He is the ex-guitarist of Dué le quartz. During his time with Dué le quartz, he was called Miyabi, meaning elegant, but when he went solo in late 2002, he changed his name to 雅-MIYAVI-. In late 2004, he changed it again to MYV. However, he is still listed as “雅-MIYAVI-” on both his official website and on magazines.
Dué le quartz: Miyabi’s position in the band was that of guitarist and, occasionally, background vocals. He was the youngest member of the band, joining in 1999 at age 17, and developed the “youthful and flamboyant” image he still carries on today in his solo career, albeit it has been tweaked a bit. Dué le quartz disbanded in September of 2002, with Miyabi following up shortly afterward with the announcement of his solo career.
As a solo artist, Miyabi appeared on TV to promote his debut album, 【雅楽】-gagaku-, also stressing the name change from “Miyabi” to “雅-MIYAVI-”. He continued to stress this change on into the first year of his solo career. It wasn’t long before he had amassed a very large fanbase, despite having lost some of his old fanbase from his Dué le quartz days, going on to release multiple singles and another album. About two years later, in late 2004, he was signed (or “married” as Universal and he had jokingly put it) to Universal Records Japan, making the transition from indie to major. It was then that he made a second name change to MYV. As previously stated, however, it appears to be a shortened version of “雅-MIYAVI-” as he still appears in magazines (and is listed on his website) as “雅-MIYAVI-“. The release of the single “Rock no Gyakushuu -Super Star no Jouken-/21 Seikigata Koushinkyoku”, marked his major label debut.
After a four-month-long stay in America, 雅-MIYAVI- accomplished something new, which might have come as a surprise for a few. Upon return to Japan, he announced in a video comment (link posted on his official website) that he would like to “try screaming in the background again” and thus found an amazing guy (older than him) and will start their band in 2007. Although he did not say more, he also assured that he would also like to continue producing as a solo artist.
It has been confirmed that 雅-MIYAVI- is part of the new super-band, S.K.I.N. along with YOSHIKI, GACKT and SUGIZO. They debuted on June 29th at Anime Expo, playing their first gig, during which it was announced that Ju-Ken (Gackt) would be their support member playing the bass.
On March 14th 2009, he married the Japanese singer melody.. He announced this in his official MySpace blog, which also announced that his wife was carrying their first baby. Their daughter was born in the summer of 2009 and named Lovelie Miyavi Ishihara (石原 愛理 雅) .
