Orange Range (オレンジレンジ, Orenji Renji) is a Japanese group signed to Sony Music (SMEJ) in Japan. They were signed in 2002.

Members
Current


from left to right: Yoh, Yamato, Ryo, Hiroki, & Naoto


Naoto Hiroyama - guitar (born May 8, 1983)
Ryo Miyamori - low vocals (born October 1, 1985)
Yamato Ganeko - high vocals (born January 14, 1984)
Yoh Miyamori - bass (born December 11, 1983)
Hiroki Hokama - mid-range vocals (born June 29, 1983)

Former

Kitao Kazuhito "Katchan" - drums (born June 19, 1983) (Left the band due to tendinitis on his left little finger around the end of July, 2005, though his illness was apparently not the direct cause of his decision to leave)

History

The band has roots in the Okinawa area of Japan. The area is famous for being the home of many well known acts.[1] Before they were signed by a major label, Orange Range played mostly in small art houses and clubs until they were found by a record agent. The band is mix of Pop and Rock style music as can be heard by the vocals and the instrumentals. Their style is also made up of many different cultures and musical styles from around the world. This is attributed to their hometown being Okinawa, a well known station for American military bases and thus cultures and different styles often blend. Due to high sales of their works, Orange Range's singles are often attached to various movies, shows or Japanese products.[2] [3] This is usually seen as a sign of a band or singer having hit "the big time" in the Japanese media.

Originally, Orange Range was a cover band, doing mostly covers of songs by other artists. The band was started by childhood friends Kitao "Kat-chan" Kazuhito and Hiroyama Naoto, but Naoto has professed that Kazuhito was the one to come up with the idea of forming a band. Soon a longtime friend of Naoto, Miyamori Yoh, would join the band as a bassist. Unlike the current band members, the next band member to join, Hokama Hiroki, was relatively an "outsider" in the group of friends that made up the original band. Hiroki was also the first vocalist of the band. Next Miyamori Yoh invited his younger brother, Miyamori Ryo, to join the band as a low vocalist and the second overall vocalist. The band stayed like this for a few months before scouting high range vocalist, Ganeko Yamato to the band.

Between the time that Yamato joined and the band being signed to Spice Music's Japanese division, Orange Range mainly did covers of already famous singers and bands, like GLAY and Mr Children, for school concerts and for small art houses. In early 2002, the band was signed to Spice Music and released their first official commercial work, the mini-album "Orange Ball" which contained the single "Michishirube" which peaked at #250 on the Oricon charts. [4] It was around this time that the band finally left their home of Okinawa and began touring across the country and opening for various Japanese acts such as Do As Infinity.


2003

The band then released two more singles, Viva★Rock in which the title song was used as the third ending to the anime Naruto, and Rakuyou which was used as commercial song for Daiichi Kosho Mero Dam. "1st CONTACT", the band's first full album was then released in late 2003.

2004

In the time following their first album, the band rereleased Michishirube and Kiririmai. Michishirube was used as the ending theme to the popular J-Drama, Fire Boys ~Megumi no Daigo~, this version of the single went straight to #1 on the Oricon charts.

2005

The band's next single, Asterisk, was used as the first opening theme to the anime Bleach and went straight to #1 on the charts and has been able to stay in the top 20 for 22 weeks so far. Because it was released in late 2005, it was counted as a 2005 album, often album sales for albums released late in the year are counted for next year's charts. Asterisk, however, was counted in both 2005 and 2006. The band then somewhat slowed down as they had what many fans called a "face change". This was due to the fact that founding member, Kitao Kazuhito, left the band in the middle of 2005. At first it was reported by the Japanese media that he left the band due to tendinitis that had increased in severity. It was later revealed that he left the band due to "creative differences", it was said that Kazuhito did not like that the band was moving more and more to hip-hop and away from rock. As of December 2006, the band has yet to find a replacement member.


2006

The band finally returned to the studio and release their first single of 2006, Champione, in mid 2006. The single became the official song of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
The band's 16th single is titled "Sayonara", contrary to rumors of this being the band's final single, this is supposed to mark the second phase of the band's life, thus they are saying goodbye to the first phase.

2007

Their 17th single, Ika Summer, was released in April and had a weekly peak of #3 on Oricon. This was the band's lowest selling and charting single in years, only staying in the top five for one week. [16]

July 2007 will see three major releases from Orange Range. To celebrate their 5th anniversary, the band will release two separate best albums in July entitled Orange and Range, each containing a different selection of their hit singles and popular album tracks. Their next single, Ikenai Taiyou, was used as the opening theme to the J-Drama adaptation of the popular manga series Hana-Kimi. Ikenai Taiyou would go on to have to obtain the #3 spot on Oricon in its first week, obtaining the band's highest sales in a year.

On the first day of their release, Orange and Range would respectively go on to obtain the top two spots on the Oricon charts and the same spots on the weekly charts. Two weeks later the albums would go on to obtain the top two spots in the United World Music charts.[17] [18]

Singles

August 25, 2002 Michishirube (ミチシルベ) (Indies)
June 4, 2003 Kirikirimai (キリキリマイ)
July 16, 2003 Shanghai Honey (上海ハニー) 222 385 copies sold
October 22, 2003 Viva Rock (ビバ★ロック)
November 27, 2003 Rakuyou (落陽)
February 25, 2004 Michishirube ~a road home~ (ミチシルベ～a road home～) 278 193 copies sold
June 9, 2004 Locolotion (ロコローション) 487 267 copies sold
August 25, 2004 Chest (チェスト) 116 206 copies sold
October 20, 2004 Hana (花) 999 322 copies sold
February 23, 2005 * ~Asterisk~ (＊~アスタリスク~) 628 329 copies sold
May 25, 2005 Love Parade (ラヴ・パレード) 447 393 copies sold
June 8, 2005 Onegai! Señorita (お願い！セニョリータ) 417 464 copies sold
August 24, 2005 Kizuna (キズナ) 410 924 copies sold
May 10, 2006 Champione (チャンピオーネ) 220 955 copies sold
August 30, 2006 Un Rock Star 79 683 copies sold
October 25, 2006 Sayonara 102 737 copies sold
April 25, 2007 Ika Summer (イカSUMMER)
July 18, 2007 Ikenai Taiyou (イケナイ太陽)
February 11, 2008 Untitled Single

***tnx to wikipedia.org for the information!!***