S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe
Japanese city pop band / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe (Japanese: 杉山清貴&オメガトライブ, Hepburn: Sugiyama Kiyotaka & Omega Toraibu) is a Japanese band from Yokohama, Japan. It consists of lead vocalist Kiyotaka Sugiyama, rhythm guitarist Shinji Takashima, lead guitarist Kenji Yoshida, keyboardist Toshitsugu Nishihara, bassist Takao Oshima, drummer Keiichi Hiroishi.[1]
S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe | |
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Also known as | Tony Taguchi & Cutie Panchos (1978–1979) Cutie Panchos (1979–1983) |
Origin | Tokyo, Japan |
Genres | |
Years active |
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Labels | VAP |
Spinoff of | Omega Tribe |
Members | Kiyotaka Sugiyama Shinji Takashima Toshitsugu Nishihara Keiichi Hiroishi Takao Oshima Kenji Yoshida |
The start of the Omega Tribe project, the band first came together as Cutie Panchos (きゅうてぃぱんちょす, Kiyuuti Panchosu) in 1978 consisting of high schoolers who frequented a live house. After their performance at the 19th and 20th Yamaha Popular Song Contests, they were scouted by Koichi Fujita, who produced their discography alongside composer Tetsuji Hayashi.[2] During their three-year career, the band released five studio albums, Aqua City (1983), River's Island (1984), Never Ending Summer (1984), Another Summer (1985), and First Finale (1985).[3] Their songs "Summer Suspicion" (1983) and "Futari no Natsu Monogatari" (1985) are considered Sugiyama's signature songs during his era as Omega Tribe's vocalist.[4]
The band members did not participate in the recordings of the songs as they were instead performed by studio musicians, and the disconnect between the members and the production team eventually led to their breakup in 1985 at the peak of their popularity.[5][6][7] The band have since had multiple reunion performances since their disbandment, but have not done any new recordings due to Fujita's death in 2009. They have been described as one of the bands that fueled the city pop sound.[8]