Yu Takahashi

Overview

Yu Takahashi (高橋 優, born December 26, 1983) is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Yokote, Akita Prefecture. He made his major-label debut with Warner Music Japan on July 21, 2010, with the single "Subarashiki Nichijō", followed by "Honto no Kimochi", the theme song of the drama Q10, which gave him his first top 30 single. He is also known for hosting a music festival in his home prefecture of Akita.

Career

Early years

As a middle-school student he served as student council president and played in a GLAY cover band at the school festival, discovering the joy of live performance. He bought his first guitar to play hide's "Pink Spider". In high school he sang in a copy band and began writing songs on a cheap acoustic guitar. He then entered Sapporo Gakuin University (English and American literature) and moved to Sapporo, where he began street performances at Tanukikoji and played at live houses. After his band dissolved, he decided to go solo, and he organized his own events such as "Octopus x Octopus" and "Agura". He also worked at the Cinema Frontier movie theater from his fourth year of university and for two years after graduating.

In February 2002 he released his self-produced debut album Sepia, limited to 200 copies. In January 2004 he performed street lives five times a week. His second album, Mugon no Bōryoku (May 2007, limited to 500 copies), topped the indie chart at Sapporo Stellar Place HMV for three weeks and led to his first solo concert for 200 people at Sapporo Colony. In September 2007 he began the monthly Agura concerts, renting a CD shop and admitting only 30 people. That year he was scouted by Amuse at a Sapporo live house.

Move to Tokyo and major debut

Takahashi moved to Tokyo in January 2008 and joined Amuse. He released a third self-released album, Agura, sold only at venues. He came to the attention of Michihiko Yanai, creator of Tower Records' No Music, No Life and Kaze to Rock campaigns, which led to the Tower Records-exclusive single "Kodomo no Uta" in May 2009 and the Yanai-produced EP Bokura no Heisei Rock 'n' Roll in July, which reached No. 262 on Oricon's album chart.

On July 21, 2010 he debuted on Warner with "Subarashiki Nichijō", produced by Yanai. Heavy radio play pushed it to No. 5 on Billboard Japan Hot 100, despite peaking at No. 57 on Oricon's physical singles chart. His second single, "Honto no Kimochi", served as the theme of Q10, starring Takeru Satoh and Atsuko Maeda (AKB48), giving him his first top 30 single and his first appearance on Music Station.

2011 onward

On February 26, 2011 he performed a street live in central New York, streamed worldwide on Ustream. Beforehand, on February 17, he ran an opinion advertisement in The New York Times featuring an English translation of a lyric from "Fukuwarai"—the second Japanese person to do so after Yoko Ono. That year he began his first national tour, and in autumn 2012 he toured 16 shows during which the weather was sunny on 9 days, cloudy on 5 and rainy on 2, leading him to declare himself a "sunny man".

He held his first Nippon Budokan concert on November 24, 2013, and launched his fan club "U are not alone" on November 1, 2014. From April 4, 2015 to March 28, 2020 he co-hosted Nippon Broadcasting's All Night Nippon Saturday Special with Tadayoshi Okura (Kanjani Eight, now SUPER EIGHT). On July 22, 2015 he released his first best album, Takahashi Yu BEST 2009-2015 "Warau Yakusoku", and on July 25 was named an Akita Music Ambassador. In September 2016 he began hosting AKITA CARAVAN MUSIC FES in Yokote, moving the venue each year with the dream of visiting every city in Akita.

On June 30, 2020, after his exclusive contract with Amuse ended, he left the agency and moved to Rin to... inc., an office founded by Yuichi Yamaguchi, and relaunched his fan club on August 1. He opened an official Instagram account in May 2021, became the Tuesday personality of Nippon Cultural Broadcasting's new show Otonari-san in April 2022 (also creating its theme song), and opened a TikTok account on December 26, 2023 to mark his 40th birthday.

Notable tours

His tours include his first national tour (2011), BREAK YOUR SILENCE (2013), ROAD MOVIE (2017-2018), STARTING OVER (2018-2019), free style stroke (2019-2020), the 10th-anniversary acoustic tour ONE STROKE SHOW 2021, the two-day Budokan acoustic show, ReLOVE & RePEACE ReUNION, his first 47-prefecture acoustic tour (2023-2024), ARE YOU HAPPY? (2025), a 15th-anniversary live in Akita, and the 15th Anniversary Special Live Tour 2025-2026.

Musical style

Takahashi is a singer-songwriter centered on acoustic-guitar performance and self-written lyrics, with a naturally powerful voice. He uses guitars including a Martin GPCPA1, Gibson Dove and Gibson CF100; in 2020 a one-off Gibson Dove Yu Takahashi signature model was produced, a first for Gibson. His father is a folk-song singer.