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w-inds. (ウィンズ, U-inzu) is a Japanese pop vocal group. They are popular in Japan, and have performed in shows such as the annual Kōhaku Uta Gassen, a Japanese programme that invites only the top-selling artistes of the year. Their first hit was Forever Memories.

History

Beginning in November 2000, w-inds gave street performances at Yoyogi Park and Shibuya every Sunday. They officially debuted in March 2001. 8,000 people came to Shibuya Heaven to watch them live. Their 1st album, “w-inds.~1st message~” was released the same year. It topped the Oricon Chart on the first day of its release.

Members

Name: Ryohei Chiba
Role: Rap, background singer, dancer
Birth date: 18 November 1984
Birth place: Hokkaido

Name: Keita Tachibana
Role: Vocalist and dancer
Birth date: 16 December 1985
Birth Place: Fukuoka
Height: 183cm

Name: Ryuichi Ogata
Role: Rap, background singer, dancer
Birth date: 17 December 1985
Birth place: Hokkaido

Information

w-inds. has a wide and strong fan base around Asia including Taiwan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. They are especially popular in Taiwan, and were the only Japanese group invited to perform on MTV Mandarin Awards in Taiwan in September 2006. They have held two concerts in Taiwan (2004 and 2005). Both received great response from fans. In 2004, their concert tickets sold out within 23 minutes, which set a record in Taiwan for the "artiste with the fastest selling tickets." Several popular Taiwanese celebrities have attended their concerts as well. In 2007, they returned to Taiwan to once again host a concert for the "w-inds. live tour 2007 Journey".

They first performed in China in 2002 in Shanghai. They also took part in a China-Japan music festival in 2006. In March 2007, they flew to Beijing to participate in another China-Japan music festival along with two other Japanese artistes. They have held video conferences in Hong Kong. On July 2, 2007 they joined the Pop Rock Gala in celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. On this visit they picked up 10awards, accumulated from the years since their debut.

They have held summer live tours around Japan every year since 2002.

They were also the only Japanese artists to perform in MKMF, a music awards show in Korea in 2006.

The main vocalist, Keita Tachibana, debuted with a solo single, Michishirube, on October 18, 2006. Contrary to the rumours, Keita has confirmed that w-inds. is not disbanding despite his solo career.

w-inds. are featured in various magazines in Japan and throughout Asia. They are also often invited to perform in Popjam, CDTV and Music Fighter. They are also frequent winners in polls conducted by {{Junon (magazine)}} for their good looks and talent.

To date, all their singles and studio albums have made it into the top 10 positions in the Oricon Charts, with the exception of their first single, Forever Memories.

Achievements

A passage in this article or section needs to be translated from Japanese into English. If you are confident enough in your fluency of English and Japanese, please feel free to add a translation. Please see this article's entry on Pages needing translation into English for discussion. If you have just labeled this article as needing translation, please add {{subst:Needtrans|pg=W-inds |language=Japanese |comments= }} ~~~~ to the bottom of this section of Pages needing translation into English. Please consider also placing {{subst:uw-notenglish|1=W-inds}} ~~~~ on the talk page of the author.

2001

• Best New Artists, 43rd Recording Industry Association of Japan Awards (日本レコード大賞優秀), for "Paradox"

2002

• First Prize, 44th Recording Industry Association of Japan Awards, for "Because of You"
• Best New Musical Artist, 39th Golden Arrows (ゴールデン・アロー賞)
• Best New Artists, 16th Japan Gold Discs

2003

• First Prize, 45th Recording Industry Association of Japan Awards, for "Long Road"

2004

• Best International Group, YAHOO! Hong Kong Buzz Music Awards
• Best Selling Album (Japan and/or Korea), IFPI Hong Kong, for PRIME OF LIFE

2005

• First Prize, 47th Recording Industry Association of Japan Awards, for "Sixteen-Night Moon" (十六夜の月, Jūrokuyoru no Tsuki)
• Best International Group, YAHOO! Hong Kong Buzz Music Awards
• Best Selling Album (Japan and/or Korea), IFPI Hong Kong, for ageha

