Tsunku
Mitsuo Terada (Japanese寺 田 光 男, Terada Mitsuo, born October 29, 1968 in HigashiOsaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan), better known under the name Tsunku (Japaneseつんく, often written asつんく ♂ ), is a Japanese singer, songwriter and producer. He became famous as the lead singer of Sharam Q. From the late 1990s he became known as a producer of Morning Musume and Hello! Projects.
Musical work
Tsunku began his career in 1992 as lead singer of the band Sharam Q. When the band in 1997, was looking for a female lead singer, a competition was organized. The winner, Michiyo Heike, ultimately became the first soloist of Hello! Projects, while the remaining 5 Final participants formed the group Morning Musume.
In Hello! Project is Tsunkus role undisputed. With few exceptions, he wrote all the songs for the current group Morning Musume, Berryz Kobo, C-ute, S / mileage and Juice = Juice, as well as for soloists Aya Matsuura and Maki Goto and former groups like the vu, MiniMoni, also the early songs of Melon Kinenbi. Besides, many different styles of music were taken: from serious to melancholic pop music and R & B influenced songs in the early years about gay idol - pop to child-appropriate songs for MiniMoni and recently electropop, in between repeatedly with Rockpop and disco elements.
As musical examples, he cites the Beatles, Queen and Onyanko Club.
His work does not end with Sharam Q, and the Hello! Project. He has, for example, the first # 1 single Ayumi Hamasaki wrote and worked with Nintendo on the game Rhythm Tengoku and its successor, Rhythm Heaven. In addition, he founded in 2006 his own record label, TNX, and 2007, the NICE GIRL Project! as a sister organization of the Hello! Projects.
To the victims of Tohoku Earthquake 2011, he dedicated the song Love is here ~ Kibou no Hikari ~. Thus Tsunku is one of the many Japanese celebrities who are committed to public for the earthquake victims.
In the anime Gintama, there is the character Tsunpo that Tsunku is modeled.
Private life
Since June 2006, Tsunku is with the former model Kanako Idemitsu (出 光 加奈 子; Idemitsu Kanako ) married. On April 30, she gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy. In March 2011, followed by another daughter.
In the meantime, Tsunku had to interrupt his career as a singer, as he had persistent pain in the throat; now he can, however, continue to work and re-released their own singles at irregular intervals. On March 6, 2014 Tsunku wrote in a blog post that his company was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx and vocal cords. The disease was in an early stage and it would be in treatment.
He is friends with AKB48's producer Yasushi Akimoto.