Biography
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Years Active
1979 – present (45 years)
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Members
- ASKA (1979 – 2019)
- CHAGE (1979 – present)
Chage and Aska (チャゲ & 飛鳥, Chage and Asuka) or Chage and Asuka, are a Japanese popular music duo composed of two singer-songwriters from Fukuoka Prefecture, Chage (b.1958) and Ryo Aska (飛鳥 涼, Asuka ryo) (b. 1958). They were one of the most successful groups of the Asian music industry, and to date they have sold over 31 million albums and singles in Japan. Currently, they are tenth best-selling music artists in Japan.
They were formed in the late 1970's at the suggestion of A&R of the Yamaha Music Foundation. After the hit single "Banri no Kawa" in 1980, they produced several smash hits irregularly throughout the 1980's. However, thanks to Aska's hit solo single "Hajimari wa Itsumo Ame" in 1991, and several powerful tieups with TV programs, their popularity peaked during the first half of the 1990's. In those days, they released 5 million-selling hits "Yah Yah Yah", "If", "Heart", "Meguriai", and their most well-known "Say Yes" in 1991 is the sixth best-selling single in Japan.
They attempted to spread their market worldwide, especially to the United States. They were the first Japanese musicians who appeared on MTV Unplugged. After failing to achieve mainstream success in the West, and the decline of their enormous commercial success in the mid '90s, they turned to their own solo works. However, they have continued to release material as a duo somewhat irregularly since then. In 1996, perhaps as a last ditch effort to crack the West, Yamaha released a compilation of cover versions by Western artists (Maxi Priest featuring Shaggy, Lisa Stansfield, Chaka Khan, Michael Hutchence, Alejandro Sanz, Cathy Dennis, Apache Indian, Boy George, Richard Marx, Londonbeat, Marianne Faithfull, and Wendy Matthews).
In 2019, Aska officially left the duo.
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