Hide

Hideto Matsumoto (松本 秀人), known professionally as hide, was a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Hideto Matsumoto was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Midorigaoka, Japan, on December 13, 1964, and went on to attend Yokosuka Tokiwa Junior High School.

He was first exposed to rock music at the age of fifteen, through the album Alive II by Kiss.

That same year his grandmother bought him his first electric guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.

X Japan rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s, credited as founders of the Japanese visual kei movement.

On March 11, 1980, Hide graduated from Tokiwa Junior High School.

He then entered Zushi Kaisei Senior High School in Zushi, Kanagawa, where he entered the school's brass band as a club activity.

He quit the band after a short time because he was assigned the clarinet while he wanted to play the trumpet.

After this, he concentrated on guitar and in 1981 formed the band Saber Tiger.

A year after their founding, they started playing shows at live houses in Yokosuka, such as Rock City.

Their live performances featured shock elements such as mannequins and raw meat.

In April 1983 he started studying cosmetology and fashion at the Hollywood University of Beauty and Fashion in present-day Roppongi Hills, from which he graduated in 1985.

Later that year he took a nationwide examination and successfully obtained a beautician license.

In July 1985 Saber Tiger released their self-titled EP, which included two songs, "Double Cross" and "Gold Digger".

In November, the band contributed the song "Vampire" to the Heavy Metal Force III sampler, which also included songs by X.

In 1986 the group changed its name to Saver Tiger to avoid confusion with a similarly named band from Sapporo.

Their first appearance with the new name was on the sampler Devil Must Be Driven out with Devil, with their songs "Dead Angle" and "Emergency Express".

He achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band X Japan from 1987 to 1997 and a solo artist from 1993 onward.

They continued to perform in live houses and night clubs such as Meguro Rokumeikan, Omiya Freaks and Meguro Live Station until January 28, 1987, when Hide became tired of changing members and decided to end the band (vocalist Kyo and drummer Tetsu would both go on to D'erlanger), around the same time he was invited to join X.

Hide joined X in February 1987, becoming the band's lead guitarist and occasional songwriter.

X released their first album Vanishing Vision through drummer Yoshiki's own Extasy Records on April 14, 1988, and toured extensively in support of the record.

They would become one of the first Japanese acts to achieve mainstream success while on an independent label, and were later widely credited as one of the pioneers of visual kei.

X's major label debut album, Blue Blood, was released on April 21, 1989, and debuted at number six on the Oricon chart.

Its success earned the band the "Grand Prix New Artist of the Year" award at the 4th annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1990.

Their third album Jealousy was released on July 1, 1991, and debuted at number one, selling over 600,000 copies.

It was later certified million by the RIAJ.

Shortly after the release of Art of Life, which also topped the Oricon, the members of X Japan took a break, to start solo projects.

Around that time, the group also dropped most of its original visual kei aesthetics, except Hide who would still perform in wildly colorful outfits and with his trademark red, later pink, hair.

In early 1993, Hide recorded the "cyborg rock" song "Frozen Bug" with Inoran and J of Luna Sea under the band name M*A*S*S; it was included on the sampler Dance 2 Noise 004.

He also starred in an art film titled Seth et Holth, along with Tusk of Zi:Kill.

In 1994, he recorded and released his first solo album Hide Your Face, which reached number 9 on the Oricon chart.

He also formed the United States-based rock supergroup Zilch in 1996.

Hide sold millions of records, both solo and as a member of X Japan.

Dahlia, which would become the band's final album to date, was released on November 4, 1996, and once again, it reached the number one spot.

When they disbanded in 1997, he focused on his solo career which started four years prior and went on to enjoy significant popularity.

In September 1997 it was announced that X Japan would disband, they performed their farewell show, aptly titled "The Last Live", at the Tokyo Dome on December 31, 1997.

At the height of his fame, while recording his third studio album and about to launch an international career with the newly formed Zilch, he died in 1998 of what was ruled a suicide by hanging.

He was seen as an icon for Japanese youth rebelling against their country's conformist society, and his death was labeled "the end of an era".

In 2001, Nippon Crown issued a three-volume release titled Origin of hide, with the band credited as "Yokosuka Saver Tiger".

Volumes 1 and 2 were live CDs, with some rehearsal recordings, while volume 3 was a concert VHS.