Biography
Yukihiro Takahashi first came to prominence as the drummer of the Sadistic Mika Band, and became known to western audiences after this band (led by Kazuhiko Kato, formerly of The Folk Crusaders) toured and recorded in the United Kingdom. After the Sadistic Mika Band disbanded, some of the members (including Takahashi) formed another band called The Sadistics, who released several albums. Finally Takahashi recorded his first solo album Saravah in 1977. In 1978, Takahashi joined Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono to form the Yellow Magic Orchestra.
After the Yellow Magic Orchestra disbanded in the mid 80s, Takahashi went solo and released a large number of solo albums, primarily intended for the Japanese market. Takahashi has collaborated extensively with other musicians, including Bill Nelson, Iva Davies of Icehouse, Keiichi Suzuki of the Moonriders (often as a duo dubbed "The Beatniks", although Suzuki essentially functioned as a member of Takahashi's backing band during the Moonriders' brief hiatus) and in particular Steve Jansen. Takahashi has released a single Stay Close and an EP Pulse as a duo with Jansen.
Takahashi helped compose the soundtrack to the anime series Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water in 1989, including the song "Families". Takahashi participated in temporary reunions of both the Sadistic Mika Band (missing the lead vocalist Mika who was replaced by Kaela Kimura), and The Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). Both of these reunions included tours of Japan, and an album of new material.
In the early 2000s, Takahashi became a member of the duo Sketch Show, with Haruomi Hosono. Sketch Show has released two albums, one of which, Loophole, has been released in the UK. Both Takahashi and Hosono have recently reunited with Sakamoto as HASYMO - a combination of Human Audio Sponge and Yellow Magic Orchestra. This collaboration produced a new single "Rescue" in 2007 and a new album looks to be in the pipeline in the near future. Takahashi's latest solo album Page By Page was released in March 2009 in Japan.
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