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Yusuke Chiba, Singer-Songwriter of Rock Band The Birthday, Passes Away at 55
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
Chiba announced in April that he was going on hiatus to get treatment for esophageal cancer.
Chiba's family held a private funeral with the band's members. The band is planning to hold a public memorial, and will announce further details soon.
Chiba was born on July 10, 1968 in Kanagawa Prefecture. He was the former vocalist for Thee Michelle Gun Elephant from 1991 to 2003, and made his major label debut with that band in 1996. Chiba also formed the side project band Rosso, which was active from 2001 to 2006. He then formed The Birthday band with members of his previous two bands in 2006.
Chiba wrote the lyrics and composed the music on "Dareka Ga," Puffy AmiYumi's theme song for the Naruto Shippūden: The Will of Fire anime film. He also wrote the lyrics for "OOKAMI no NODO," The Birthday's opening theme song for the Zombie-Loan television anime.
Most recently, The Birthday performed the opening theme song of The First Slam Dunk film titled "LOVE ROCKETS."
Source: The Birthday band's Twitter account via Hachima Kiko
