is a Japanese

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band founded in 1973 by young classmates

Hironobu Kageyama is a Japanese singer and composer prominent in the soundtracks for anime, video game and tokusatsu productions. He is sometimes called Kami (Kei) by his fans. Kageyama got his big break at age 16, as lead singer of the rock band Lazy. By the ea ...

, Hiroyuki Tanaka and

Akira Takasaki is a Japanese musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist and sole constant member of the heavy metal band Loudness. He is also the guitarist of the band Lazy, with which he first rose to prominence in the 1970s. Career He started his ...

History

The three founders soon recruited, from their own school, drummer

Munetaka Higuchi (December 24, 1958 – November 30, 2008) was a Japanese musician and record producer. He is best known as the original drummer of the heavy metal band Loudness, but first rose to prominence as a member of Lazy in the 1970s. Career From a ...

and keyboard player Shunji Inoue to complete the line-up. The name Lazy was taken from

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

's song of the same name and the music the new band wanted to play was orientated towards

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

. Managers and producers instead envisioned the young musicians as ideal prototypes for pop icons and created, through the use of monikers, costumes and well-balanced singles, a successful "boy band" for the Japanese teenage market. In contrast with these decisions, the band members started writing and recording their own music, slowly changing the sound of the band from easy-listening pop rock to hard rock. A growing dissatisfaction for the direction the band had taken, and the need to express their musical ability, caused Lazy to split up in 1981. Each member became known on their own, mainly in the soundtrack recording business, or formed other bands like

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as, "That attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The rel ...

. Lazy reformed in 1997 for a new album and a tour, and intermittently in the following years to do several projects together. On September 1, 2006, bassist Tanaka died of heart failure at the age of 46. On November 30, 2008, drummer Higuchi died at the age of 49. In 2009 they recorded a new single version of , together with Kageyama's

JAM Project JAM Project ("JAM" standing for "Japan Animationsong Makers") are a Japanese anison band founded on July 19, 2000 by anison singer Ichirou Mizuki. The band is composed of many vocal artists well known in the anime music industry. Aside from the m ...

, for the 2009

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

'' Shin Mazinger Shogeki! Z Hen'', performed under the name "Ultimate Lazy for Mazinger". Their most recent project was the 2011 single "Reckless" for the second animated film in the ''

Towa no Quon , is a 2011 Japanese animated supernatural film series consisting of six films and directed by Umanosuke Iida. The first film in the series was released in theaters on June 18, 2011 and the last on November 26, 2011. The film series has been ...

'' series.

Members

*Vocals: Hironobu "Michell" Kageyama *Guitar: Akira "Suzy" Takasaki *Keyboard: Shunji "Pocky" Inoue ;Former members *Bass: Hiroyuki "Funny" Tanaka (died 2006) *Drums: Munetaka "Davy" Higuchi (died 2008) ;Other members *

Tamio Okuda is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and producer. He started his career in 1986 as a member of the band Unicorn. After Unicorn broke up, Okuda moved on to a solo career in 1994 with the single "Ai no Tame ni". He has written and composed many song ...

has participated in some Lazy projects since the deaths of Hiroyuki Tanaka and Munetaka Higuchi. *

Kazuyoshi Saito is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Making his professional debut in 1993, Saito's popularity exploded in 2007 after 15 years in the music industry. He is also one-half of the rock duo Mannish Boys with Tatsuya Nakamura and a member of the superg ...

has participated in some Lazy projects since the deaths of Hiroyuki Tanaka and Munetaka Higuchi.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''This is the Lazy'' (1978/03/05) * ''Dream a Dream'' (1978/12/05) * ''Rock Diamond'' (1979/09/05) * ''Lazy V'' (1980/04/05) * * ''Happy Time'' (1998/07/21) *

EPs

* ''Angelique: Eien no Yakusoku'' (2001/01/24) * ''Zone of the Enders'' (2001/05/23)

Live albums

* ''Lazy wo Oikakero'' (1978/05/06) * ''Moetsukita Seishun'' (1981/04/05) * ''Happy Time Tour '98: Kuro Tokin no Nasu ga Mama'' (1998/04/21)

Compilation albums

* ''Collection – Jounetsu no Seishun'' (1979/03/21) * ''Best Hit Lazy'' (1980/12/01) * ''Best'' (1981) * ''Best Collection 1977–1981'' (1999/02/21) * ''Hit Collection'' (1999/11/20) * ''Golden Best'' (2004/12/22)

Singles

Videography

*''Happy Time Tour '98 ~Kuro Tokin no Nasu ga Mama~'' (1998/10/21) *''Lazy Live 2002 Uchuusen Chikyuugou II ~Regenerate of a Lasting Worth~'' (2002/06/04)

References

External links

Lazy at Lantis' official website
at Anison Generation database

at Anison Generation database {{Authority control Japanese hard rock musical groups Japanese heavy metal musical groups Japanese pop rock music groups Musical groups from Osaka Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1981 Musical groups reestablished in 1998