GARO was a Japanese Folk Rock group with influences from Soft Rock, Progressive Rock and Hard Rock which formed in 1970 and split up in [yearsplit[1976[/yearsplit]. Members: ** Vocals, chorus, guitar, mandolin, piano: VOCAL (ボーカル; real name 大野真澄/Masumi Ohno; born on October 23, 1949) ** Vocals, chorus, guitar, mandolin, sitar, piano, superior pipes: MARK (マーク; real name 堀内護/Mamoru Horiuchi; born on February 2, 1949, died on December 9, 2014) ** Vocals, chorus, guitar, mandolin, koto: TOMMY (トミー; real name 日高富明/Tomiaki Hidaka; born on February 22, 1950, died on September 20, 1986 ) History: The band was composed of Mark "MARK" Horiuchi (1949–2014), Tomiaki "TOMMY" Hidaka (1950–1986) and Masumi "VOCAL" Ohno (b. 1949). They recorded with Columbia (under a deal worked out with then-publishing company Alfa and Associates) and had a few chart hits, including no. 1 "Gakuseigai-no-Kissaten" in 1973. Subsequent singles also reached the top of the Japanese Oricon chart. Garo formed in 1970 and was the first Japanese acoustic rock band to enter the Japanese charts. Their harmony vocals and acoustic guitar playing, which were heavily influenced by the style of Crosby Stills Nash and Young, became a phenomenon in Japan 1973/74. The band was formed in November 1970 when Ohno joined Horiuchi and Hidaka, who had been in a GS band called " Milk " (Hot Milk) with Shigeru Matsuzaki and others . After playing in Hiroshi Kamayatsu 's backing band , they signed with the new label Mushroom Records as the first artists to be released on the label. Mickey Curtis was the producer. In August 1971 , they performed at the 3rd All Japan Folk Jamboree held in Gifu Prefecture . In October of the same year, they made their debut with the single "Tanpopo". In November of the same year, they released the album "GARO" . However, Mushroom Records, the label to which he was signed, was in a difficult position due to poor sales, and as a solution, they decided to have Garo, who had the highest sales on the label, sing a song by an outside writer in the hopes of producing a hit single . In 1972 , they released their second album, GARO2. In June of the same year, a single was released from this album with the first track, "Utsukushisugite," on the A-side and the third track, " Kissaten in the Student Town " on the B-side, but it did not initially appear high on the singles charts. In December of the same year, they released their third album, GARO3, and around the same time, "Kissaten in the Student Town" on the B-side of "Utsukushisugite," began to attract requests on radio and cable broadcasts . It rose to number one on the Oricon singles chart on February 19, 1973 , and became a huge hit, topping the chart for seven consecutive weeks until April 2. This led to a dramatic increase in the number of media appearances such as TV, but during the period of their success, vocalist Ohno was hospitalized, and until his return, Horiuchi and Hidaka had to handle the schedule alone. The album "GARO LIVE " was released in June 1973, featuring two additional tracks (studio recordings) from a concert held at Yokosuka City Cultural Hall on February 26, 1973 , when "Kissaten in the Student District" was a hit. The album included two additional tracks, " Kimi no Tanjo" (Your Birthday ) and "Sanpo" (Stroll), which were released as singles in May. In the same year, the album "GARO4" was released, including the single " Romance ". "Himai no Gakufu" (One Sheet of Music), released in December 1973, was Hidaka's first vocal song since becoming a major label. The brass rock arrangement reached 8th place in the weekly rankings. At the end of the year, the album won the Popular Award at the 15th Japan Record Awards and the New Artist Award at the 6th Japan Cable Awards . The album also appeared at the 24th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen . The following year , in 1974, the singles "Princess Dressing Table" and "Picnic" and the concept album "CIRCUS" were released, but they did not achieve the same hit as "Kissaten in the Student District." Her next album, Minstrel, featured performances by