Gackt - Early Life

Early Life

Gackt was born on July 4, 1973, as the second of three children in a Ryukyuan family, in Okinawa, Japan. His father was a music teacher primarily playing the trumpet and his mother was also a teacher. Gackt has an older sister, and a younger brother. Because of his father's job, he lived in many different cities in addition to Okinawa: Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Shiga, Osaka, and Kyoto. Gackt's musical education began at age three, when his parents initiated his classical piano education. He grew tired of at age seven when entered elementary school, and because of moving had to change teachers. It would take another four years until his parents allowed him to quit. Since his father played the trumpet, he was also familiar with brass instruments. He has credited the classical pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin with being "the one who taught me the beauty, depth, fun, sadness, kindness of music; that music could grant people courage, and the meaning of the layers of sound. It isn't an exaggeration to say Chopin is the foundation of my music." Having only listened to classical music and enka while growing up, he did not become interested in rock music until he was a young adult. He cites Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" as being particularly inspiring, and went on to master modern percussion and electric guitar.

According to Gackt's autobiography Jihaku, he was a mischievous child and had a tendency to face death; at age seven he nearly drowned while swimming off the coast of Okinawa. After that near-death experience, he claims to have paranormal ability to see and speak with deceased people, as well family members. At the age of ten, he was hospitalized with a gastrointestinal condition and had to remain at the hospital for a prolonged time. He made the acquaintance of several terminally ill children, some of whom died during his stay.