is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, voice actor, radio personality, and businessman. He performs under the stage name T.M.Revolution (T.M.R.), which stands for , stemming from the famous 1980s pop electronic band TM Network. Despite most of his songs being written by Akio Inoue and composed/arranged by Daisuke Asakura (also TMR's former producer), T.M.Revolution is considered Nishikawa's solo project. Nishikawa is also known for contributions of ending and opening themes to many notable anime and game series.
After three years as vocalist of the visual kei rock band Luis-Mary, Nishikawa debuted as TMR with the release of his first solo single in May 1996. Later that year, his third single was used as the third ending song for the anime series Rurouni Kenshin, further expanding his fan base. He also contributed six songs to the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED franchise – three for Gundam SEED and three for Gundam SEED Destiny. Nishikawa has guest starred as a minor character in each of those anime series that featured his songs. In 2010, his single "Save the One, Save the All" was used as the ending theme song for the movie Bleach: Hell Verse. Several of Nishikawa's songs, such as "Crosswise" and "Flags", have been used by Capcom's Sengoku Basara video game series and media franchise.
In 2005, Nishikawa formed the rock band Abingdon Boys School. T.M.Revolution was the first artist to be signed to Tofu Records, a record label (affiliated with Sony Music Japan) promoting Japanese artists in North America. Tofu released three of his studio albums: coordinate (2003), Seventh Heaven (2004), and vertical infinity (2005). Nishikawa made his North American live debut at Otakon, a large anime convention in 2003. He has also performed at Pacific Media Expo in 2004 and at the New York Comic Con in 2008. Nishikawa revisited his 2003 US performance at the Asian culture convention Otakon by performing at Otakon's 20th Anniversary on August 10, 2013.
Early life Nishikawa was born to a government worker (father, Yasuhiro) and a dental hygienist (mother, Kazuko) in Hikone, Shiga, and moved to Yasu, Shiga."Names of Takanori's Parents," Winds-Turbo Blog: Trivia, April 14, 2006, accessed July 29, 2006 <https://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/windsturbotrivia/diary/200604140003/ >."The Shiga Home Ambassador," Shiga Prefecture, February 18, 2011, accessed April 13, 2011 <> He attended Marimaru, "Takanori Bus Tour: Mikami Elementary School," Winds-Turbo Blog, June 15, 2006, accessed July 27, 2006 <http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/windsturbo/diary/200606150000/ >. as a child. Nishikawa was close to his grandfather (a retired policeman), whom he visited every day after school, since his parents were always working. Under the encouragement of his grandfather, Takanori studied kendo until age ten, when his grandfather died due to illness.Taka, "Live Report in Omiya on 5 May," Winds-Turbo Blog, May 7, 2006, accessed July 27, 2006 <http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/windsturbo/diary/200605070000/ >.
Nishikawa also attended Marimaru, "Takanori Bus Tour: Yasu Junior High School," Winds-Turbo Blog, June 21, 2006, accessed July 27, 2006 <http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/windsturbo/diary/200606210000/ >. and .Marimaru, "Takanori Bus Tour: Yasu High School," Winds-Turbo Blog, June 12, 2006, accessed July 27, 2006 <http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/windsturbo/diary/200606120000/ >. While in junior high, Takanori began to consider a career in music.Jonathan Mays, interview with T.M.Revolution, "Sound Decision," Anime News Network, June 10, 2004, accessed August 5, 2006 <http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/sound-decision/2004-06-10 >. He dropped out of high school and left Shiga to pursue his dream. Takanori was also married to Yumi Yoshimura of Puffy AmiYumi from 1999 to 2002. Career Luis-Mary Nishikawa joined the visual kei rock band Luis-Mary in 1990 as the vocalist. His band nickname and his appearance at the time would eventually become the inspiration for Nishikawa's character in Gundam SEED Destiny (Heine Westenfluss). Luis-Mary released three singles; "Rainy Blue", "Whisper(In Your Eyes)" and "Drive Me Mad". The band broke up in 1993.
T.M.Revolution In 1995, Daisuke Asakura signed on with Nishikawa under the FunHouse label, now owned by BMG Japan. They released one single, Black or White?, under the name Daisuke Asakura expd. Takanori Nishikawa.hybrid_incubi, "Behind the Music: Takanori Nishikawa," tmrevolutionist, June 28, 2006, accessed July 29, 2006 http://community.livejournal.com/tmrevolutionist/141135.html This song was rerecorded in 1997 and also rearranged in 2000 as TMR's twelfth single (Black or White? version 3). The original "Black or White?" song also appears as the third track on TMR's first album Makes Revolution (1996). Nishikawa participated in a mini three-band event in November 1995. His fan club, turbo, was established shortly afterwards, in December 1995. In early 1996, Nishikawa made several radio appearances announcing the debut of his solo project. On March 22, 1996, the project was given the name T.M.Revolution, with Asakura named as TMR's producer.
Dokusai -monopolize- was released on May 13, 1996, under the Antinos Records label. It reached #28 on the Oricon charts. Nishikawa's performance on NHK's music variety show Pop Jam (which he would, later in his career, cohost for eleven months) helped boost sales, eventually selling out all first press copies of the single. His second single, was released two months later, followed by the release of TMR's first album Makes Revolution another month later.
