Keita Tachibana (橘慶太) born on 16th December, 1985, also known as KEITA, is a Japanese pop and R&B singer. Since 2000, he rose to fame as the lead vocalist from the boy band w-inds. Tachibana came to national attention as the only male finalist in the 2000 Kyushu-Okinawa Starlight Audition. After that experience he joined forces with two dancers from Sapporo, Ryuichi Ogata and Ryohei Chiba, to form w-inds. In addition to his singing and dancing talents, KEITA plays piano, guitar and bass guitar. In addition to Tachibana's activities in w-inds., he launched a brief solo career, with his debut single "Michishirube" releasing on 18 October 2006. "Michishirube" served as the first ending theme to the anime Reborn! and debuted at #3 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. Shortly after the release of "Michishirube", Tachibana's first solo album, Koe, was released on November 29, 2006, and debuted at #5 on the first week on Oricon Weekly Albums Chart. Following its success, Tachibana's second single, "Friend", was released in May of 2007 as the first opening theme song to the anime Blue Dragon. After a five-year hiatus, late in 2012, Tachibana announced his intent to restart his solo career, this time under the stage name KEITA. His first single under his new name, "Slide 'n' Step" was released on February 20, 2013. http://keita-official.tv/