Haruomi Hosono

Japanese musician, best known internationally as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Hosono first came to attention in Japan as the bass player of the psychedelic rock band Apryl Fool—members of which (including Hosono) then formed the influential folk-rock group Happy End, which led to Hosono's first collaboration with Van Dyke Parks. After Happy End disbanded, Hosono worked with a loose association of artists making "exotica"-style music under the title Tin Pan Alley and also released four solo albums with increasingly eclectic instrumentation. Additionally, he made an innovative electronic soundtrack for the film "Cochin Moon", together with artist Tadanori Yokoo.

In 1978, Hosono formed the Yellow Magic Orchestra with Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The Yellow Magic Orchestra (a.k.a. YMO) released a number of albums in the late 70s and early 80s to considerable acclaim both inside and outside Japan. After YMO disbanded in 1984, Hosono released a number of solo albums covering a variety of styles, including film soundtracks, and a variety of electronic ambient albums.

In 2002 Haruomi formed the duo Sketch Show with his YMO band-mate Yukihiro Takahashi. When the third former YMO member, Ryuichi Sakamoto deepened his involvement it was decided to bill those collaborations as Human Audio Sponge—the trio eventually reformed, taking the name HASYMO or HAS/YMO (combining the names of Human Audio Sponge and Yellow Magic Orchestra), but would later return to using the Yellow Magic Orchestra name.

In 2007, his fellow YMO members and other artist paid tribute to Haruomi with a 2-disc album titled "Tribute to Haruomi" in Spring of 2007. Also, that same year, the animated film EX MACHINA (Appleseed) was released worldwide, which featured a soundtrack performed and supervised by Haruomi Hosono.