history

The Beginning (1991-1992)
ZARD started with five members: Izumi Sakai (vocalist, lyricist), Fumito Machida (guitar), Hiroyasu Hoshi (bass), Kimitaka Ikezawa (keyboard), Kohsuke Michikura (drums). They made their d�but in 1991 with the single "Good-bye My Loneliness". The single spent several weeks on the charts and soon ZARD followed this success with their first original album "Good-bye My Loneliness" titled after the single. Although you couldn't say the d�but single and album is embraced by the great mass of the people living in Japan, it still has reached a decent amount of listeners and perhaps has laid the first foundation of ZARD's fan base that will grow immensely in the next few couple of years.

ZARD released two more singles and an album in 1991, but it wasn't until August 1992 that they had their first major hit with their fourth single "Nemurenai Yoru wo Daite". The single sold extremely well and this led to the release of their third album "Hold Me" just a month later. A brilliant move, since "Hold Me" is ZARD's first CD that topped over one million copies sold and reached number two in the charts. With such obvious popularity ZARD started to attract attention, and many music shows on television asked ZARD to perform. This was the period where the band did perform publicly on television and in a short period of time they performed in one show after another. But what we didn't know was that these shows would be the last we would ever see from ZARD.
ZARD concluded the year 1992 with their fifth single "In My Arms Tonight", but this didn't equal their previous single in terms of sales.

One thing worth noting is that in the CD releases up to the fifth single, credits are given to the other members of ZARD besides Ms. Sakai (there is even a group photo included in ZARD's second album). After this release, the names of other ZARD band members haven't been mentioned. Perhaps this is a small indication of when the other members have left the band?

ZARD's Year (1993)
The year 1993 can be seen as ZARD's most prosperous year, both in terms of recognition and CD sales. While in 1992 ZARD couldn't make that final step to absolute stardom, 1993 was definitely owned by ZARD, dominating the charts almost from day one.
An early single release in January gave ZARD their well-earned first number one hit "Makenaide". The single sold over 1.5 million copies, and is ZARD's best selling single to date � a huge success that definitely put them on center stage in the Japanese music scene.
From then on, ZARD's releases have been a chain of successes, producing hit singles throughout the 1990s. Their next single "Kimiga Inai", was received very well, but it was really ZARD's 8th single "Yureru Omoi" that demonstrated their immense popularity. The single became their second number one hit and sold over a million copies. Together these two songs, "Makenaide" and "Yureru Omoi", are considered ZARD's most famous and well known ones. ZARD paid tribute to these two classic titles in their Anniversary album "Toki no Tsubasa" released in February 2001.

When ZARD announced their next original album "Yureru Omoi" (their fourth) expectations were very high. With two huge hit singles already released in 1993, could they repeat or exceed their past success? ZARD didn't disappoint their fans and delivered an album that is ranked as one of their best. You only need to listen to the album "Yureru Omoi" to hear the magic and with sales of over two million there simply isn't a better testament to the group's success and popularity!

In what already had been a celebrated year for ZARD fans, ZARD released two more singles before the end of 1993: "Mou Sukoshi Ato Sukoshi..." and "Kitto Wasurenai", both ending up high in the charts. "Kitto Wasurenai" was their third number one hit and ZARD seemed to produce these almost effortlessly.

Between these releases, Ms. Sakai still found time to participate in some other projects. Joining with the other popular bands (Zygg, Rev, Wands), all from the same record company as ZARD's (B-Gram), they created a special single titled "Hateshinai Yumewo" featuring their combined talents. Ms. Sakai was, of course, involved in writing the lyrics.
Ms. Sakai's also participated in a "Soul" album featuring several other musicians. In that album you can hear Ms. Sakai singing a song in English (!), Leon Russell's famous tune "This Masquerade".

To be continued...