Fumiya Fujii

is a Japanese musician, actor and former lead singer of The Checkers born in Kurume. His younger brother is Naoyuki Fujii, a musician and former sax player for The Checkers. His eldest son is Fuji TV announcer Kōki Fujii. He formerly belonged to Yamaha Music Foundation and Three Star Pro (both during the Checkers era), and now he is part of a private agency, FFM Co.

Biography Fujii was born as the first child to a father who was a Japanese National Railways employee and a mother who was a beautician. When he was a junior high school student, he encountered the Japanese rock band CAROL and started playing music. After graduating from Nanchiku High School, he joined the Moji Railway Administration Bureau of the Japan National Railways (now Kyushu Railway Company), and after a six-month apprenticeship at Tosu Station, he worked as a freight train operator at Haiki Station, maneuvering and switching freight trains. He belonged to the National Railway Workers' Union (Kokurō).

In 1983, after retiring from the Japanese National Railways, Fujii made his debut as the lead singer of The Checkers and had many hits. Not only his singing ability, but also his appearance and behavior attracted attention, and more and more young people imitated his progressive fashion. He also wrote lyrics for most of the original songs released as singles, and became a central figure in songwriting. In 1992, The Checkers disbanded, and the following year, 1993, Fujii changed the spelling of his first name from kanji to katakana, and started his solo career. Naoyuki Fujii, his younger brother, was also a part of The Checkers and began pursuing a solo career as well. Together they did the project F-Blood in the late 1990s. At the time of the breakup, Fujii was invited to the U.S. by Gota Yashiki, who was living in Los Angeles at the time. Kenji Suzuki, who also lived in Los Angeles, chose him and bought him a Gibson B-25 guitar. The first song he composed using this guitar was "True Love". The song, released the same year, sold 2.4 million copies, and "Another Orion", released in 1996, sold over 1.2 million copies.

In addition to singing, he has held solo exhibitions under the name "FUMIYART" and produced the Nagoya City Pavilion "Tower of the Earth" for Expo 2005 (recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest kaleidoscope). He has also appeared in many TV dramas, and provided the voice of Rock Holmes for the 2003 Astro Boy series, in addition to writing and singing its ending theme "Boy's Heart."

His songwriting credits include "Shiroi Kumo no Youni" (composed by Naoyuki Fujii) for the band Saruganseki and "Hoshizora no Katasumi de" (lyrics and composition) for Misia. He has also produced four songs, including "Heart-Shaped Tears" for Hinano Yoshikawa. His many contributions to the local community include composing the Kurume song "Furusato no Sasayaki" for his hometown Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, providing the design for the Kurume Citizen Card, creating the logo for Fukuoka Broadcasting Corporation, and designing the uniform for his alma mater Nanchiku High School. The nickname of Kagoshima City FM, the first community radio station to open in Kagoshima Prefecture on October 1, 1997, "FRIENDS FM 762," was named by Fujii. He has also designed the countdown T-shirts for the 1998 Winter Olympics. The T-shirts were engraved with the number of days remaining until the day of the 1998 games, and Fujii was in charge of designing the shirts from 500 to 401 days before the games.

In 2007, Fujii wrote the lyrics and composed the song "Chinju no Sato" in praise of the 62nd Jingū Shikinen Sengū. It is included in the single "Kimi ni Naru." He stayed in Ise, Mie for three days and composed the song on the riverbank of the Isuzu River near the Uji Bridge.

On December 31, 2008, at a countdown live performance at the Nippon Budokan, Fujii tied with Eikichi Yazawa for first place with 102 performances, including performances during the Checkers era, under the name F-BLOOD, and as a solo artist. In response, he said that he was honored to have stood on the same stage as Yazawa at the Budokan since CAROL (with Yazawa) was the reason why he started his music career. 2016

Released: 6 April 1994 Label: Pony Canyon Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 1

Released: June 7, 1995 Label: Pony Canyon Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 2

Released: September 20, 1996 Label:[Pony Canyon Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 2

Released: June 18, 1997 Label: Pony Canyon Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 3

Released: October 1, 1998 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 5

Released: July 1, 1999 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 9

Released: July 5, 2000 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 7

Released: June 20, 2001 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 11

Released: June 19, 2002 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 8

Released: June 18, 2003 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 7

Released: October 22, 2003 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 14

Released: May 19, 2004 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 10

Released: September 29, 2004 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 16

Released: June 29, 2005 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 15

Released: September 20, 2006 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 13

Released: June 20, 2007 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 8

Released: October 8, 2008 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 8

Released: September 30, 2009 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 14

Released: July 11, 2012 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 6

Released: October 31, 2012 Label: Sony Japan Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 8

Released: July 13, 2016 Label: Space Shower Music Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 6

Released: July 10, 2019 Label: Space Shower Music Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 5

Released: November 2, 2022 Label: independent Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 4

Compilation albums Title Album details Peak chart positions JPNOricon Standard Released: December 16, 1996 Label: Pony Canyon Formats: CD, digital download, streaming2 Singles Released: November 18, 1998 Label: Pony Canyon Formats: CD, digital download, streaming7 Fumiya Fujii Anniversary Best "15/25" Released: May 21, 2008 Label: Sony Music Formats: CD, digital download, streaming8 Fumiya Fujii Anniversary Best "25/35" Released: July 18, 2018 Label: Pony Canyon Formats: CD, digital download, streaming8

Self-cover albums Title Album details Peak chart positions JPNOricon Re Take Released: July 31, 2002 Label: Sony Music Formats: CD, digital download, streaming6

Cover albums Title Album details Peak chart positions JPNOricon My Carol Released: March 26, 2003 Label: Sony Music Formats: CD, digital download, streaming -

Remix albums Title Album details Peak chart positions JPNOricon The Party Remix Released: July 31, 2002 Label: Sony Music Formats: CD, digital download, streaming -

Live albums Title Album details Peak chart positions JPNOricon Fumiya Fujii Symphonic Concert Released: September 24, 2014 Label: Sony Music Formats: CD, digital download, streaming -

Other appearances + List of non-studio album or guest appearances that feature Fumiya Fujii Title Year Artist Album/Single "Kizetsu suru hood Nayamashii" 1997 V.A Psyche-Delicious Char Tribute Album "Rock'n Roll Widow" 2004 V.A Yamaguchi Momoe Tribute Thank you for... "Cinderella" 2015 V.A A tribute to cools "Yuki no Hana" 2016 V.A Mika Nakashima Tribute

Songwriting credits