Tulip

Japanese pop-rock band from Fukuoka, lead by Kazuo Zaitsu. Born from ashes of student folk group "The Four Singers", they debuted in 1972 with album "The Yellow Magical Shoes". After releasing the no. 1 single "Kokoro no Tabi" (The Heart's Journey) in 1973, Tulip became a successful act nationwide, being known as the "Japanese Beatles". Although the band disbanded in 1989 after many personnel and musical direction changes, all but one of Tulip's original members (with bassist Shinichiro Miyagi in Akira Yoshida's place, being retired) reunited in 1996, inspired by the Beatles' Anthology project. They are still occasionally active, going on tours and releasing music, most recent album being 2007's "run". Original line-up (1972 - 1979): Kazuo Zaitsu - guitar, keyboards, vocals Akira Yoshida - bass, vocals (retired 1980, died 2024) Toshiyuki Abe - guitar, vocals Tatsuya Himeno - guitar, keyboards, vocals Masatoshi Ueda - drums, vocals (left the band to form Tony (174) in 1980) Second line-up (1980 - 1985): Kazuo Zaitsu - guitar, keyboards, vocals Toshiyuki Abe* - guitar Tatsuya Himeno* - guitar, keyboards, vocals Shinichiro Miyagi - bass, vocals Kaoru Ito* - drums, vocals *Left the band in 1985 to form Always (2) Final line-up (1985 - 1989): Kazuo Zaitsu - guitar, keyboards, vocals Shinichiro Miyagi - bass, vocals Jun Matsumoto - drums, vocals (left after 1987 album "Primary Color") Yoshiaki Tanno - keyboards, vocals Hiroyuki "Hiro" Takahashi - keyboards, percussion, vocals (joined in 1987, died 2005) Reunion line-up: Kazuo Zaitsu - guitar, keyboards, vocals Toshiyuki Abe - guitar (died 2014) Tatsuya Himeno - guitar, keyboards, vocals Masatoshi Ueda - drums, vocals Shinichiro Miyagi - bass, vocals