Chage and Aska
Encyclopedia
or Chage and Asuka are a Japanese
popular music duo composed of two singer-songwriters from Fukuoka Prefecture, (b.January 6, 1958) and (b. February 24, 1958). To date they have sold over 31 million albums and singles in Japan.
They were formed in the late 1970s at the suggestion of the A&R division of the Yamaha Music Foundation. After the hit single "Banri no Kawa" in 1980, they produced several hits irregularly throughout the 1980s. However, thanks to Aska's hit solo single "Hajimari ha Itsumo Ame" in 1991, and several powerful tieups with TV programs, their popularity peaked during the first half of the 1990s. In those days, they released five million-selling hits: "Say Yes
" and "Yah Yah Yah", "If", "Heart", "Meguri Ai". Two of those — "Say Yes" and "Yah Yah Yah" — each sold over two million copies. Their most well-known "Say Yes", released in 1991, is the sixth best-selling single in Japanese Oricon
charts history.
They attempted to spread their market worldwide, especially to the United States. Yamaha released a compilation of cover versions by Western artists (Maxi Priest
featuring Shaggy, Lisa Stansfield
, Chaka Khan
, Michael Hutchence
, Alejandro Sanz
, Cathy Dennis
, Apache Indian, Boy George
, Richard Marx
, Londonbeat
, Marianne Faithfull
, and Wendy Matthews
).
. Together they have released many albums and have received several music awards. They are best known in their native Japan for their hit song "Say Yes," which was the opening theme song for 101st Proposal (Hyaku ikkai me no puropōzu), a 1991 TV drama. "Say Yes" was the sixth best-selling single in Japanese Oricon
charts history, selling 2,822,000 copies.
From 1989 to 99, Chage had a parallel project called Multimax, a band he formed with guitarist and multi-instrumental master Keisuke Murakami (former The Alpha member) and singer Hiromi Asai. They released seven singles, seven albums, two videos and did some tours. In other hand, Aska conduced a solo career since 1988.
Their songs have been remixed and covered by western artists, including Maxi Priest
, Boy George
, and Richard Marx
. Perhaps their greatest amount of western exposure, however, occurred with their appearances in live MTV
concerts in the 1990s. Chage and Aska have released songs for the soundtracks of Street Fighter
and Judge Dredd
. One of their songs, "On Your Mark
", was used by Studio Ghibli
in their short video titled On Your Mark
, which was released along with the film Whisper of the Heart
in 1995.
They decided to separate and go solo in 1996. In 1997, Aska's first solo concert concluded with Chage appearing on stage. When the duo became active again in 1999, they sometimes performed together but also continued with their solo careers.
Chage and Aska released two new singles "Here & There" and "Man and Woman" at the same time on January 10, 2007. "Here & There" and "Man and Woman" were ranked at number three and number two respectively on the Oricon
weekly single charts.
Chage and Aska officially announced the band's "indefinite suspension" on January 30, 2009 to concentrate on their solo work.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
popular music duo composed of two singer-songwriters from Fukuoka Prefecture, (b.January 6, 1958) and (b. February 24, 1958). To date they have sold over 31 million albums and singles in Japan.
They were formed in the late 1970s at the suggestion of the A&R division of the Yamaha Music Foundation. After the hit single "Banri no Kawa" in 1980, they produced several hits irregularly throughout the 1980s. However, thanks to Aska's hit solo single "Hajimari ha Itsumo Ame" in 1991, and several powerful tieups with TV programs, their popularity peaked during the first half of the 1990s. In those days, they released five million-selling hits: "Say Yes
Say Yes (Chage and Aska song)
"Say Yes" is a Japanese single by Chage and Aska, released by Pony Canyon on July 24, 1991. The song was used as a theme of Japanese television drama 101 kaime no Propose. It was regarded as a wedding-song....
" and "Yah Yah Yah", "If", "Heart", "Meguri Ai". Two of those — "Say Yes" and "Yah Yah Yah" — each sold over two million copies. Their most well-known "Say Yes", released in 1991, is the sixth best-selling single in Japanese Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
charts history.
They attempted to spread their market worldwide, especially to the United States. Yamaha released a compilation of cover versions by Western artists (Maxi Priest
Maxi Priest
Max Alfred "Maxi" Priest is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with a R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion, and became one of the first international successes who regularly dabbled in the genre as well as being one of the most...
featuring Shaggy, Lisa Stansfield
Lisa Stansfield
Lisa Stansfield is an English singer and songwriter.-Early years:Stansfield was born to Marion and Keith Stansfield in Heywood, Lancashire, in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982...
, Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, Michael Hutchence
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...
, Alejandro Sanz
Alejandro Sanz
Alejandro Sanz , is a Spanish singer-songwriter and musician. For his work, Sanz has won a total of fifteen Latin Grammy Awards and three Grammy Awards. He has won the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year three times, more than any other artist...
, Cathy Dennis
Cathy Dennis
Cathy Dennis is a British dance-oriented pop singer-songwriter, record producer and actress...
