Crazy Ken Band

Crazy Ken Band (クレイジーケンバンド), also referred to as CKB, is a Japanese musical group formed in 1997 by its lead vocalist, writer and composer Ken Yokoyama. The band first came together in 1991 under the name "CK's", with a four-member lineup: Ken Yokoyama, Keiichi Hiroishi, Masao Onose and Shinya Horaguchi.^[1] This incarnation of the group was centred on a 15-man instrumental and vocal group. In 1997, Keiichi Nakanishi became the fifth member and the group's name was changed to "Crazy Ken Band".^[2]

The band made its debut in June 1998 with the album Punch! Punch! Punch!. In 2000, support member Toraji Shingū became a full member of the band.^[2] The group's first single, "Nikutai Kankei", was released in June 2001. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked the band at #98 in their "Top 100 Japanese pops Artists".^[2] In 2005, their song "Tiger & Dragon" was used as the theme song of the critically acclaimed TBS drama of the same name.

The group's first compilation album, CKBB - Oldies But Goodies was released on March 3, 2004, reaching a chart position of #9 and remaining on the charts for forty-nine weeks.^[2] A set of compilation albums, Best Tsuru and Best Kame, their third and fourth compilation albums respectively, were released on February 24, 2010. Both were successful; Tsuru charted at #10 on the Oricon weekly chart, selling 13,323 copies in its first week, while Kame charted at #11, selling 12,158 copies in its first week.^[3]

"December 17" (12月17日) and "Kuroi Kizuato no Blues" (黒い傷跡のブルース), two songs from Galaxy, were featured in the 2006 video game Yakuza 2 . "December 17" was later featured on Best Tsuru.

• Ken Yokoyama (横山 剣, Yokoyama Ken) - lead vocalist, chorus, writer, composer, arrangement and keyboardist
• Masao Onose (小野瀬 雅生, Onose Masao) - electric guitar and chorus
• Toraji Shingū (新宮 虎児, Shingū Toraji) - electric guitar and keyboard
• Keiichi Nakanishi (中西 圭一, Nakanishi Keiichi) - saxophone, flute
• Shinya Horaguchi (洞口 信也, Horaguchi Shinya) - bass
• Keiichi Hiroishi (廣石 恵一, Hiroishi Keiichi) - drums, percussion, bandmaster
• Toshimitsu Takahashi (高橋 利光, Takahashi Toshimitsu) - keyboard, arrangement
• Aiko Sugawara (菅原 愛子, Sugawara Aiko) - vocals, chorus
• Smokey Tetsuni (スモーキー・テツニ) - vocals, chorus
• Wakaba Kawai (河合 わかば, Kawai Wakaba) - trombone, flute
• Hironori Sawano (澤野 博敬, Sawano Hironori) - trumpet, flugelhorn
• Gen Date (伊達 弦, Date Gen) - percussion

• Official website (in Japanese)

• Japanese rock music groups
• Universal Music Japan artists

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• Articles with hCards
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja)