Biography
Lily Chou-Chou as a character was initially created by Shunji Iwai in 2000, as a part of an online novel that was posted on a BBS. The music was produced as a collaboration between Iwai, Salyu, a musician who had not debuted yet, and Takeshi Kobayashi, a music producer who had previously worked with Iwai on the soundtrack to his 1996 film Swallowtail Butterfly. Iwai supplied the lyrics of two songs to the project, "Arabesque" and "Tobenai Tsubasa."
In April 2000, Lily Chou-Chou music began to be released, with the single "Glide" and later "Kyōmei (Kūkyo na Ishi)" in June. Three Iwai-directed music videos were produced for the project, "Glide," "Kyōmei (Kūkyo na Ishi)" and "Tobenai Tsubasa." Salyu performed "Kyōmei (Kūkyo na Ishi)" on music shows Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ and Music Station in June 2000. The group released their album, Kokyū, in October 2001, a week and a half after the release of the film in Japan.
After the release of the film, the group ceased to release music. In 2003, the Lily Chou-Chou song "Kaifuku Suru Kizu" was featured in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Vol. 1. Salyu debuted as a musician in 2004 with the single "Valon," a collaboration with hip-hop musician Ilmari. She began working with Kobayashi as her producer since her debut, and continues to work with him. Some of Salyu's most notable songs have been composed by him, such as "Atarashii Yes," "Corteo (Gyōretsu)," "Platform," "To U" and "Valon." Salyu included the Lily Chou-Chou songs "Hōwa" and "Glide" on her 2008 greatest hits album Merkmal. On her 2009 tour for Merkmal, she performed "Erotic," "Glide," "Hikōsen," "Kaifuku Suru Kizu," "Sight" and "Tobenai Tsubasa."
For the film's 10th anniversary in 2010, the band reformed as a three-member band featuring guitarist Yukio Nagoshi, however without the direct involvement of Iwai. The group released a digital single, "Ether," on December 8, 2010. The music video for the song was exclusively debuted at MTV Japan on December 1. The group plan to perform a live at the Nakano Sun Plaza Hall on December 15.
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