<figure id="attachment_400362" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 857px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-400362"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="84da4656"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/11/ffb036d61f0c35653349f86f79f08694.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-400362" class="wp-caption-text">TERU and his wife Ami Onuki leaving the venue of TERU&#8217;s 41st birthday party in &#8217;12. HISASHI and JIRO were also spotted at the venue (from the June 29, &#8217;12 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> The breakup of the popular four-piece band &#8220;GL&#8221; was decided in 1999.</span></h3>
<p>On November 8, the popular four-piece band &#8220;GLAY&#8221; held the first day of their 30th anniversary arena tour at Osaka-jo Hall. The tour will feature their 17th album &#8220;Back To The Pops&#8221; released in October, and they plan to perform 15 shows in 8 cities throughout Japan, attracting 150,000 people.</p>
<p>In order to promote the memorial year tour, vocalist TERU (53) and leader and guitarist TAKURO (53) have been making energetic appearances in the media, where they have revealed how well the members get along.</p>
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<p>On October 7, TAKURO appeared in a video uploaded on the YouTube channel of the comedy duo &#8220;New York. In the video, TAKURO revealed that he and the members have a close family relationship, saying, &#8220;I&#8217; <span class="strongInContent">m going to TERU&#8217;s mother-in-law&#8217;s birthday party today, too.</span> He also said that at the time of his debut, he had suggested that <span class="strongInContent">the members have only one car</span> so that they could all be together. However, he said, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;I am the first one to be picked up in the morning and I am the last one to leave,&#8221;</span> and that is why there are now two cars. Incidentally, he said that the pairing of the cars changed depending on where they were going.</p>
<p>On the other hand, however, TAKURO revealed in a VTR appearance on TV Asahi&#8217;s &#8220;Eight-Jam&#8221; broadcast on November 3 that there was actually a &#8220;breakup crisis.</p>
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<p>In 1999, &#8220;GLAY&#8221; had made great strides, winning the Japan Record Award and the Japan Cable Award with &#8220;Winter,again,&#8221; but TAKURO <span class="strongInContent">recalled that &#8220;we were tired as a band.</span> He also revealed that the band members who wanted to pursue music genuinely were at odds with the management, and that <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;the decision to break up had been made at New Year&#8217;s Eve 1999.</span></p>
<p>However, when the four members held a New Year&#8217;s party at their home on New Year&#8217;s Day, TAKURO asked, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;What are you going to do, TERU?</span> TERU said, &#8221; <span class="strongInContent">I want to sing some more, so I&#8217;m going to make a solo album.</span></p>
<p>However, since TERU &#8220;recruited&#8221; TAKURO, bassist JIRO (52), and guitarist HISASHI (52) to join him in his solo activities, TAKURO eventually realized <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;This is not &#8216;GLAY&#8217; at all!</span> He told us that he realized, &#8220;This is &#8216;GLAY,&#8217; isn&#8217;t it?</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Reason for being good friends for 30 years"></div>
<h3>The &#8220;fight&#8221; that won the rights</h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> All four members moved to Tokyo from Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, and through their early careers have grown into one of Japan&#8217;s leading bands. While many popular bands have been known to have disagreements and feuds among the members, &#8220;GLAY&#8221; is said to be the band with the best relationship among the members, with the four of them still having drinks together.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It is said that the relationship between the members of the band is the best, partly because they overcame the breakup crisis in 1999, but also because the members faced the same direction and won the battle to win their rights.</span></p>
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<p>Starting with &#8220;HOWEVER&#8221; (1997), &#8220;GLAY&#8221; had a string of million-seller hits in the late 1990s. In the same year, their first best album &#8220;REVIEW-BEST OF GLAY&#8221; sold 4.8 million copies, making them one of Japan&#8217;s leading bands. Surprisingly, however, the band&#8217;s financial situation at the time was difficult.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> The members did not earn a reasonable income because they were not backed up by a record company and had to pay for outdoor concerts and other expenses out of their own pocket, and the rights situation was complicated.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In 2001, a music publishing company that had a joint publishing contract with Unlimited Records (U), the company the members belonged to at the time, fought in court over the copyright fees for GLAY, and U won the case. However, this did not improve the treatment of the members, and U-sha began to neglect the payment of copyright royalties, so in May 2005, the members finally filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court demanding payment of unpaid royalties from U-sha.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In October 2009, the Tokyo District Court ruled that the copyrights to the songs written after November 2005 belonged to GLAY and awarded the company 670 million yen in copyright royalties to GLAY, thus settling the case.</span></p>
<p>The members of GLAY, who had shared hardships before their debut, and even after their big break, overcame such hardships as the breakup crisis and rights battles to strengthen their bond. They will probably continue to run together toward the 35th and 40th anniversaries.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="The beauty is amazing! Members of &quot;GLAY&quot; at the time of their debut"></div>
<figure id="attachment_400408" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-400408"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6b9d2a71"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/11/bc74907e7bf456636c6c9895ac013e51.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-400408" class="wp-caption-text">TERU &amp; Mr. &amp; Mrs. Ami Onuki shopping at Donki (from the Nov. 16, &#8217;18 issue)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_400363" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-400363"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="600fb163"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/11/e86ffa8d095d8eeaa2512bf971c7e049.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-400363" class="wp-caption-text">GLAY&#8221; the year after their debut. From right: TERU, HISASHI, TAKURO, and JIRO one after the other, with a strong visual-kei color (from the Jan. 27, 1995 issue).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_400364" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4096px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-400364"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7c2aed52"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/11/93b943af800d3cc958ab647f298c20d9.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-400364" class="wp-caption-text">From the official X (@glay_official)</figcaption></figure>


 Tetsuko Takemoto (1st photo), Kojiro Yamada (2nd photo), Yasuko Funamoto (3rd photo)

 This year marks the 30th anniversary of the debut of GLAY, a band known for the close bonds among its members since its debut, which is rare for a major band. Behind the strength of their bond lies a number of "ordeals" they have overcome over the years.

Why GLAY’s Members Have Stayed Close for 30 Years After Overcoming Breakup and Struggles

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