Keisuke Kuwata ( born February 26, 1956) has gained fame as a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and frontman for the Southern All-Stars, as well as his own solo band, the Kuwata band. He has lent a significant amount of his time scoring music to film. He went to Aoyama Gakuin University.
Kuwata is known for his innovation with differing genres of Western music as well as the very popular J-pop music in his native Japan. As a musician, Kuwata performs primarily on lead guitar and lead vocals, although he has experimented with playing in a variety of positions, and released one album in which he played every instrument on the record. As of 2010, Kuwata, frontman for the band Southern All-Stars was ranked #1, and with his solo band, the Kuwata Band, ranked #12 in a list of the top 100 musicians in Japan.
Kuwata has worked as a record producer, a movie director, has recorded albums as bandleader of his own band, the Kuwata Band, and has worked on projects scoring music to film.
Biographical information
Keisuke Kuwata was born February 26, 1956, and raised in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Kuwata's wife, Yuko Hara, is also a member of the Southern All Stars. She is a vocalist and plays keyboards. The two met while in college, where they were in the same circle of musicians. They share a love of the blues and have two sons together.
On July 28, 2010, Kuwata announced that he has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. The operation to remove the cancer was successful and has made several public appearances since June 2011.
Musical style
Yuko Hara on keyboards during the Southern All-Stars' 30th Anniversary concert
Kuwata plays guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. For one album, Suteki Na Mirai Wo Mite Hoshii , Kuwata played every musical instrument and recorded the entire album himself.
Kuwata's Western musical influences are varied. Along with his wife, the band's keyboardist and backing vocalist, Yuko Hara, the couple have long been inspired by American folk music, where preferences run from Bob Dylan, The Band, Blues, and Southern rock music, to British and American influences that are arguably pure Rock and Roll; with a flattering amount of songs covered from the work of Eric Clapton.
Aside from Dylan, Kuwata's work has shown emphasis on music of the American South, including that of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Little Feat. Along with the Southern All-Stars, Kuwata has performed with Little Feat on several occasions, and recorded cover songs from the band. He was a participant and performer in a tribute concert to the late Lowell George, (their original frontman), recording a medley on video that contained his version of "Dixie Chicken".
In 1991, Kuwata began a series of concerts, similar to MTV Unplugged performances, called the "Acoustic Revolution", featuring Hirokazu Ogura on guitar, and Yoshiyuki Sahashi on mandolin, along with other musicians using acoustic instruments. Here again, Dylan's influence shone through their work choosing standards including "Like a Rolling Stone".
Kuwata also developed a love for rock music. The influence from Eric Clapton is strong and can be heard even when Kuwata performs songs in same manner and style as those that Clapton himself covered, and did not write. In addition, other artists covered have been Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and Sam Cooke.
In 1994, the "On Air Music Fair", "I Shot the Sheriff" by Bob Marley was performed by Kuwata and Ann Lewis (musician).
