Hiroshi Kitadani is a Japanese singer, who primarily performs theme songs and other songs in anime. He also works behind the scenes of many songs. He currently works with JAM Project. He is most famous for singing the first, fifteenth, nineteenth and twenty-second opening themes of the popular anime seriesOne Piece.
Career
Hiroshi Kitadani began his singing career in 1994 as a member of the musical trio called Stagger. After the band released an album through Warner Music Japan, he released a self-titled albumin 1999. Shortly after, he became globally recognized for singing One Piece's popular opening theme song, "We Are!" Soon, he paired up with fellow musicians in the musical act Lapis Lazuli in December of the same year. The group released a mini-album before Kitadani left. In 2003, his big break came when he joined JAM Project. He debuted during the group's second live concert, but did not participate in the group's studio recording until the single "Nageki no Rozario" was released. From then on, Kitadani became a prominent figure in the anison industry, but he was not singing many theme songs regularly like his peers in the group. By the time of JAM Project's first world tour, his popularity rose dramatically, and he became known to fans across the globe. In 2008, Hiroshi released his first full-length studio album, R-New, and JAM Project bandmate Masami Okui supplied back-up vocals and harmonization on many of the tracks on the album. In the accompanying documentary, he worked on the tracks with his friends in a small recording studio. While in the process of writing songs, he demonstrated his cooking skills, preparing meals for himself in his own apartment. On August 8, 2012, Hiroshi released his second full-length album, Real. Throughout his journey as an anison artist, Kitadani has been to many events with JAM Project members. He had performed in Latin America with his friends Masaaki Endoh and Hironobu Kageyama at concert events such as Anime Friends. He has also participated in Animelo, an annual summer anison music festival where JAM Project is a recurring guest. He also collaborated with Aki Misato to produce anime theme songs, forming a group called SV Tribe along with Masaaki Endoh.