Heart of Sword: Yoake Mae was released in November 1996 and was used as the third ending song for Rurouni Kenshin. It later replaced "The Fourth Avenue Cafe" (by rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel) as the fourth ending song, due to drug charges laid against a now former member of that band. "Heart of Sword: Yoake Mae" became a fan favourite that sold 360,000 copies and reached #16 on the Oricon charts. Nishikawa's second album, restoration LEVEL➝3 [sometimes called ] was released in February 1997, which reached #5 on the Oricon charts.
Nishikawa released three singles, Level 4, High Pressure, and White Breath, in 1997. High Pressure became TMR's breakthrough single, selling 800,000 copies. White Breath sold over one million copies and became the first TMR single to reach #1 on the Oricon charts. Nishikawa performed White Breath on the 48th edition of Kōhaku Uta Gassen, an annual music show televised by NHK. Less than a month later, his third album triple joker was released and went on to sell two million copies. , the first track from triple joker, was recut as a single in February 1998 and it was used in a Yamaha JOG commercial. Nishikawa's three albums were also released in other parts of Asia, and he visited Taiwan in April 1998 to promote triple joker. Hot Limit, released in June 1998, sold 900,000 copies and became Nishikawa's second #1 single. Nishikawa also performed at the 49th edition of Kōhaku Uta Gassen. His fourth album, the force, was released in March 1999 and featured album mixes of the four singles (Hot Limit, Thunderbird, Burnin' X'mas, Wild Rush) that followed Aoi Hekireki. Shortly after the force was released, Nishikawa performed two concerts at Tokyo Dome to a total audience of 100,000.
In 1999, Nishikawa announced the end of T.M.Revolution. He and Daisuke Asakura went on to form The End of Genesis T.M.R. evolution Turbo Type D (or TMR-e, for short). The name implied it was an "evolution" of TMR. Asakura also appeared in their music videos and performed alongside Nishikawa. Three singles were released under that name, all in 1999: , , and . Their only album, Suite Season, was released in February 2000. Nishikawa and Asakura started becoming more distant from each other, and Nishikawa reverted to his original stage name in April 2000.
BLACK OR WHITE? version 3, a self-cover, was released in April 2000. It was used as a professional baseball theme song on Nippon Television. Two other singles [HEAT CAPACITY and ], a remix album (DISCORdanza: Try My Remix ~Single Collections~), and studio album (progress; TMR's fifth) were also released in 2000.
Boarding was released in February 2001. The title track of the single was used as a theme song to a drama called . Nishikawa started self-producing, with the release of his sixteenth single (Out of Orbit ~Triple ZERO~) one year later. (Asakura continued to compose music for TMR.) His compilation album B☆E☆S☆T was released the next month. Epic Records Japan purchased Antinos Records that year, and all albums on the Antinos catalogue were re-released under the Epic label on July 1, 2002. "Thunderbird" inspired anime director Mitsuo Fukuda to ask Nishikawa to perform the first opening song for Gundam SEED ("Invoke"). Invoke, released in September 2002, sold 250,000 copies and reached #2 on the Oricon charts. Nishikawa also voice acted as Miguel Aiman early in that series and narrated a recap episode of Gundam SEED.
Coordinate, his sixth original album, was released in March 2003. The cover was a closeup of the customized orange GINN that Nishikawa's Gundam SEED character piloted. (Orange is Nishikawa's favourite colour."The Color that Represents T.M.Revolution is Orange," Winds-Turbo Blog: Trivia, April 14, 2006, accessed August 10, 2006 <http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/windsturbotrivia/diary/200604140001/ >.) , an album track from coordinate, was used as an insert song to Gundam SEED. The album mix of "THUNDERBIRD", originally from the force, was also included on this album. Later that year, Nishikawa became the first artist to be signed under Tofu Records, and coordinate was the first album released by Tofu. The Tofu release of coordinate also included "HEART OF SWORD ~Yoake Mae~" as a bonus track. Nishikawa made his debut North American performance at Otakon in August 2003, to a massive audience who filled both the ballroom and overflow room (an exhibition hall) of the Baltimore Convention Center to their entirety.
Nishikawa released his eighteenth single, , in February 2004. (Albireo is a bright star from the constellation Cygnus.) "Albireo" was used in a music variety show on Nippon Television called AX MUSIC-TV, where it was #49 on the show's "power play" list."SEVENTH HEAVEN", track list, Sony Music Online Japan, 2004, accessed October 13, 2006 <http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Arch/ES/TMRevolution/ESCL-2679/ >. SEVENTH HEAVEN, his aptly named seventh album, was released in March 2004. Tofu Records released SEVENTH HEAVEN a few weeks later and Nishikawa performed at Pacific Media Expo in May 2004. "Zips", a track from SEVENTH HEAVEN, was used as an insert song for the first Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Special Edition movie. "Wheel of Fortune" was used as a Formula Nippon theme song on Fuji Television.