiroro no ichiban iiuta atsumemashita and kiroro no ichiban iikyoku atsumemashita...:angel::hum:

:cheer::cheer::cheer:go!! ken hirai:cheer::cheer::cheer:

[yumeitsumo]

I love his Pop Star video. THat's where I first found out about him! (On youtube I searched "funny Japanese") Yeah Isn't he gay?

[ASHIKAGA]

OK, yumeitsumo, I will risk my reputation as a lady's man by trying to arrange an intimate encounter with that sexy SOB from Kansai and find out if he really is a dude-kisser.

Oh, wait..... looks like Dutch Baka has beaten me to it. Good work, my freind!

Well, he is gay.
:cool: