is a Japanese band from

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, Japan. It consists of lead vocalist

Kiyotaka Sugiyama is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Sugiyama's career began after joining the band "Kyutipanchosu," and subsequently winning 19th Popcon with the single, "Gospel No Yoru." After being scouted by producer Koichi Fujita, Sugiyama's band became " Kiy ...

, rhythm guitarist Shinji Takashima, lead guitarist Kenji Yoshida, keyboardist Toshitsugu Nishihara, bassist Takao Oshima, drummer Keiichi Hiroishi. The start of the Omega Tribe project, the band first came together as in 1978 consiting of high schoolers who frequented a live house. After their performance at the 19th and 20th

Yamaha Popular Song Contest The , generally known as , was a Music of Japan#Popular music, Japanese popular music contest which ran from 1969 to 1986. It was sponsored by the Yamaha Music Foundation and was held annually (later, twice a year) at the Yamaha Resort Tsumagoi in ...

s, they were scouted by Koichi Fujita, who produced their discography alongside composer

Tetsuji Hayashi Tetsuji Hayashi (林哲司, ''Hayashi Tetsuji''; born on August 20, 1949) is a Japanese composer, singer-songwriter, and arranger. Hayashi got his start after he was influenced by American pop music when he was kid. He started to compose and arra ...

. During their three-year career, the band released five studio albums, ''Aqua City'' (1983), ''River's Island'' (1984), ''Never Ending Summer'' (1984), ''Another Summer'' (1985), and ''First Finale'' (1985). Their songs " Summer Suspicion" (1983) and "

Futari no Natsu Monogatari Futari no Natsu Monogatari - Never Ending Summer ( Japanese: ふたりの夏物語 Never Ending Summer, English: "Summer Story for Two of Us - Never Ending Summer"), also known as Futari no Natsu Monogatari, is the fifth single by Kiyotaka Sugiya ...

" (1985) are considered Sugiyama's signature songs during his era as Omega Tribe's vocalist. The band members did not participate in the recordings of the songs as they were instead performed by

studio musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a t ...

s, and the disconnect between the members and the production team eventually led to their breakup in 1985 at the peak of their popularity. The band have since had multiple reunion performances since their disbandment, but have not done any new recordings due to Fujita's death in 2009. They have been described as one of the bands that fueled the

city pop is a loosely defined form of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked in the 1980s. It was originally termed as an offshoot of Japan's Western-influenced "new music", but came to include a wide range of styles – including ...

sound.

History

1978–1983: Cutie Panchos

The band that would become S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe was formed in December 1978 as Tony Taguchi & Cutie Panchos by Shinji Takashima, Kenji Yoshida, Masato Taguchi, and Keiichi Hiroishi. In 1979,

joined as their vocalist after previously providing vocals as a temporary member. By 1980, the name was shortened to Cutie Panchos with the formation of a new group consisting of 17 members. Later that year, Akira Senju joined the band as a keyboardist, replacing the previous keyboardist who had stopped due to exams, and the band entered the 20th Popcon with the song "Nori Okureta 747" that was written before Senju joining. They were defeated in the preliminaries, and with their defeat, Senju left the band to pursue a solo debut through university. Mohri and Nagasawa later left the band to form Sugar in 1981. In 1982, bassist Takao Oshima and jazz keyboardist Toshitsugu Nishihara joined Cutie Panchos, and with them joining, the final lineup of Cutie Panchos was formed. Although they were defeated in the 20th Popcon, their performance caught the attention of producer Koichi Fujita. Fujita feared that the band's talent, especially Sugiyama's voice, would go to waste since they didn't win the 20th Popcon, and approached the band to play music that would be different from what they had played up to that point. Fujita had originally considered asking Sugiyama to become a solo artist, but Sugiyama refused as he didn't want to leave the band.

1983–1984: Formation and debut

Fujita asked BMG Victor director Uji Okamura to help scout composer

to help with the band's songs. Hayashi and his lyricist,

Chinfa Kan (born June 24, 1953) is Japanese lyricist of Korean descent. Biography Chinfa Kan was born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan as a second-generation Zainichi. He graduated from Shizuoka Prefectural Hamamatsu-Nishi Senior and Junior High Schools. W ...

, initially presented the songs "Umikaze Tsushin" and "A.D. 1959" based on the band's soft rock background, but Fujita rejected the songs and asked for a piece that was "more Japanese" and melancholic, which resulted in " Summer Suspicion". Prior their debut, it was decided that the band would debut on the label VAP instead of BMG Victor, and that they would chose another name other than Cutie Panchos. The name Omega Tribe was suggested by Hawaiian DJ

Kamasami Kong Kamasami Kong (real name Robert W. Zix, born December 21, 1949 in Hamilton, Ohio) is an American disc jockey living in Tokyo. He has been active in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, as well as previsously in Hawaii with the radio program "The Kamasami Kon ...

, but was among the bottom of the list out of multiple candidates. The members liked the name Tykes, but it was Fujita who chose the name Omega Tribe for the group. A month before the release of the single, the song was performed by the band at the 12th

Tokyo Music Festival The Tokyo Music Festival was an international music contest that ran from 1972 to 1992. It was organized by the Tokyo Music Festival Association. The first edition of the Tokyo Music Festival took place on 13 May 1972 with 12 participating countri ...

on March 23, 1983 at Nakano Sunplaza. The band also appeared on the show ''Apple City 100'' and promoted the song before its release. The band officially debuted with "Summer Suspicion" on April 21, 1983, and had their first charting at 100th place on the Oricon Singles Chart on May 23, 1983. The single peaked at 9th place on Oricon by August 22, 1983, with the song peaking at 39th on Oricon's end-of-the-year charts. S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe released their debut album, ''Aqua City'', on September 21, 1983, which peaked at 4th place on the Oricon Albums Chart. The next month, on October 21, 1983, they released their second single "Asphalt Lady" to a lackluster commercial performance as it had noticeably performed worse than "Summer Suspicion", selling only 60,000 copies compared to the previous 360,000 copies. The song's performance led the production team to focus their efforts on better compositions for future songs.

1984–1985: Final albums and disbandment

The band released their third single " Kimi no Heart wa Marine Blue" on January 21, 1984, which had a "sorrowful sound" and an image of the sea that was present "Summer Suspicion", with the single reaching 12th place on the Oricon charts. On March 21, 1984, he band released their sophomore album, ''River's Island''. On October 21, 1984, they released "Riverside Hotel", riding on the popularity of "Kimi no Heart wa Marine Blue"; they later released their third album ''Never Ending Summer'' on December 21, 1984. The band started production of their fourth studio album by February 1985, cutting down on the orchestral and brass sounds and replacing it with the Moog

Polymoog The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time. His ...

and the

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

. They released the single, "

" on March 6, 1985, with the single peaking at number 4 on the Oricon Singles Chart. Although at the peak of their popularity by the single's release, Sugiyama started a discussion about potentially disbanding due to a dissonance between the band members and the production team. Although on good terms, the difference in direction between the members and the team made them eventually support the disbandment unanimously. Takashima and Nishihara had expressed opposition to the disbandment before joining the rest of the members. Yoshida soon left in April 1985, with the band releasing their fourth album ''Another Summer'' on July 1, 1985. They notified Fujita of their decision, and although disappointed, he accepted knowing that Sugiyama wouldn't change his decision. He instead allowed Takashima and Nishihara to stay in the project in a successor band with a new vocalist. The compilation album ''Single's History'', released on October 23, 1985, was originally supposed to be their final album, but Hayashi felt dissatisfied having the band break up at the peak of their popularity. As a compromise, Hayashi asked for the band to record a final album for the sake of the fans. They began developing a final album by August, with the name for the final tour and album being suggested by Hayashi. The band began their ''First Finale Tour'' on October 4, releasing their fifth album ''First Finale'' on December 11 and disbanding by December 24, 1985.

2018–present: Reunions and touring

With the resurgence of

, in the 2010s, VAP began releasing compilation albums more frequently. In 2019, they released ''Omega Tribe Groove'', a compilation and remix album that included newly recorded vocals by the members. VAP also started producing remix versions of their discography in preparation for the band's 40th anniversary, beginning with ''Aqua City Remix'' in 2021 and ending with ''First Finale Remix'' in 2023. The band has reunited several times since their disbandment but has not produced any new music since the passing of Fujita in 2009. In 2004, at Sugiyama's request, the band reunited for three performances called the ''First Finale 2'', which included all the members including Yoshida. In 2013, they reunited again for the band's 30th anniversary. The band returned to touring in 2018, reuniting to perform at

Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall The is an outdoor theater in Tokyo, Japan's Hibiya Park. There are actually two concert halls; the smaller was erected during the Meiji era, and the larger was first built in the Taishō era. The larger venue is colloquially abbreviated to . No ...

to commemorate their 35th anniversary in 2018 and later going on a tour from February 2 to April 21, 2019. In 2021, the band held a performance Tachikawa Stage Garden without a live audience due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Japan Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, with Takashima absent. In 2023, they announced their final tour to take place in Spring 2024.

Band members

Current members

* – lead vocals * – guitar * – keyboards * – bass * – drums * – guitar

Touring members

* – keyboards * – saxophone, percussion

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

Tokyo Music Festival

, - , rowspan=3 align="center", 1983 , rowspan="3", " Summer Suspicion" , Domestic Tournament Golden Apple Award , , - , World Tournament TBS Award ,

References

{{Omega Tribe, state=collapsed 1983 establishments in Japan 1985 disestablishments in Japan Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1985 Musical groups reestablished in 2018 Japanese rock music groups Japanese pop music groups Musical groups from Kanagawa Prefecture J-pop music groups Omega Tribe (music project)