Orange Range

<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 200%;"><span style="color:orange"><strong>WELCOME TO ORANGE RANGE!</strong><!--color--></span><!--size--></span> <img src="http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r468/growing_soul91/oranges/orange-range.jpg" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color:gold">Orange Range (オレンジレンジ, Orenji Renji?) is a Ryukyuan group signed to Sony Music (SMEJ) in Japan. They were signed in 2002. The band has roots in Okinawa. The area is famous for being the home of many well known acts. Before they were signed by a major label, Orange Range played mostly in small art houses and clubs until they were found by a record agent. The band is mix of Pop and Rock style music as can be heard by the vocals and the instrumentals. Their style is also made up of many different cultures and musical styles from around the world. This is attributed to their hometown being Okinawa, a well known station for American military bases and thus cultures and different styles often blend. Due to high sales of their works, Orange Range's singles are often attached to various movies, shows or Japanese products. This is usually seen as a sign of a band or singer having hit "the big time" in the Japanese media. Originally, Orange Range was a cover band, doing mostly covers of songs by other artists. The band was started by childhood friends Kitao "Kat-chan" Kazuhito and Hiroyama Naoto, but Naoto has professed that Kazuhito was the one to come up with the idea of forming a band. Soon a longtime friend of Naoto, Miyamori Yoh, would join the band as a bassist. Unlike the current band members, the next band member to join, Hokama Hiroki, was relatively an "outsider" in the group of friends that made up the original band. Hiroki was also the first vocalist of the band. Next Miyamori Yoh invited his younger brother, Miyamori Ryo, to join the band as a low vocalist and the second overall vocalist. The band stayed like this for a few months before scouting high range vocalist, Ganeko Yamato to the band. Between the time that Yamato joined and the band being signed to Spice Music's Japanese division, Orange Range mainly did covers of already famous singers and bands, like GLAY and Mr Children, for school concerts and for small art houses. In early 2002, the band was signed to Spice Music and released their first official commercial work, the mini-album "Orange Ball" which contained the single "Michishirube" which peaked at #250 on the Oricon charts. It was around this time that the band finally left their home of Okinawa and began touring across the country and opening for various Japanese acts such as Do As Infinity. Viva★Rock in which the title song was used as the third ending to the anime Naruto. Michishirube was used as the ending theme to the popular J-Drama, Fire Boys ~Megumi no Daigo~ Asterisk was used as the first opening theme to the anime Bleach Sayonara was used as the TBS drama Teppan Shoujo Akane!!'s theme song Albums December 17, 2003 1st Contact #2 690,282 December 1, 2004 musiQ #1 2,630,763 October 12, 2005 ИATURAL #1 919,650 April 12, 2006 Squeezed (Remix Album) December 6, 2006 ORANGE RANGE #2 347,832 July 25, 2007 ORANGE (Best Album) #2 210,804 July 25, 2007 RANGE (Best Album) #1 214,149 Independent Albums April 21, 2002 Orange Ball (オレンジボール) Okinawa-only release February 22, 2002 Orange Ball (オレンジボール) Nation-wide release Singles August 25, 2002 Michishirube (ミチシルベ) (Indies) June 4, 2003 Kirikirimai (キリキリマイ) July 16, 2003 Shanghai Honey (上海ハニー) 222 385 copies sold October 22, 2003 Viva Rock (ビバ★ロック) November 27, 2003 Rakuyou (落陽) February 25, 2004 Michishirube ~a road home~ (ミチシルベ～a road home～) 278 193 copies sold June 9, 2004 Locolotion (ロコローション) 487 267 copies sold August 25, 2004 Chest (チェスト) 116 206 copies sold October 20, 2004 Hana (花) 999 322 copies sold February 23, 2005 *~Asterisk~ (＊~アスタリスク~) 628 329 copies sold May 25, 2005 Love Parade (ラヴ・パレード) 447 393 copies sold June 8, 2005 Onegai! Señorita (お願い！セニョリータ) 417 464 copies sold August 24, 2005 Kizuna (キズナ) 410 924 copies sold May 10, 2006 Champione (チャンピオーネ) 220 955 copies sold August 30, 2006 Un Rock Star 79 683 copies sold October 25, 2006 Sayonara 102 737 copies sold April 25, 2007 Ika Summer (イカSUMMER) July 18, 2007 Ikenai Taiyou (イケナイ太陽) March 3, 2008 Kimi station (君station) DVDs July 28, 2004 Video la Contact (ヴィデオ・ラ・コンタクト) April 27, 2005 Video de Recital (ヴィデヲ・DE・リサイタル) December 21, 2005 Live musiQ - from LIVE TOUR 005 "musiQ" at MAKUHARI MESSE 2005.04.01 September 20, 2006 Live NATURAL - from Live Tour 005 "NATURAL" at Yokohama Arena 2005.12.13 Current Members: Naoto Hiroyama - guitar (born May 8, 1983) Ryo Miyamori - low vocals (born October 1, 1985) Yamato Ganeko - high vocals (born January 14, 1984) Yoh Miyamori - bass (born December 11, 1983) Hiroki Hokama - mid-range vocals (born June 29, 1983) Former Members: Kitao Kazuhito "Katchan" - drums (born June 19, 1983) (Left the band due to tendinitis on his left little finger around the end of July, 2005, though his illness was apparently not the direct cause of his decision to leave) Sources: Wikipedia.org <!--color--></span></strong><!--center--></div><!--center--></div><!--center--></div>