Кубота Тошинобу: Япон музыкасының жұлдызы

Toshinobu "Toshi" Kubota (久保田 利伸) is a Japanese singer, songwriter, musician, music producer, and radio personality. He has produced six million seller records and thirty three Top 40 singles during his career. Kubota is currently part of Sony Music Japan. In addition, he has composed and written songs for many singers including Hiromi Iwasaki, Misia, Toshinori Yonekura, Kyōko Koizumi, and many other recording artists. Kubota's musical genre has varied throughout his career including R&B, Go go, soul, funk, blues, reggae, old skool, psychedelia, jazz, and pop. His artistic influences include Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, and Sly Stone. Kubota has pioneered in the sound "Japanese hip hop" and "Japanese soul", an amalgam of funk, pop, R&B and go that has influenced many other musicians. Kubota has a tenor and falsetto vocal range and is known for his signature songs "Dance If You Want It", "Missing", "Love Rain (Koi no Ame)", "You Were Mine", "Give You My Love", and "La La La Love Song", which was the theme song of the television drama Long Vacation. Kubota has a total of seventeen studio albums and ten compilation albums. He is among the all time best selling Japanese music artists, having sold over 16 million records worldwide to date.

Toshinobu Kubota was born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. At a young age, he came in possession of Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life album. In high school, Kubota formed a high school band. After high school, he went to Tokyo to study economics. During that time, he began performing music at night clubs.

Kubota got his start in 1981 when he met Haneda Ichiro at Komazawa University where they started the band Hottentots. A year later, he entered the Eastwest'82 contest and won the Best Vocalist award. By winning the contest, Kubota earned a record deal for his band to release their own music. He also started to appear as a guest vocalist for various albums for artists like Matsuoka Naoya. By the mid 1980s, Kubota began to compose for various artists like Iwasaki Hiromi, Koizumi Kyoko, and Tahara Toshihiko.

In June 1986, he finally debuted as a singer with the single "Shitsui no Downtown". The single charted at number 53 on the Oricon Singles chart. In September 1986, Kubota released his first album, Shake It Paradise. The album reached number 22 on the Oricon charts. The album also spawned the singles "Ryuusei no Saddle" and "Missing". In December 1986, Kubota released a single, "Time", which charted at number 35 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart. In February 1987, Kubota released a single "Goddess", which charted at number 21 on the Oricon Singles chart. In April 1987, Kubota released his second album, Groovin', which spawned the singles "Randy Candy", "Psychic Beat", "Daiyamondo no Inutachi", "Kitakaze to Taiyō", and "Eien no Tsubasa". In October 1987, Kubota released a single "Cry on Your Smile", which reached number 8 on the Oricon Singles chart. In February 1988, Kubota released the single "You Were Mine", which reached number 3 on the Oricon Singles chart. The single also sold over 100,000 units in Japan, reaching gold certification status. In September 1988, Kubota released his third album, Such A Funky Thang!. The album reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums charts and sold over a million copies. The album spawned the single "Dance If You Want It", which charted at number 2 on the Oricon Singles chart. In May 1988, he released his video Super Duper Vol. 1. In July 1988, he released his concert video Keep on Dancing. In January 1989, the second single "Indigo Waltz", which featured American singer Lynn Davis, was released. The album's third single, "High Roller", charted at number 11 on the Oricon Singles chart. In October 1989, Kubota released his first best of album, The Baddest. The album charted at number 1 on the Oricon chart and sold a million copies. The album's lead single "Give You My Love", which also featured Lynn Davis, reached number 3 on the Oricon Singles chart.

