Takahiro Moriuchi , known professionally as Taka, is a Japanese musician who is the lead vocalist of the Japanese rock band One Ok Rock. Moriuchi is the main lyricist and composer of his band. In 2017, Kerrang! magazine placed him at number 27 on their list of the "50 Greatest Rockstars in the World". He was also listed by Rock Sound magazine as one of "50 Most Influential Figures in Rock". Prior to this, he was in the boyband NEWS throughout 2003 until he left the group and the agency. He performs in English and Japanese.
Personal life
Moriuchi was born on April 17, 1988, the eldest son of famous Japanese singers Masako Mori and Shinichi Mori. He has two younger brothers named Tomohiro Moriuchi who works on TV Tokyo, and Hiroki Moriuchi who is the lead singer of the band MY FIRST STORY. He attended Keio Elementary School and graduated in March 2001. Then he began attending Keio Middle School in April 2001 and continued his studies at Keio High School in April 2004. In his first year of high school, he dropped out to pursue his musical career. A month later, his parents divorced. In 2005, he changed his last name from Moriuchi to Morita due to the divorce of his parents. However, in the June 2012 issue of the magazine, Rockin'On Japan, he stated in an interview that his real name is Takahiro Moriuchi. In 2013, he is shown again in a photo using his last name, Moriuchi, where all ONE OK ROCK band members held a written sign of their real names. The photo was taken by photographer, Rui Hashimoto.
Career
2002–2004: Career beginnings and other musical pursuits
Moriuchi signed with Johnny's Entertainment in 2002 and joined the boy band, NEWS, in 2003. Owing to a sex scandal in which pictures were taken of him in bed with a young lady, he left in 2004 to ostensibly "focus on his studies". He was briefly in a band called Chivalry of Music in 2004.
2005–present: ONE OK ROCK
Moriuchi was invited by guitarist Toru Yamashita to join One Ok Rock in 2005. The band released their first independent CD in 2006 and were signed by Amuse, Inc., whom they made their major debut with. The band did moderately well with music sales until they hit with major success in August 2012 upon the release of "The Beginning", which was the theme song for the live action movie adaption of the manga and anime, Rurouni Kenshin. The band's concerts have been sold out many times with high attendance and constantly adding new tour dates in Japan. ONE OK ROCK has also held concert tours overseas in Asia, U.S., Europe and South America. In March 2013, Simple Plan announced a new version of their song "Summer Paradise" with Moriuchi for a Japanese-only release They later performed together at the music festival, Punkspring 2013 in Tokyo, Japan. In November 2013, Moriuchi helped Pay Money to My Pain to sing one of their songs on their tribute album "Gene" after their vocalist, K, died due to heart failure. In summer 2014, ONE OK ROCK's newest songs, "Mighty Long Fall" and "Heartache" were featured as theme songs for the live action movie sequels, ' and ', respectively. In February 2015, Moriuchi was featured as a guest vocalist on the track "Dreaming Alone" by Against the Current. As of July 2015, ONE OK ROCK is signed with the U.S. label, Warner Bros. Records and released an English version of their album, 35xxxv in February 2015. On September 11, 2016, ONE OK ROCK signed with Fueled by Ramen. Their eighth album, Ambitions, was released on January 11, 2017, for the Japanese version album under the Japanese label A-Sketch and on January 13, 2017 for the English version album under the American label Fueled by Ramen. In July 2017, Moriuchi was featured on the track "Don't Let Me Go" from Goldfinger's album The Knife as a guest vocalist. On 27 October 2017, he appeared at Linkin Park and Friends – Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington, performing "Somewhere I Belong" with the remaining members of Linkin Park. On May 12, 2018, he guested on Linkin Park co-vocalist Mike Shinoda's show at Identity Festival in Los Angeles, performing "Waiting for the End / Where'd You Go" mash-up.
