V6 (ブイシックス, Bui Shikkusu) was a six-member Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. The group debuted on November 1, 1995, with the single "Music for the People", which was used as the image song for the 1995 World Cup of Volleyball. Their first four singles, including "Music for the People", were all cover versions of the same-titled Eurobeat songs composed by Italian producers such as Giancarlo Pasquini, Andrea Leonardi, Alberto Contini, Sandro Oliva.
Similar to their agency seniorsHikaru Genji, the group is separated into two subgroups based on age. For V6, the group is split into 20th Century and Coming Century, which consist of the three oldest members and the three youngest members, respectively. The band sold more than 13.5 million albums and singles.
As announced on March 12, 2021, V6 disbanded on November 1, 2021, their 26th anniversary since their debut.[1]
In an interview on Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, the group stated that the "V" in V6 also stood for "Versus" (20th Century versus Coming Century) at first. However, then-president Johnny Kitagawa informed the group that the "V" had multiple meanings, such as "Volleyball", "Vegetable" (as Sakamoto's parents own a green grocers), "Bicycle" ("V" and "B" are indistinguishable in Japanese; Nagano's parents own a cycling store), and "Veteran".[2]
From 1997 to 2008, V6 hosted their own variety show Gakkō e Ikō (学校へ行こう, Let's Go to School)[3] and is hosting Viva Viva V6 since 2001 on Fuji TV.[4] Along with their group shows, the members also have individual TV shows, dramas, or radio programs.
V6 celebrated their tenth anniversary in 2005, commemorating the event by holding about thirty concerts in sold-out arenas all over Japan, holding three major "Thank You Events", releasing the movie Hold Up Down and releasing Musicmind as their new album. They also had a rare "Handshake Session" with hundreds of thousands of fans in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka.[5]
As separate bands, both of them performed the opening song for the anime, Eyeshield 21. Coming Century performed "Breakthrough", the first opening theme song, and 20th Century performed "Innocence", the second opening theme song. As V6, they performed "Chain of Power" as an insert song. They also sang "Change the World" and "Brand New World", the first opening and eighth ending themes, respectively ,of the popular anime InuYasha, as well as "Break Out", the 18th opening song of the popular anime Fairy Tail. They later performed the 21st opening song of One Piece, "Super Powers".
On May 3, 2017, they released the double A-side single titled "COLORS/Taiyou to Tsuki no Kodomotachi". The title track "COLORS" will be used as the theme song for member Yoshihiko Inohara's starring drama "Keishicho Sousa Ikka 9 Gakari season12" on TV Asahi. Meanwhile, "Taiyou to Tsuki no Kodomotachi" has been picked up for NHK's "Minna no Uta" for April and May.[6]
On March 12, 2021, Johnny & Associates announced V6 would disband on November 1, V6's 26th debut anniversary.[7][8] In July, they announced that they would host their last concert tour, LIVE TOUR V6 groove from September 4 to November 1, the first day and the last day of the live tour, which is the date of V6 formation and their debut date. Also, they will release their new album STEP on September 4.[9]
On October 26, 2021, V6 hosted their last TV variety show Gakkō e Ikō (学校へ行こう 2021, Let's Go to School 2021) as a group. They also released their last best album Very6 BEST.
On November 1, 2021, member Go Morita also left the agency, effectively dissolving also the sub-group "Coming Century", though Okada and Miyake continued with their individual activities.[10] Miyake left the agency in 2 May 2023. Okada left 30 November 2023.[11] Sub group "20th Century" would continue activities past that date.[12][13]