, Apache Indian, Boy George
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
, Richard Marx
Richard Marx
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
, Londonbeat
Londonbeat
Londonbeat was originally a UK and American R&B and Dance band who scored a number of pop and dance hits in the early 1990s.-History:Londonbeat's career started in the Netherlands where "There's a Beat Going On" reached the Top 10, and then "9 A.M " which subsequently became a modest success in the...
, Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
, and Wendy Matthews
Wendy Matthews
Wendy Joan Matthews is an Australian adult alternative pop singer originally from Canada who has been a member of Models and Absent Friends and is a solo artist...
).
History
The duo first appeared as the winners of the 1979 Yamaha Popular Song ContestYamaha Popular Song Contest
The , officially known as was a popular Japanese song contest that ran from 1969 to 1986. and held annually from Yamaha Resort Tsumagoi in Kakegawa, Shizuoka.- Winners :*Akiko Kosaka *Kyoko Kosaka *Chewing Gum...
. Together they have released many albums and have received several music awards. They are best known in their native Japan for their hit song "Say Yes," which was the opening theme song for 101st Proposal (Hyaku ikkai me no puropōzu), a 1991 TV drama. "Say Yes" was the sixth best-selling single in Japanese Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
charts history, selling 2,822,000 copies.
From 1989 to 99, Chage had a parallel project called Multimax, a band he formed with guitarist and multi-instrumental master Keisuke Murakami (former The Alpha member) and singer Hiromi Asai. They released seven singles, seven albums, two videos and did some tours. In other hand, Aska conduced a solo career since 1988.
Their songs have been remixed and covered by western artists, including Maxi Priest
Maxi Priest
Max Alfred "Maxi" Priest is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with a R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion, and became one of the first international successes who regularly dabbled in the genre as well as being one of the most...
, Boy George
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
, and Richard Marx
Richard Marx
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
. Perhaps their greatest amount of western exposure, however, occurred with their appearances in live MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
concerts in the 1990s. Chage and Aska have released songs for the soundtracks of Street Fighter
Street Fighter (film)
Street Fighter is a 1994 American action film written and directed by Steven E. de Souza. It is based loosely on the same-titled video games produced by Capcom, and stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Raul Julia, along with supporting performances by Byron Mann, Damian Chapa, Kylie Minogue, Ming-Na...
and Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd (film)
Judge Dredd is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Danny Cannon, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante, and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the strip of the same name in the British comic 2000 AD...
. One of their songs, "On Your Mark
On Your Mark
is a song by the Japanese rock duo Chage & Aska. At their request, animator Hayao Miyazaki produced a music video for the song. The music video was created in 1995, is entirely animated, has no dialogue and runs for six and a half minutes. The song was used in advertisements for NEC.-Synopsis:The...
", was used by Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
in their short video titled On Your Mark
On Your Mark
is a song by the Japanese rock duo Chage & Aska. At their request, animator Hayao Miyazaki produced a music video for the song. The music video was created in 1995, is entirely animated, has no dialogue and runs for six and a half minutes. The song was used in advertisements for NEC.-Synopsis:The...
, which was released along with the film Whisper of the Heart
Whisper of the Heart (film)
is a 1995 Japanese animated drama film based on the manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi. It was directed by Yoshifumi Kondō and written by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the first theatrical Studio Ghibli feature to be directed by someone other than Miyazaki or Takahata, and the only film to be directed...
in 1995.
They decided to separate and go solo in 1996. In 1997, Aska's first solo concert concluded with Chage appearing on stage. When the duo became active again in 1999, they sometimes performed together but also continued with their solo careers.
Chage and Aska released two new singles "Here & There" and "Man and Woman" at the same time on January 10, 2007. "Here & There" and "Man and Woman" were ranked at number three and number two respectively on the Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
weekly single charts.
Chage and Aska officially announced the band's "indefinite suspension" on January 30, 2009 to concentrate on their solo work.
Single discography
- / (1979.8.25)
- / (1980.2.25)
- / (1980.9.25)
- / (1981.5.25)
- / (1981.10.25)
- / (1982.4.25)
- / MESSAGE (1982.10.25)
- / (1983.4.23)
- / (1983.9.28)
- MOON LIGHT BLUES / Darlin (1984.2.22)
- / (1984.10.25)
- / (1985.2.25)
- / SHAKIN' NIGHT (1985.2.25)
- / Gently (1986.2.5)
- / DIAMOND SAND (1986.5.21)
- Count Down / (1986.8.21)
- / (1986.11.21)
- SAILOR MAN / (1987.4.21)
- / Mr. ASIA (1987.10.5)
- / (1988.2.5)
- / ripple ring (1988.5.21)
- Trip / (1988.10.25)
- WALK / (1989.3.8)
- LOVE SONG / Break an egg (1989.6.21)
- DO YA DO / YELLOW MEN (1990.6.27)
- / (LIVE Version)/ SOME DAY (LIVE Version) (1991.1.30)
- SAY YES / (1991.7.24)
- / TREE Digest (1991.11.21)
- LOVE SONG / (1992.3.25)
- if / CRIMSON (1992.7.21)
- no no darlin / (1992.10.10)
- YAH YAH YAH / / (1993.3.3)
- / (1993.8.20)
- You are free / / (1993.11.19)
- / Knock / WHITE CHRISTMASWhite Christmas (song)"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
(1993.11.19) - HEART / NATURAL / On Your MarkOn Your Markis a song by the Japanese rock duo Chage & Aska. At their request, animator Hayao Miyazaki produced a music video for the song. The music video was created in 1995, is entirely animated, has no dialogue and runs for six and a half minutes. The song was used in advertisements for NEC.-Synopsis:The...
