Exile

Full Name: Various
Birth Date: Various
Birth Place: Tokyo, Japan

Exile is a 14-member Japanese pop music band. On artwork and promotional material, the band name is typeset in all capitals as "EXILE". The current leader Hiro was originally in the band Zoo before they split up in the mid-1990s. In 1999, he started a new group called J Soul Brothers, which later changed its name to Exile in 2001. (But the name of J Soul Brothers was later revived by Hiro again in 2007 when he helped to form another 7-member group under the new J Soul Brothers monicker.) Exile has released their singles and albums under Avex Group's label Rhythm Zone. Hiro and Avex's president Max Matsuura came from the same high school. In November 2003, Exile remade Zoo's hit single "Choo Choo Train", which became a strong promotional single for their third studio album Exile Entertainment. The album sold over a million copies. Their 2007 studio album, Exile Love, became the highest selling album of Japan in 2008, selling nearly 1.5 million copies. Their compilation album Exile Ballad Best sold nearly 1 million copies in its first week, making it the highest first week sales for an album of Japan in 2008. Their song "Ti Amo" won the grand prix award at the 50th Japan Record Awards in 2008. The song "Ti Amo" was also certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for 1,000,000 full-track ringtone digital music downloads (Chaku Uta Full). In 2009, Exile's song "The Next Door -Indestructible-" (The Japanese version is called "The Next Door") was featured as the theme of Street Fighter IV. On March 1, 2009, Exile and J Soul Brothers announced to merge as a 14-member group. In total, they have sold over 17 million records just in Japan.

Performers

Hiro, real name Hiroyuki Igarashi June 1, 1969 – leader of the group

Makidai, real name Daisuke Maki, October 27, 1975

Matsu, real name Toshio Matsumoto, born May 27, 1975.

Usa, real name Yoshihiro Usami, born February 2, 1977.

Akira, real name Ryōhei Kurosawa, born August 23, 1981 – was a member of Rather Unique and joined the group 2006 summer.

Kenchi, real name Ken'ichirō Teratsuji, born September 28, 1979.

Keiji, real name Keiji Kuroki, born January 21, 1980.

Tetsuya, real name Tetsuya Tsuchida, born February 18, 1981.

Naoto, real name Naoto Kataoka, born August 30, 1983.

Naoki, real name Naoki Kobayashi, born November 10, 1984.

Vocalists

Atsushi, real name Atsushi Satō, born April 30, 1980.

Takahiro, real name Takahiro Tasaki, born December 8, 1984 – the new vocalist chosen to replace Shun during the "Exile Vocal Battle Audition 2006: Asian Dream" summer audition.

Vocalists & Performers

Nesmith, real name Nesmith Ryuta Karimu, born August 1, 1983.

Shokichi, real name Shokichi Yagi, born October 3, 1985.

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