Name Nickname Shunsaku Okuda Jun-chan Tomoko Kawase Tommy  Ryo Matsui Ryo-kun Picture Part Bass Vocal Guitar Birthplace Kyoto, Japan Kyoto, Japan Kyoto, Japan Birth Date July 11, 1971 February 6, 1975 February 11, 1972 Blood Type B B O Most influential 5 albums. Beatles - Revolver Vanesa Paradis's live cd Sex Pistols 1st album Beatles - Rubber Soul France Gall's 4 cd set Stone Roses 1st album Zombies - Odyssey and Oracle Veruca Salt's 1st album Beatles - Revolver Rides 1st album Sophie Zelmani's 1st album Beatles - Rubber Soul Todd Rundgren - samushinguini shingu Cardigans' 1st album Jesus and Mary Chain - Honey's Dead Favourite COLOR Blue Red Grey + light brown Favourite ARTIST Ride Kohana Miho sensei (children's toy maker) Tokoro-san Favourite WORD Nori-kun dress, mochi, koine, brownie sonaeyotsuneni Favourite BOOK Sound Recording Kodocha (children's ribbon toy) Chord Book My Boom Stomach bands Elmo Water relations What do you want now? Cable A plot of land Guitar   The Brilliant Green was formed in February 1995 when Ryo and Shunsaku, classmates in high school, heard Tomoko (Tommy) singing in a live house. They asked her to join their group, rounding out the trio. On the strength of a demo tape recorded in Shunsaku's home studio, The Brilliant Green was signed by Sony Music Entertainment in the spring of 1997. Their self-produced debut single "Bye Bye Mr. Mug" was released on September 21, 1997. The CD which featured lyrics entirely in English received much airplay on Japanese radio, but failed to generate the sales hoped for. Tommy, who had been modeling for Italian fashion magazine "Fiorucci" was signed in October of '97 to host the MTV show "Break Down". The group released their second single "Goodbye and Good Luck" on December 1, 1997. Their first serious success though, came with the release of the next single "There Will Be Love There" which was used as the theme song for the Japanese drama "Love Again". This was the first of two successive number one hits for the band. "Tsumetai Hana" (Cold Flowers) also hit number one before the release of their first full length album. The Brilliant Green's self-titled debut album was released on September 19, 1998 and sold an astounding 1 million copies in only two days. In support of the album, the band did a small number of shows in in the month of November. Dubbed "There Will Be Live There", the mini-tour began on November 3rd at Sapporo's Penny Lane 24 and ended on the 21st at Shibuya's Club Quattro. The group's first home video, "The Brilliant Green Clips", was released on March, 1, 1999. The tape included music videos for the previously released five singles, including "Sono Speed De" (At That Speed) which had been released in January and used as the theme song to the Japanese drama "Overtime". Also on the video was a live performance of the song "Rock 'n Roll", taken from the last show of the previous November's tour at Shibuya's Club Quattro. "There Will Be Live There Vol.2", The Brilliant Green's Spring Tour, began in April and included sixteen shows in a little less than a month. The Brilliant Green's sophomore effort was released September 8, 1999. The album, Terra 2001, spawned another five singles: "Nagai tameiki no you ni" (Like a Long Sigh) which was also featured in the drama "Overtime", "Ai no (kokoro), ai no hoshi" (Love's heart, Love's Star), "Call My Name" (Japanese Version), "Bye! My Boy!", and the aforementioned "Sono Speed De" (At That Speed). The release of their second album was followed by a third tour, aptly titled "There Will Be Live There Vol. 3 Terra 2001". This was the group's most ambitious tour yet as they played eighteen shows beginning November 19, 1999 at Ayase's Culture Hall and finishing up at Matsuyama's Municipal Hall (Main Hall) on January 21, 2000. April 1, 2000 Sony Music Entertainment released The Brilliant Green's first live concert video. "Super Terra 2000" is available on VHS and DVD (Region 2) directly from Sony Japan's website, as are most of the items listed on this site, though I'm not sure they take foreign orders as their site is mostly in Japanese. But they can also be purchased from various other websites dealing in J-Pop (a few links to these sites are included in the "links" section for those who may be interested in checking it out). The Brilliant Green's eleventh single, "Angel Song", was released November 15, 2000. This was the second single brought out before the release of their third album. "Hello Another Way", which previously had been released May 31, 2000, was also included on the new album. In addition, "Angel Song" also was the theme song for the Japanese drama "Manatsu no Merry Christmas" (Midsummer Merry Christmas), which began airing in October of 2000. The trio's third album, "Los Angeles", was released January 1, 2001. The album was co-produced by the band itself, something of a rarity in Japanese music where it is common for a record company to assign a producer with no input whatsoever from the band. Simultaneously with the release of the new album, a new VHS/DVD of clips also came out. Included on this new tape were music videos for "Angel Song", "Hello Another Way" and a few songs from Terra 2001. History up to 2001 taken from www.thebrilliantgreen.com by John Milford Links: http://www.ken-on.co.jp/tbg/index.html http://www.geocities.com/gdcrowe Cori & Les' J-pop Homepage - The Brilliant Green Lyrics