is a Japanese composer and keyboardist.

History and career

Born in Tokyo's

Itabashi is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it calls itself Itabashi City. Itabashi has sister-city relations with Burlington, Ontario, in Canada; Shijingshan District of Beijing in the People's Republic of China; and ...

prefecture, Fukuda began playing piano at the age of 4, and while at school became interested in anime ("We were the first anime generation"). He graduated from Takeheya Senior High School in 1976 and began attending the department of literature at

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

in 1978. Around this time, he won a prize for excellence in the Yamaha-sponsored band tournament EAST WEST 78. Graduating from Waseda in 1980, Fukuda went on to make his professional debut, playing keyboards in the band QUYS. The band was formed alongside bassist Yoshihiro Naruse (currently of

Casiopea , now known in its fourth iteration as Casiopea-P4, is a Japanese jazz fusion band formed in 1976 by guitarist Issei Noro, bassist Tetsuo Sakurai, drummer Tohru "Rika" Suzuki, and keyboardist Hidehiko Koike. In 1977, keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya ...

) and drummer Okai Daiji (ex-member of Yonin Bayashi). The following year marked his recording debut as a session musician on

June Yamagishi June Yamagishi (山岸潤史, born Junshi Yamagishi, June 6, 1953) is a Japanese guitarist based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the guitarist for bands Papa Grows Funk and the Wild Magnolias. History Yamagishi was born in Ise City, Mie Pref ...

's 1981 solo album All The Same, along with his major debut with Hideo Saito in the band YOU. In 1982 he was a participating member of

Bakufu Slump was a Japanese rock band originally active between 1981 and 1999. One of the most popular rock bands in Japan during the 1980s and '90s, it is known for its best-selling single "Runner", released in 1988. Members * Sunplaza Nakano: vocals ( ...

prior to their debut, and in 1983 played with Minami Kousetsu as a live tour musician. Following these early exposures to the industry, Fukuda became a frequently employed studio musician - he went from playing for artists such as Kodomo Band, Shogo Hamada, Kozo Murashita, Yoshiyuki Ohzawa to then-contemporary pop figures such as

Shibugakitai Shibugakitai (The Cool Kid Trio) (シブがき隊) was a Japanese boy band active from 1982 to 1988, composed of three Johnny's idols, Toshikazu Fukawa (Fukkun), Masahiro Motoki (Mokkun), Hirohide Yakumaru (Yakkun). It was launched with a “ba ...

Seiko Matsuda , known professionally as , is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter, known for being one of the most popular Japanese idols of the 1980s. Since then, she is still actively releasing new singles and albums, doing annual summer concert tours, win ...

and Ryoko Sano. As a studio player, he has participated in the recording of over a thousand songs. Also during this period, he collaborated with fellow synthesist Noritaka Ubukata in the development of a sound patch for 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 ...

digital synthesizer called "Shofuku", which was released in 1984. Shofuku later became the name of a recording unit featuring the two musicians in 1988. Fukuda also penned books documenting the DX7's programmable synthesis, one of which, "Yamaha DX7 Digital Synthesizer", was translated and sold in the West. He is perhaps most well known for his video game and anime soundtracks. He has worked for

Hudson Soft was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo ...

, and is perhaps best known for his soundtracks to various games from the ''

Bomberman is a video game franchise originally developed by Hudson Soft and currently owned by Konami. The original game, also known as ''Bakudan Otoko'' (''爆弾男''), was released in Japan in July 1983 and has since spawned multiple sequels and sp ...

'' franchise. He is currently the keyboardist in the Japanese

jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat (groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creatio ...

and

fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

band BeatNuts, and has played in numerous other bands, such as YOU, QUYZ, and Kodomo Band. He is often credited as "Hirohiko Fukuda".

Works

Video games

Anime

Other

References

External links

Yasuhiko Fukuda Laboratory

Yosuhiko Fukuda anime
at Media Arts Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Fukuda, Yasuhiko 1957 births Anime composers Japanese composers Japanese film score composers Japanese keyboardists Japanese male composers Japanese male film score composers Living people People from Itabashi Video game composers