A.B.'s

AB'S (often written "A.B.'s" in the U.K.) is a male Japanese rock band formed in Tokyo in 1982. In Japan, their music is regularly associated with "city pop" or adult-oriented rock. Their song "Deja Vu" was released in the U.K. and often categorized as instrumental and or jazz funk, but the music of AB'S, including "Deja Vu" is also known for their chorus performance in Japan. The band currently consists of Fujimaru Yoshino (芳野藤丸) (guitars, vocals), Makoto Matsushita (松下誠) (guitars, vocals), Naoki Watanabe (渡辺直樹) (bass guitars, vocals), Atsuo Okamoto (岡本郭男) (drums, vocals). As all the members are session players, sometimes the band is compared to Toto (band) in Japan. AB'S is sometimes known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, funk and progressive rock . The members are Fujimaru Yoshino and the recording members of his first solo album Yoshino Fujimal released in 1982. Yoshino recruited Matsushita when he listened to Matsushita's first album First Light (1981) and he wanted to form a band with Matsushita. Yoshino also recruited Watanabe and Okamoto for their rhythm performances, and Ando also for his ability of writing lyrics. The band name came from the blood types of the original members. The blood type of Yoshino, Matsushita and Watanabe is AB, and the blood type of Ando and Okamoto is A. Therefore the name "A.B.'s", written on the 12-inch single Deja Vu released in the U.K. is incorrect. The leaflet for their second album promotion published by Alfa Moon Records, shows the blood types of each member with profiles. They also thought that the name starting with AB would become first in a catalogue. In 2012, Yoshino said in his Facebook that he saw the result of his latest medical check and learned that his blood-type is not AB but B, after Matsushita's reissued CD (see above) was released. 1982–96 The band released their first single Girl/ Django in December, 1982, and their first album AB'S in January, 1983. Then they recorded their second album in London, and released the 12inch single Deja Vu/ Asian Moon in the U.K., which were contained in the first album. They released the second album AB'S-2 in 1984. Yoshino and Matsushita also released solo albums respectively. To start his new progressive rock band Paradigm Shift, Matsushita left the band after the tour in 1984. The third album was recorded again in London and all guitars were performed by Yoshino and overdubbed. The album AB'S-3 and the 12-inch single C.I.A. were released in 1985, but soon they stopped their band career in 1985. After three-year interval, Yoshino recorded several songs and released as AB'S-4 in 1988, but the other musicians were different from the original lineup. The band stopped their career again. The CDs "Classic Jazz-Funk Series" were released in UK, and the original version of the song "Deja Vu" was included. The band name was corrected in the liner-note and written as "AB's". Matsushita's return and A5B3S (2004) Yoshino said AB'S restarted again with the original lineup, and did a gig and released a limited mini album A5B3S(A-go-B-san-zu), and toured in 2004. During the rehearsal, Yoshino suffered cerebral infarction, but he continued the gig. The mini album was sold only at the official website and the gigs from an independence label. The band decided to continue the band and to perform on the stage of Crossover Japan '05. Ando did not hope to perform except in special events, he decided to leave the band. Watanabe recruited Hidetoshi Yamada (山田秀俊) (keyboards, vocals), and the two keyboard players performed together on the event. Their maxi single "SINGLE" released at the event day, in which only Yamada played keyboards. The song "Dead or Alive" is the rearranged version of "Turquoise Blue", the theme of Golgo 13 Queen Bee, all music of which were composed by Fujimaru Yoshino. After the event, they released their 5th original full album New and toured in fall, 2005, did a gig in 2006. The album title came from just the fact that the album was new. Soon they started to record their 6th album and released in 2007. The album title Blue came from the color of the album jacket. Around the end of this year, Yamada decided to play only acoustic piano and chose to leave the band. After Yamada's leaving, the band temporally stopped their activity. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.