(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

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

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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 ...

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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