(born June 7, 1959), is a Japanese keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger, and record producer.

History

Kobayashi started his professional career in the late 1970s. After working in the backing bands for singers such as Yosui Inoue,

Misato Watanabe is a Japanese pop singer. Discography Albums * ''Eyes'' (2 October 1985) * ''Lovin' you'' (2 July 1986) * ''Breath'' (15 July 1987) * ''Ribbon'' (28 May 1988) * ''Flower bed'' (1 July 1989) * ''Tokyo'' (7 July 1990) * ''Lucky (Misato Watanabe ...

, and

Anri , known as , is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter, originating from Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture. Biography Her debut release was the 1978 ''Oribia o Kikinagara'' (While Listening to Olivia), written by Amii Ozaki. Her song "Cat's Eye" was u ...

, he came into prominence as a musical collaborator for the

Southern All Stars , also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974. The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dr ...

frontman

Keisuke Kuwata is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and frontman for the Southern All Stars, as well of his own solo band, the Kuwata band. He has also done a significant amount of scoring music for films. He went to Aoyama Gakuin University ...

's eponymous 1988 solo album. Although his own leader albums failed to receive public attention, Kobayashi garnered commercial success in collaboration as producer or songwriter with other artists. As an arranger of his own composition "Anata ni Aete Yokatta" co-written and performed by

Kyōko Koizumi (born February 4, 1966) is a Japanese singer and actress. She is signed to Victor Entertainment. Career In 1981, Kyoko Koizumi participated and won the Star Tanjo! programme and released her 1st single in March 1982. She gained her first num ...

in 1991, Kobayashi won the 33rd

Japan Record Award is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST a ...

s for Best Arrangement category. In 1992, he undertook the production work with the Japanese pop-rock band

Mr. Children , commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one of t ...

on their debut album entitled ''

Everything Everything, every-thing, or every thing is all that exists; the opposite of nothing, or its complement. It is the totality of things relevant to some subject matter. Without expressed or implied limits, it may refer to anything. The univers ...

''. The producer and the band have gone on to record together to date, achieving mainstream success with cumulative sales of over 58 million copies albums and singles as of March 2013. In 1995, Kobayashi formed another multi-million selling pop group

My Little Lover My Little Lover is a Japanese pop group belonging to the Avex Trax label as of the single and the album ''Akko''. Previous releases were under Toy's Factory. The group has had several members, but currently only Akko (Akamatsu Akiko 赤松亜� ...

fronted by his then-girlfriend and first spouse Akko, and remained as a full-time member of the band until the couple's marriage broke up in the mid 2000s. Kobayashi has written several film scores, including '' Swallowtail'' (1996) and ''

All About Lily Chou-Chou All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All al ...

'' (2001). Not only composing music, he also directed the film ''

Bandage A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to or to restrict the movement of a part of the body. When used with a dressing, the dressing is applie ...

'' (2010). In addition to his career as a musician, Kobayashi has also worked as a social activist and a philanthropist. Along with

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-winning producer

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...

and Mr.Children's chief singer-songwriter

Kazutoshi Sakurai is a Japanese musician. He composes and writes almost all of the songs for his band Mr. Children, in addition to writing lyrics and singing for his solo project group Bank Band. In 2006, Sakurai ranked No. 8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Sing ...

, he established a non-profit organization called

AP Bank AP Bank is a Japanese non-profit organization dedicated to renewable energy and environmental projects, founded in 2003. AP Bank's seed money was provided by record producer Takeshi Kobayashi, musician Kazutoshi Sakurai and composer and musician R ...

in 2003. Kobayashi and Sakurai have formed the

charity supergroup A charity supergroup is a music group comprising famous musicians or other celebrities which is formed to raise funds or awareness for charities or causes. The supergroup is usually together only for a single album, performance, or single. The ...

Bank Band is a Japanese band formed by Kazutoshi Sakurai and Takeshi Kobayashi.TOY'S FACTORY – ENGLISH

since 2004, and have released three albums and two singles to date.

Discography

Solo albums

*''Duality'' (1988) *''Testa Rossa'' (1989) *''Works I'' (2008)

Collaborations

*''Boku no machi ni asobi ni kite yo'' (digital single) (October 16, 2019) (

Shikao Suga is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter from Tokyo known for writing the theme songs for several anime, movies and commercial ads. His name in kanji is . He uses katakana as his professional name. Prior to career Suga went to Kosei Gakue ...

's single, song co-writer)

Scores

Film

*''Inamura Jane'' (1990) *'' Swallowtail'' (1996) *''

'' (2001) *''Shinkokyu no Hitsuyo'' (2004) *''Metro ni Notte'' (2006) *''Kofuku na Shokutaku'' (2006) *''

Midnight Eagle is a 2007 action film directed by Izuru Narushima and written by Yasuo Hasegawa and Kenzaburo Iida, based on the novel by Tetsuo Takashima. ''Midnight Eagle'' is the third film directed by Izuru Narushima. The film opened in the United States on ...

'' (2007) *''Halfway'' (2009) *''

'' (2010) *''

Ai to Makoto is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Takumi Nagayasu. It was adapted into a live-action television series in 1974 and into four live-action films in 1974, 1975, 1976 and 2012. TV series Cast * Yūsuke ...

'' (2012) *'' If Cats Disappeared From the World'' (2016) *'' Last Letter'' (2020)

Television

*''Zutto Anata ga Suki datta'' (1992) *''Double Kitchens'' (1993) *''Dare ni mo Ienai (1993) *''Owaranai Natsu'' (1995) *'' Amon: The Darkside of The Devilman'' (2000)

Filmography

;Fiims * ''es: Mr. Children in Film'' (director) (1995) * ''Halfway'' (producer) (2009) * ''Bandage'' (director) (2010) ;Televisions *''Neo Colla! Tokyo Kankyo Kaigi'' (executive producer)(2008 / 2009)

Bibliography

*''Kankyo to Yokubo: Tokyo Kankyo Kaigi'' (2008)

Awards

References

External links

*
Messages from Takeshi Kobayashi
– Official blog (in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobayashi, Takeshi 1959 births Japanese composers Japanese film directors Japanese male composers Japanese music arrangers Japanese record producers Lands (band) members Living people Musicians from Yamagata Prefecture People from Yamagata Prefecture