(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
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 ...
, but first rose to prominence as a member of
Lazy in the 1970s.
Career
From a young age, he was considered a talented drummer. During his high school years, Higuchi played in seven bands. But he was not happy with this situation, wanting to focus his time on only one band. At this point, schoolmate and future bandmate
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 ...
came along and they formed
Lazy.
Lazy was formed by very young musicians and started playing easy-listening
pop-rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, ear ...
, that slowly progressed to more complex music. Higuchi was identified in the band by the moniker "Davy".
When he and Takasaki shifted their musical interests to
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 ...
and
heavy metal, they founded
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 ...
in 1981.
During his time with Loudness, Higuchi released his first solo album, ''Destruction'', in 1983. In the same year he produced and played drums on
Mari Hamada
is a Japanese heavy metal and pop rock singer. Since her debut in 1983, Hamada has been known as the "Heavy Metal Queen" of Japan. Throughout her career, she has released 25 singles and 23 studio albums.
Biography Early history
Mari Ham ...
's studio albums ''
Lunatic Doll
is the debut album by Japanese singer Mari Hamada, released on April 21, 1983 by Invitation. Co-produced by Loudness drummer Munetaka Higuchi, the album was given the tag line: by Shigesato Itoi. The songs were written and arranged by the Munet ...
'' and ''
Romantic Night''. He left Loudness in 1992, and resumed his solo career in the late-1990s, working also on side projects, including
Sly (with former Loudness' singer
Minoru Niihara
is a Japanese singer. He is the original and current lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Loudness.
His first band was Earthshaker, in which he played bass and sang. His vocal style was influenced by blues singers, but he adapted quickly ...
),
Bloodcircus, Rose of Rose, and the Rock 'n' Roll Standard Club Band, besides collaborating with dozens of Japanese artists, both as producer and as drummer.
In 1997, as "Munetaka Higuchi & Dream Castle", he released the album ''Free World''. The band featured many famous musicians from the jazz and rock/metal spheres, like
Steve Vai
Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist f ...
,
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...
,
Billy Sheehan
William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing ...
,
Ty Tabor
Ty Tabor ( ; born September 17, 1961) is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-lead vocalist for the progressive metal band, King's X.
Tabor has a wide-ranging guitar style, from big guitar riffs to middling melodic passages. His use of volum ...
,
Terry Bozzio
Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missing Perso ...
,
T. M. Stevens
Thomas Michael "T. M." Stevens (born July 28, 1951) is an American bass guitarist from New York City. Stevens has worked with an array of rock, R&B, and pop acts as a session musician, and also leads his own groups and works as a solo performer ...
,
Ronnie James Dio
Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted and founded numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and H ...
,
Richie Kotzen
Richard Dale Kotzen Jr. (born February 3, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. As a solo artist, Kotzen has back catalogue of more than 20 album releases. He was a member of glam metal band Poison from 1991 to 1993, Mr. Big ...
,
Paulinho Da Costa and others. The album was released on February 21, 1997, in Japan. In 1998, he produced ''
Cozy Powell Forever ~ Tribute to Cozy Powell'', a tribute album to the recently deceased drummer
Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...
, very popular in Japan. For the album, Higuchi had the collaboration of the best Japanese heavy metal musicians and was able to reunite his former bandmates of Loudness. A tour in support of the album was made with musicians from Loudness and Sly.
He returned to Loudness in 2000, maintaining his high profile in the metal genre.
On April 14, 2008, just two months after Loudness released the album, ''
Metal Mad'', it was announced that he was diagnosed with
hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer. On November 30, 2008, Munetaka died at the age of 49 in a hospital in Osaka, Japan. His death had a vast echo in Japanese media and in the entertainment business.
Equipment
Higuchi endorsed
Pearl Drums
, simply known as Pearl, is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominantly percussion instruments.
History
Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa -who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, Tokyo- o ...
,
Sabian Cymbals,
Remo
Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumhead
A drumhead or drum skin is a membrane stretched ov ...
drumheads and
Vic Firth
Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion mallet, percussion sticks and mallets.
Biography
Vic Firt ...
drumsticks.
Discography
*''Destruction'' ~破壊凱旋録~ (1983)
*''Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle – Free World'' (1997)
*''
Cozy Powell Forever'' (1998)
*''Super Rock Summit – Cozy Powell Forever Tour'' (1999)
*''Super Rock Summit – Stairway to Heaven'' (1999)
*''Super Rock Summit – Rainbow Eyes'' (1999)
*''Munetaka Higuchi Drum Collection'' (2006)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higuchi, Munetaka
1958 births
2008 deaths
Deaths from cancer in Japan
Deaths from liver cancer
Japanese rock drummers
People from Nara, Nara
Japanese heavy metal drummers
Loudness (band) members
Musicians from Nara Prefecture
20th-century Japanese musicians
20th-century drummers
21st-century Japanese musicians
21st-century drummers
Lazy (band) members