CHERRY13 PRESS - Flipbook - Page 13
t h E c h At
When you’re blessed with raw talent, fame soon
follows. At least, for the lucky few it does. And while
global megastar Yoshiki Hayashi is lucky enough to share
his passion for music with millions of adoring fans, his life
was also turned upside down as a child when his father
took his own life.
Yoshiki, as he’s widely known, has a pure gift. Yes, he
might be the first man to grace Vogue Japan and even
the first person to have a HelloKitty doll named after him
(Yoshikitty, don't you know), but there’s good reason
why he’s such a celebrated icon. A rock drummer with
tens of millions of adoring fans cramming into sellout
arenas, there's no doubt Yoshiki is one of the most
influential music artists in Japanese history. But fame has
not only come through rock groups X Japan and The
Last Rockstars, he is also a renowned classical pianist,
composer (he composed the theme for the Golden
Globes) and conductor, with an equally adoring - if
perhaps less raucous - fanbase.
MUSIC HAS MASS
POWER.
While music is his life, it has also been his saviour while
processing death. “Music has mass power,” he says
poignantly, “it has supported me and helped me, and I
want to do the same for others.”
Through his softly spoken voice on this grey October
morning in London, he’s referring to Yoshiki Foundation
America, a non-profit organisation which has donated
relief money to the tune of millions of Japanese yen to
a wide variety of causes. After the Great East Japanese
Earthquake in 2011, he auctioned off his signature drum
set for JPY 6 million, proceeds of which went to the
Japanese Red Cross.
He has donated further
millions to those helping
children displaced by
the war in Ukraine, and
after hearing about
the increasing fires
throughout the Amazon
region, he donated to
Earth Alliance and its
Amazon Forest Fund, to
support the indigenous
communities, as well as
to protect the land and its
biodiversity.
Yoshiki’s contributions are extensive and generous
enough to make a real difference. But rather than bask in
his own gratifying level of support for others, he simply
says: “When you support people, [such as] giving huge
donations to their causes, it just makes me feel happy.”
How humbling to make it all sound so basic, so primal,
the equivalent of one of us popping a pound coin into
a charity pot on the high street. It also serves as a good
reminder not to judge a book by its cover, in this case a
cover with trademark shades, expensive black clothes
and gleaming gold-heeled boots.
We meet 10 hours after he lands from Tokyo. He has
two missions during his short stay in London. The first
is the UK launch of his collaboration with Champagne
Pommery, Y by YOSHIKI, a glitzy Champagne bottle
that's now available exclusively at Selfridges for a cool
£175. With heavy creative input by Yoshiki, from the
flavour to the packaging, he tells us he wanted to make
“something fabulous and something uplifting,” with this
new partnership which has been years in the making.
A prolific collaborator, Yoshiki’s happiness-sharing
extends well beyond relief from war zones and natural
disasters, it also encompasses a variety of art forms, from
Champagne to music to fashion; he’s invested in the
struggling kimono industry too, honouring his parents
who once ran a kimono business, by creating exquisite
dresses based on kimono fabric.
Back to London, Yoshiki is also in town to play at the
Royal Albert Hall, his first UK appearance in more than
six years. The performance is part of his latest world tour
REQUIEM, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of his
classical album which debuted at number one on the
iTunes Classical Music chart in ten countries.
After popping his latest collaboration open, he treated a
lucky few of us with a brief preview of his concert. You’d
have to be pretty dispassionate not to be stirred by the
simultaneous anguish and joy you can hear through the
keys while Yoshiki plays. The power of art in all its forms
is life-affirming, that is undeniable, and through Yoshiki’s
success in his artful life, he makes a better life for others
thanks to his abundance.
Cherry. p.13
ALL IMAGES:
SAM LANE PHOTOGRAPHY