DEEN

DEEN was formed in 1993 after WANDS's Uesugi Sho and Oda Kanako searched for a singer to sing for a DoCoMo commercial. After searching, they found Ikemori Shuuichi and decided to give him a test run. After they found him good to go, they hurried to find a keyboardist and found Yamane Koji. They released their first single months later, entitled "Kono Mama Kimi Dake wo Ubaisaritai", and it did exceptionally well as it climbed to #2 on the weekly Oricon charts. They released their next single, "Tsubasa wo Hirogete", soon after and it hit #1.

The members began to experiment their musically ability and began to compose their own songs. Their first composed single, "Mirai no Tame ni", was released in 1995 and made #1 on the charts. They also released singles for such anime Dragonball GT and Meitantei Conan during the same time. They also participated in the song "Giniro no Yume ~All over the world~" for the 1996 Olympics.

In 1998, the music unit released their first best album, SINGLES+1. They also changed labels from B-Gram Records to BMG Japan during the same year. By the end of the decade, DEEN ranked #49 on Artists Sale Ranking.

With the start of the new millennium, the music unit started to self-produce their works. Two years later, they released their first ballad album, Ballads in Blue ~The greatest hits of DEEN~, and then released their first cover album, Waon ~Songs for Childen~. They also sang the theme song for the soccer team Tokyo Verdy 1969 in 2004.

In 2006, DEEN released the single "Diamond", the theme song to the PS2 video game Tales of Destiny. A year later, they re-released their older concerts that used be video-only onto DVD. They also performed at the Tales of Festival 2008 in 2008, this time to promote the single "Yume de Aetara" that was used in a Tales of Destiny commercial. They also celebrate their 15th anniversary by releasing a best album, DEEN PERFECT SINGLES +, and releasing their first live album, entitled DEEN at Budoukan "NO CUT" ~15th Anniversary Perfect Singles Live~.

(Source: JpopAsia.com)