In July 1990, he released his fourth studio album, Bonga Wanga. In October 1990, he released the single "Be Wanabee", which reached number 16 on the Oricon Singles chart. In December 1990, Kubota released a single, "Our Song". In March 1991, Kubota released a duet single, "Forever Yours", with Alyson Williams. The song was Kubota's first English language single. In December 1990, he released his second video Super Duper Vol. 2. In September 1991, Kubota released his fifth album, Kubojah: Parallel World I, which peaked at number 1 on the Oricon charts. The album spawned the singles "Keep on Jammin'" and "Honey B", which charted at number 15 on the Oricon Singles chart. The album's third single, "Amaoto", charted at number 33 on the Oricon Singles chart. In July 1991, he released his concert video, Bonga Wonga Tour 91. In March 1992, Kubota released his fifth video album, Super Duper Vol. 3. In July 1992, he released his sixth album, Neptune. The album charted at number 3 on the Oricon Albums chart. The album featured the singles "Mayonaka No Taiyou" and "Let's Get A Groove: Yo! Hips". After the release of the singles, Kubota went on the "Funkin' On Neptune Tour". In 1993, Kubota went to New York to work on his music. In May 1993, Kubota released the single "Yume with You", which charted at number 5 on the Oricon Singles chart. On the same day, he released another single, "Orquesta Futari", which charted at number 13 on the Oricon Singles chart. In September 1993, Kubota released his second best of album, The Baddest II. The album peaked at number 1 on the Oricon charts. In November 1994, Kubota released the lead single "Yoru ni Dakarete (A Night in Afro Blue)" from his upcoming seventh album. The song charted at number 5 on the Oricon Singles chart. In December 1994, he released the singles "Za Ku Za Ku Digame" and "Sunshine, Moonlight". The single "Za Ku Za Ku Digame charted at number 17 on the Oricon Singles chart. In January 1995, he released his seventh album, Bumpin' Voyage and his video album Super Duper Vol. 4. The album reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums chart. In July 1995, he released the single "Niji no Grand Slam", which charted at number 11 on the Oricon Singles chart.

In September 1995, Kubota released his eighth album, Sunshine, Moonlight, which was his first English album. The album reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums chart and sold over a half of million copies worldwide. The song, featuring Japanese R&B singer Misia, with whom Kubota had worked in the past, was written and composed by Kubota. It served as image song for the Japanese promotional campaign of the Cirque du Soleil production Dralion, Daihatsu Dralion in Japan. The single charted for six weeks and sold a total of 10,505 copies. In January 2010, Kubota released the singles "Tomorrow Waltz" and "Star Light". The single "Tomorrow Waltz" charted at number 33 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart. In February 2010, he released his fifteenth album, Timeless Fly. The album peaked at number nine on the Oricon Albums chart. Shortly after the release of the album, Kubota began the "Timeless Fly Tour" in Japan. Kubota also toured on the "Hall Tour 2010". In June 2010, he released the single "Love Rain (Koi no Ame)", which charted at number three on the Oricon Singles chart and sold over 21,000 copies in its first week. In November 2010, he released his fifth compilation album, Love & Rain: Love Songs. The album peaked at number eleven on the Oricon Albums chart.

In July 2011, Kubota release the single "Nagareboshi to Koi no Ame". The single charted on number 24 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart and sold over 2,727 copies in the first week of its release. In August 2011, he released his sixteenth album, Gold Skool. The album charted at number three, selling over 33,000 copies in its first week of release. In September 2011, Kubota released the second single "Koe ni Dekinai". The single charted number 20 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart and sold over 3,287 copies in its first week of release. In October 2011, Kubota began the "Gold Skool Tour". On 7 October 2011, the concert tour began at Misato City Culture Hall in Saitama, Japan. The toured lasted for twenty dates. The tour concluded on 25 December 2011, when he performed at Fukuoka City Hall for the second time during the tour. In January 2012, Kubota began his "Party Ain't A Party! Toshinobu Kubota 25th Anniversary! Tour", which celebrated his twenty five years in the music industry. The toured only lasted for six dates. The toured concluded at National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. In May 2012, Kubota released the concert DVD Party Ain't A Party!, which charted at number 5 on Oricon DVD charts.

In May 2013, Kubota released the dual single "Bring me up!/My Cherie Amour". On 15 May 2013, Kubota announced that his seventeenth album, Kubossa: Parallel World II, would be released in July 2013. Kubota's In the Universe Tour began in August 2013. In 2014, Kubota began recording his eighteenth album. In November 2014, Kubota began the "L. O. K Tour 2015" for his upcoming album. In January 2015, Kubota announced that his eighteenth studio album "L. O. K." would be released on 18 March 2015. The album's title is an acronym for "Lots of Kisses". In March 2016, Kubota released a DVD called ''L. O. K Supa Dupa'', the DVD showed his national tour which had shown over 40+ shows. In June 2016, Kubota announced his 30th anniversary, he said that he will be making special preparations for this year.