Ken Hirai
 

I'll be truly embarassed if nobody else knows who Ken Hirai is :P :o

Thursday, I picked up a copy of his "Sentimental Lovers," album at Kinokuniya and the album.. wow. It blew me away. I had goosebumps all over my arms listening to "Hitomi wo tojite," .. I know that song is for a popular movie in Japan (can't remember the name of it.. but the movie is translated to: Screaming I love you at the top of the World) .. Ah.. =___=

This man's music is amazing.
Do you recommend any other albums of his to me? I was thinking of getting this 5th album.. and Ken's Bar.. I hear it's classics turned into his style.. Any English in that album? :P

I'm glad i'm not alone. I have been listening to Ken's music since a year ago but it occurred to me that not alot of Ayu fans are into his music. But, anyhow, i agree that his music is awesome! One song that i recommend you, or anybody else, to listen to is "Life is...". I actually bought that single off YESASIA cus i love that song so much. Haha. Then i bought the album too.

Concerning "Ken's Bar", i heard from a friend that album only consisted of instruments and cover songs. I haven't get a chance to listen to it though.

OO, yay.. *hugs you!*
I'm going to purchase Life is.. single and album :thumbsup
He has amazing vocal range o_O;; How long has he been famous in Japan for? My friends call him "The white Japanese guy," because he doesn't look very Japanese :laugh Man, guys from Osaka look American :laugh

He looks more like half japanese half black to me. ;)

He's been famous in japan for a long time, well, i assume he's been SUPER famous since the single "grandfather's clock"(cover song) was released. I heard it was on the top for a few weeks, selling over a million ++ copies. I heard that song and i thought it was a very beautiful ballad. :yes (It's on the "LIFE IS.." album as well..

Ken Hirai definately has amazing range, most of the songs I remember are singles though, since I haven't given Sentimental Lovers enough of a listen yet.

Check out 'Gaining through losing', despite the fact that F4 covered it and butchered it.

Yeah, "Gaining through losing" was awesome. I recommend it too. It's good that even F4 acknowleged his music.

Although I think he has an amazing voice, I for 1, do not care much for the style of music, but there are a couple songs I like... and 2, I just can't look at him while he sings.

..Why Belinda? What does he do?

his facial expression toooooo "scary".... cuz the songs r too high pitch

can anyone upload any of these songs they speak of? coz the only ken hirai songs i heard were strawberry sex (weeeeiiiiird song...) and hitomi wo tojite (in bad quality). how about that sentimental lovers album, ey brittany?

"Ken's Bar" is absolutely a great album.
Yeah, it consists mostly of covers. It also includes an instrumental of even if and a digital "duet" between him and the late Kyu Sakamoto of the song "Miagete goran yoru no hoshi o."

i know him, this is one of my favourite male singer, he s has a special voice. i listen him the night, cos its more romantical !

i know some people who love ken hirai but i have yet to listen to his music

My mom likes his voice really much. And yeah 'gaining through losing' has been covered by F4 poorly and unprofessionally into 'liu xing yu' (meteor rain) -_-"" I really hope they stop spoiling other people's songs

I have listened to a few songs from him. He has a great voice but i'm still not used to when he sings in a very high pitch XP

heh , i'm so embarrased for liking his music too. I only got "sentimental lovers" , which i just happened to dl one day out of boredom :P

Isn't "hitomi wo tojite" the best selling single of this year ? the only single of 2004 with sales (nearly?) over a million ?

anyway , i like "jealousy" and "signal" a lot. the ballads aren't bad either .... :innocent

only song not from this new album by Ken i have is "somebody's girl" by Ken featuring AI. it's really good too , a fast r'n'b track :D

edit. here's that song by Ken & AI , for anyone who sees this. enjoy
[YSI] Ken Hirai feat AI - Somebody's Girl (192 kbps mp3)

is it just me or does he sing like a girl?

oh how..liu xing yu was a cover...o.o??!!....can someone uplaod the original??i wanna hear it..:-p

I also recommend everyone to listen to the song "Hitomi noTojita " The single where the second track was titled DESPERADO. I think that was the best selling single for the year.

Anyway, does anyone know where i can get the "SENTIMENTAL lover" album? i wanna listen to it.

^^ i think his voice is soothing haha or many thats just me who thinks that XD

The original is 'gaining through losing' by ken hirai (if i'm not wrong, i tink he composed the music as well *true talent*) Unfortunately, I do not have the mp3 file maybe you can try requesting ^^

I love Ken voice he's a great singer

I have "Life is...", "Gaining through losing", Sentimental lovers" and "Ken's bar" it is like an unplugged album with a many song in english like "The rose" or "What a wonderful world"

I've never heard any song of him... but i know he has done an MTV Unplugged... and, i think he's really handsome... =P :luv2

i bought his album and i luv it VVEERRYY MUCH!
especially "Sentimentalovers"...

His voice irritates me...the only song of his I like is Hitomi wo tojite..it's beautiful but..meh..most of the time his voice sounds weird. imo.

I didn't like 'Hitmomi wo tojite' very much, yes I agree his voice sounded 'strange' in it and the melody got repetitive after a while. I think his best song is probably 'Life is...', the original version on the album not the single recut. Beautiful melody and a perfect voice.

i'm getting on the band wagon! i finally got to like hitomi wo tojite. i think coz it sounds much better on my cd player that on the computer. but ken's voice is a little weiiiiird...

hey, i wanna know about him too!! Please say more positive things, i heard that hed been in the singing arena for 10 years already.

you must know that is 3 last album past 1 million copie

Does anyone know when his new single will be out? He hasn't released a single since a long time.......Naturally any japanese singer would release a single by now. Well, at least the big stars.

i love his ballad and a few of his upbeat song
hitomi wo tojite is my favourite one
i recommend you to hear miracle, kiss of life

He's awesome ^_^ I love Strawberry Sex, it's so catchy >_< *hums along*

Strawberry Sex! It's a wonderful word! :innocent

i'm waitin my 1st ken stuffs : SENTIMENTALovers and Gaining Through Losing
it'll come soon.i think he's great..n yeah...really handsome...his voice is ok too
after listened to 30s ver. of "Hitomi Wo Tojite". i bought this 2 album :)