Yuming's then-backing band, Caramel Mama (Tin Pan Alley), and contained many great performances. At the time, it was common for folk singers not to appear on television, but Garo members appeared on music shows as well as variety shows such as " Zojirushi Star Imitation Battle " and the Celebrity Volleyball Tournament, where they performed impersonations and participated in competitions, something unusual for a folk rock group at the time. As all their hit songs were written by professional writers, the impression was created that "they 're just pop songs ," and they were purged from the folk and rock worlds . However, the rapid success of the band led to a sudden decline in their popularity, and the differences in musical opinions among the members became more intense, leading to the band's farewell concert held at Kanda Kyoritsu Auditorium on March 20, 1976 , which marked the end of their activities. The reasons for the breakup included musical conflicts over Hidaka Tomiaki 's shift to rock music, as well as the fact that Ohno Masumi had become more and more attracted to Yoshida Takuro, both musically and as a person. Until then, they had placed importance on harmony in their musicality, but when they decided to ask Takuro to write songs for them, the three of them went to Takuro's house, but compared to Ohno, the other two were not as enthusiastic, and suggested that Takuro just produce the songs, which made Takuro angry, and the conversation fell through. They decided that they could no longer work together and decided to break up. The album "Mitsumataji" was their last original album. After the band disbanded in the 1980s, Horiuchi and Hidaka performed together under the name Garo at live houses in Tokyo, but this was a short-lived activity. After that, the three continued to work separately, but on September 20 , 1986 , Hidaka fell to his death from an apartment building near his home. He was 36 years old. After his activities with the group after the group's disbandment and his solo career, Horiuchi took a break from public music activities for a while, but later resumed them. He passed away on December 9 , 2014 at the age of 65. Currently, only Ohno is active. In 2004, on the TBS music program "Getsuyo Kumikyoku : Kaze no Youni Uta ga Nagare Ita" host Kazumasa Oda performed "Chikyu wa Merry-go-round" along with an anecdote about his relationship with Tomiaki Hidaka . Oddly enough, the anniversary of Hidaka's death and Oda's birthday are the same day (September 20th). On November 29, 2006, a limited edition CD box set, "GARO BOX", was released. It also included a DVD with rare footage of their TV appearances, but the video footage of their cover of CSN&Y was canceled after a complaint from the composer of the original song. After the release was postponed twice, on July 12 and then to late August, no arrangements could be made, and the recording was cancelled. It was finally released from Sony Music Entertainment Japan (which inherited the bulk of the Alfa catalogue when it was bought by Sony) on 30 November 2006 (NO.JP0604-01). Discography: Albums: 1971.11.25 - GAROファースト (GARO first or simply GARO) 1972.06.25 - GARO2 1972.12.10 - GARO3 1973.06.25 - GARO LIVE 1973.10.10 - GARO4 1974.05.25 - CIRCUS (サーカス) 1975.06.25 - 吟遊詩人 (Ginyuushijin) 1975.12.25 - 三叉路 (Sansaro) Singles: 1971.10.10 - たんぽぽ/一人で行くさ (Tanpopo/Hitori de iku sa) 1972.02.10 - 地球はメリーゴーランド/水色の世界 (Chikyū wa merīgōrando/Mizuiro no sekai) 1972.06.20 - 美しすぎて/学生街の喫茶店 (Utsukushisugite/Gakuseigai no kissaten) 1972.10.10 - 涙はいらない/明日になれば (Namida wa iranai/Ashita ni nareba) 1973.05.10 - 君の誕生日/散歩 (Kimi no tanjōbi/Sanpo) 1973.08.25 - ロマンス/二人だけの昼下り (Romansu/Futari dake no hirusagari) 1973.12.10 - 一枚の楽譜/憶えているかい (Ichi mai no gakufu/Oboete iru kai) 1974.03.15 - 姫鏡台/僕は死なないだろう (Hime kyōdai/Boku wa shinanai darō) 1974.07.01 - ピクニック/西行き列車 (Pikunikku/Nishi iki ressha) 1974.12.01 - ビートルズはもう聞かない/惑 (Bītoruzu wa mō kikanai/Madowasu) 1975.05.01 - 一本の煙草/吟遊詩人 (Ippon no tabako/Gin'yūshijin) 1976.01.01 - さいごの手紙/青春の旅路 (Saigo no tegami/Seishun no tabiji) 2003.00.00 - 学生街の喫茶店/美しすぎて (Gakuseigai no kissaten/Utsukushisugite)