THE ALFEE

The Alfee are a Japanese folk rock band with 45 years and over 20 albums under their collective belt. The band's roots are in American folk music, but they also borrow from hard and progressive rock, taking inspiration from the likes of Emerson, King Crimson and Pink Floyd, as well as from the choral harmonies of the likes of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Eagles and Queen. The group formed from the ashes of the band Confidence' a high school folk act that included Sakurai Masaru and often brushed shoulders with Konosuke Sakazaki. After Confidence folded, Sarukai ran into Sakazaki again at Meiji Gakuin University and together with former classmates Toshihiko Takamizawa and Miyake Yasuo, began playing. The band signed with Victor Music Industries as Alfie and made their debut as a folk act. Their debut single, 'Natsu Shigure', didn't fare well in the charts and after a further single and an album Miyake left the band. After Victor dropped them, they relaunched under Canyon Records as Alfee in 1978 and over the next few years transitioned to more of a rock sound. In 1981, Alfee started Beat Boys, a dance music side project that went on to put out two albums, five singles and a live video. It was 1982 before Alfee had their first single in the Oricon charts, with 'Wakare no Rhythm' peaking at 69. They built on that success with 'Marie-Anne', which got to number seven in the charts, 'Hoshizora no Distance' in 1984, which reached number two, and 'Koibitotachi no Pavement', their first number one. In 1986 Alfee changed their name once again, adding the 'The' with the release of their 23rd single, 'Sweat and Tears'. In 2009 The Alfee celebrated their 35th anniversary with a re-release of 40 of their albums and 20 of their DVDs.

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