Gackt Camui [神威 楽斗]

Gackt Camui (神威 楽斗, Kamui Gakuto, born July 4, 1973) is a Japanses Musician, actor and author. Usually referred to by his mononymous stage name, he is known for his career as a solo artist and as the former vocalist for the defunct band Malice Mizer.

He has released fourteen albums and thirty-eight singles as a solo musician, which have sold over 10 million copies in Japan. His single ''Returner ~ Yami no Shuen~'', released on June 20, 2007, was his first and only single to reach the number one spot on the Oricon charts. He became the first Japanese artist to release his music catalog on iTunes in October 2007. His music has been used as theme songs for various anime, television dramas, and video games, such as New Fist of the North Star, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, and Kamen Rider Decade, amongst others.

As an actor and writer, he co-starred and co-wrote the 2003 film Moon Child and acted in the NHK drama Furin Kazan as Uesugi Kenshin. He made his international film debut in the film Buraku in 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Gackt was born in Okinawa, Japan, on July 4, 1973. His father was a music teacher primarily playing the trumpet and his mother was also a teacher. According to Gackt's autobiography, he was a mischievous child and enjoyed taking risks; at age seven he nearly drowned while swimming off the coast of Okinawa. After this near-death experience, he claims to have the ability to see and speak with deceased family members, and people. At the age of ten, he was hospitalized with a gastrointestial condition and had to remain at the hospital for a prolonged time. He made the acquaintance of several terminally ill children, some of whom died during his stay.

Influence

Gackt's musical education began at age three, when his parents initiated his classical piano education. He has credited the classical pianist and composer Frederic Chopin with being "the one who taught me the beauty, depth, fun, sadness, kindness of music; that music could grant people courage, and the meaning of the layers of sound. It isn't an exaggeration to say Chopin is the foundation of my music." Having only listened to classical Music and enka while growing up, he did not become interested in rock music until he was a young adult. He cites Led Zeppelin's ''Stairway to Heaven'' as being particularly inspiring. Gackt mentioned in a magazine that the heavy metal band Metallica influenced his style in the single ''Jesus'' with their song ''One''.