Camui Love

Assuming you’ve read the ‘Welcome to Camui Love!’  page, you now know who this site is dedicated to. But maybe that’s not enough for you.
“Big whoop. What makes this Gackt guy so special anyway, what’s his story?”
Well my dear friends, this is where this biography will come in handy x]

Name: Gackt Camui
A.k.a.: Gackt, Gakuto, GACKT, Gackt M.S. Camui
Birthdate: July 4th, 1973 (or 1540, haha~)
Blood Type: A
Zodiac Sign: Cancer
Height: 5’11” (182-183 cm)

Gackt Camui is one of Japan’s most recognizable and talented individuals. He is best known for his career as a solo artist, though he first gained recognition in Japan as the vocalist in the Visual Kei band Malice Mizer. He has a voice that is unique and unmatched when compared to his fellow musicians. He can play a variety of instruments and writes and composes his own songs. Although most musicians are categorized into a single genre, Gackt stands out above the rest because his music ranges from classical to pop to rock. Aside from his musical career, he has also participated in acting, voice acting, modeling, motion capturing, and writing. Besides Japanese, Gackt can speak English, Mandarin, Korean, French, and Cantonese; perhaps even more. His music has gained him fans all over the world, all of whom he calls his “Dears”

Gackt Camui was born on the island of Okinawa, Japan, on July 4th. He was born to musically inclined parents and is the middle child, having an older sister and a younger brother. At the tender age of 3, his parents decided to have Gackt take up piano lessons. As he grew into a reckless, mischevious boy, Gackt lost interest in the piano and sought ways to force himself out of taking lessons, eventually quitting at the age of 11. But after seeing a classmate perform better than him on the instrument, his competitive drive led him back to music at the age of 14.

During his high school years, Gackt switched from classical music to rock music, practicing the drums whenever he had the chance. After high school, he worked multiple jobs and practiced his drumming at a nearby studio. It was here where he first met YOU, his future best friend and band member. He first saw YOU at a live performance, but didn’t believe that the guitarist of the band was the man standing in front of him. After some arguing, Gackt admitted that he was wrong and the two decided to create their own band called CAINS:FEEL. At the time, they were short of a vocalist and as a joke, YOU suggested that Gackt should be the vocalist. Gackt was driven to prove that he could sing and after a few vocal lessons he sang in front of YOU. This was the first time that Gackt had ever sang out loud. After YOU complimented his voice, Gackt continued to improve his vocals.

Gackt continued to be the drummer and vocalist for the band until he was approached by Mana, one of the co-founders of the Visual Kei band Malize Mizer. The band had just recently lost their vocalist, and after hearing a demo tape Mana asked Gackt to fill that position. After meeting with the other band members, Gackt agreed and joined Malice Mizer in 1995. With Gackt as the vocalist, the band’s music took on a more romantic, European feel, and added more classical and electronic instruments. The band’s image also changed from dark and gothic clothing to more colorful and elaborate costumes, though the gothic theme still remained. The band also became considerably more popular in the public eye. After enjoying four years of success Gackt left Malice Mizer in 1999, taking a majority of the band’s fanbase with him, to begin his solo career. The reasons behind the split are still a mystery, but rumors speculate it was due to creative differences.

A few months after starting his solo career, Gackt released his first single “Mizerable” and has had 9 years of incredible success since then. He has released around 30 singles, 10 full-length albums and EPs, 7 concert DVDs, and more. The single “Returner ~Yami no Shuuen~” was his first song to hit #1 on the Oricon charts. Some of his works have been used in anime (New Fist of the North Star), video games (Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerebus), and themes for television shows (Kamen Rider Decade). He has done voice work as well (Arthur and the Minnoys) and has provided both his voice and looks for the character Genesis Rasphodos (Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and FFVII: DoC). He also co-wrote/produced/and starred in the 2003 film Moon Child alongside fellow artist HYDE (vocalist of L’Arc~en~Ciel) and starred in the NHK drama Furin Kazan as Uesugi Kenshin. He has also starred in numerous ads (e-ma candy commercials, Fuji Film) and has been a guest on various talk shows (Utaban, HEYx3! Music Champ).

As far as current projects go, Gackt has just finished touring Japan with his VISUALIVE Tour 2008-2009 Requiem et Reminiscence II ～再生と邂逅～. He has also released 4 “Anniversary” singles which commemorate his 10 years as a solo artist. Gackt is also starring in the upcoming film BUNRAKU with Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, and Woody Harrelson, which is set for a 2010 release. And he is also starring in the upcoming Kamen Rider Decade Movie, which will be released this August, and is providing the theme song to the film. It is apparent that no matter what new challenge arises, Gackt will face it head on and conquer them all as he has done for more than fifteen years.

For a more detailed account of Gackt’s life, please look at this biography from JRR:
Gackt Bio at JRR

And you can find the translation to his autobiography, Jihaku, here:
Cool Like Plastic
Eien no Yume
Note: In the links provided, Jihaku is translated by the same person. The only difference is that the first link has you reading the text in front of a white background, while in the second link the text is read in front of a black background – your preference.

And if you’d like to learn even further details about this wonderful man, please feel free to check out the other pages n.n