(1994.8.3) - / (1994.11.16)
- Something There / (1995.5.10)
- Loves' a cradleLove's A CradleLove's a Cradle is single by Cathy Dennis was only released in Japan. Cathy provided English lyrics to Japanese composer Ryo Aska's music .-Track listings:CD single...
(Cathy DennisCathy DennisCathy Dennis is a British dance-oriented pop singer-songwriter, record producer and actress...
) (1995) - river / (1996.2.19)
- / VISION (1999.3.10)
- / swear (1999.6.9)
- / (2001.4.25)
- / (2001.8.8)
- C-46 / Born the trap / C-46 remix (2001.9.19)
- / HOTEL (STAMP Version) / (STAMP Version) (2001.11.28)
- / (2003.9.10)
- SEAMLESS SINGLES (2004.4.17)
- / (2004.8.25)
- / / (new mix) (2004.12.8)
- Here & There / Man and Woman - orchestra ver. (2007.1.10)
- Man and Woman / Here & There - improvisation mix (2007.1.10)
Studio Albums
- （1980）
- (1981)
- (1982)
- (1982)
- (1983)
- Inside (1984)
- Z=One (1985)
- Turning Point (1986)
- Mix Blood (1986)
- Snow Mail (1986)
- Mr.Asia (1987)
- Rhapsody (1988)
- Energy (1988)
- Pride (1989)
- See Ya (1990)
- Tree (1991)
- Guys (1992)
- Red Hill (1993)
- Code Name.1:Brother Sun (1995)
- Code Name.2:Sister Moon (1996)
- No Doubt (1999)
- Not at All (2001)
- Stamp (2002)
- Double (2007)
Live albums
- Live in Denen Coliseum: (1981)
- 1983.9.30 Chage and Aska Live in Yoyogi Stadium (1983)
- MTV Unplugged (1996)
Compilation albums
- Standing Ovation (1985)
- Super Best (1987)
- The Story of Ballad (1990)
- Super Best II (1992)
- Yin and Yang (1994)
- Super Best Box; Single History 1979-1994 and Snow Mail (box-set compilation, 1994)
- Chage & Aska Very Best Roll Over 20th （1999）
- Chage and Aska 25th Anniversary Box 1 (box-set compilation, 2004)
- Chage and Aska 25th Anniversary Box 2 (box-set compilation, 2004)
- Chage and Aska 25th Anniversary Box 3 (box-set compilation, 2004)
- The Story of Ballad II (2004)
- The Best (2006)
- Nothing But C&A (2009)
Videography
- The Live '82 (1983)
- GOOD TIMES (1984)
- One Night Magic (1986)
- ONESIDE HAME (1986)
- We Shall Return (1987)
- WALK (1989)
- CHAGE&ASKA HISTORY I ~PRIDE~ (1989)
- CHAGE&ASKA HISTORY II ~PRIDE~ (1990)
- SEE YA (1990)
- Taiyo To Hokori No Naka De (1991)
- TREE (1991)
- THE VIDEO of CHAGE&ASKA TUG OF C&A Vol.1 (1991)
- THE VIDEO of CHAGE&ASKA TUG OF C&A Vol.2 (1992)
- THE VIDEO of CHAGE&ASKA TUG OF C&A Vol.3 (1992)
- Go To Eleven ~GUYS~ (1992)
- CONCERT MOVIE GUYS(1993)
- THE VIDEO of CHAGE&ASKA TUG OF C&A Vol.4 (1993)
- RED HILL (1993)
- Asian Tour In Taipei (1995)
- MTV Unplugged (1996)
- 千年夜一夜ライブ 福岡ドーム僕らがホーム (2000)
- NOT AT ALL Concert tour 01>>02 (2002)
- Music On Films (2002)
- Concert tour 02>>03 THE LIVE" (2003)
- Countdown Live 03>>04 In Sapporo Dome (2004)
- Neppu Concert (2004)
- 36度線-1995夏" - DVD Single (2004)
- Concert Tour 2004 two-five (2006)
- DOUBLE DVD (2007)
- Concert tour 2007 DOUBLE (2007)
- Concert tour 2007 alive in live (2008)