The visual kei group Luna Sea was founded in 1989. J (born Onose Jun) and INORAN (born Kiyonobu Inoue), two high-school friends, met SUGIZO (born Sugihara Yuune) and Maya (born Yamada Maya), two former members of Pinnocchio, on the outskirts of Tokyo. They brought in singer RYUICHI (b. Ryuichi Kawamura=, formerly of Slaughter, and began performing under the name Lunacy until 1990, when they switched to Luna Sea. It was when X-Japan guitarist HIDE (nee Hideto Matsumoto) discovered them that their career accelerated. Signed to Exstacy Records, Luna Sea released their debut album of the same name. Although it wasn't a real commercial success, its songs did attract a large audience, who packed out the 1992 tour and enabled them to sign a contract with Universal, resulting in several Top 10 albums in the early 1990s, such as Image (1992), Eden (1993) and Mother (1994). After a break in 1995, Luna Sea made a comeback the following year with Style, featuring several number ones, followed by the Singles compilation. A further break allowed the members to pursue solo projects, before the release of Shine (1998), then Lunacy (2000), before another separation, this time lasting several years. Returning in 2007 for the God Bless You - One Night Déjà Vu concert at Tokyo Dome, then in 2008 when they played at the Hideto Matsumoto memorial concert, Luna Sea returned in 2011 with a new, untitled album followed by a tour and then A Will (2013), ranked third in the Oricon and Billboard Japan charts. Released in 2017, the following album Luv reached #4, while its successor Cross (2019) ranked #3 on the Oricon charts and #1 on Billboard Japan.
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