2006

• First Prize in Music, 39th Japan Cable Distributors' Awards
• First Prize, 48th Recording Industry Association of Japan Awards, for "Boogie Woogie 66" (ブギウギ66)
• Best Dance Artists, MTV Student Voice Awards
• Most Popular Musical Artists, HITO (China and Taiwan) Awards, for "Kirei da" (キレイだ)
• Most Popular Group (Japan), MTV Mandarin Awards
• Special Award: 12 Million CDs Sold, MTV Mandarin Awards
• Best Pop Artists (Asia), MNET KM Music Festival (Korea)
• Best International Group, YAHOO! Hong Kong Buzz Music Awards
• Best Selling Album (Japan and/or Korea), IFPI Hong Kong, for THANKS

2007

• First Prize, 49th Recording Industry Association of Japan Awards, for "Love Is The Greatest Thing"
• Best Group, MTV Student Voice Awards
• Best Group (Japan), 18th RTHK International Pop Poll Awards
• Best International Group, YAHOO! Hong Kong Buzz Music Awards

Additionally, w-inds. has performed on the Kōhaku Uta Gassen (紅白歌合戦), NHK Studios, Tōkyō, in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006; and at the All Japan Night 40th Anniversary Concert, Budokan, Tōkyō, in 2007.

Discography

Singles

Albums

DVDs

1. "Private of w-inds." （6 February 2002） -  ??? copies sold
2. "Works vol.1" （20 March 2002） -  ??? copies sold
3. w-inds.1st Live Tour"1st message" （17 October 2002） -  ??? copies sold
4. "Works vol.2" （23 April 2003） - 21,247 copies sold
5. w-inds."THE SYSTEM OF ALIVE"Tourl 2003 （6 November 2003） - 22,611 copies sold
6. "Works vol.3" （21 April 2004） - 31,076 copies sold
7. w-inds."PRIME OF LIFE"Tour 2004 （15 December 2004） - 29,202 copies sold
8. "w-inds.tv" （16 February 2005） -  ??? copies sold
9. "Works vol.4" （20 July 2005） - 24,999 copies sold
10. w-inds.LIVE TOUR 2005“ageha” （14 December 2005） - 30,486 copies sold
11. "Works vol.5" （20 September 2006） - 22,363 copies sold
12. w-inds. LIVE TOUR 2006 "THANKS" （20 December 2006 - Debut: 22,375 Total: 28,020
13. "Works vol. 6" （9 September 2007）
14. w-inds. LIVE TOUR 2007 "Journey" （19 December 2007）

Movies

• Star Light（15 May 2002 VHS/DVD）
• ナースのお仕事 ザ・ムービー （18 December 2002 VHS/DVD）

Photobooks

1. w-inds. ~first pictorial~（30 September 2001）
2. w-inds. "move!"（18 January 2002）
3. w-inds. THE STAGE!（20 September 2002）
4. w-inds. Keita – 1st personal photobook（1 November 2002）
5. w-inds. Ryohei – 1st personal photobook（22 November 2002）
6. w-inds. Ryuichi – 1st personal photobook（6 December 2002）
7. w-inds. Meets JUNON（13 September 2003）
8. w-inds. Tour（8 October 2004）
9. w-inds. Live Tour “ageha” The Document（28 October 2005）
10. w-inds. vacanza（4 August 2006）

Trivia

• WaT and King Kong are known to be very good friends of w-inds.
  
• Ryohei thinks that brown hair suits Keita the most.
  
• Fans voted the Trial's hairstyle as their favourite.
  
• w-inds' song "Kazauta" was based on the American boy band O-Town's "All or Nothing". The tune is the same, but the lyrics are changed and the ending is longer.

References

• Oricon yearly single charts Top 100
• Livedoor
• http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yamag/
• w-inds. Livejournal Community

See also

• List of bands from Japan

External links

• Official w-inds. Website
• Keita Tachibana's Solo Website
• Ryohei Chiba's official blog
• Keita Tachibana's official blog
• Ryuichi Ogata's official blog

• Articles with a promotional tone from December 2007
• Articles needing cleanup from September 2007
• Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from September 2007
• Misplaced Pages pages needing cleanup from September 2007
• Boy bands
• Japanese pop music groups