Ox

Ox (オックス, Okkusu) is a Japanese GS band formed in 1968 to 1971. They were well known with their albums and songs, but they changed members through the late 1960s to early 70s.

History
The band was created in November 1967, led by Toshio Fukui and Yuji Iwata, who were former members of The Kings (ザ・キングス), another GS band. Members were Toshio Fukui and Yuji Iwata, as well members from other music shops such as Shiro Okada and Norio Sugiyama at the McCoys, Ai Akamatsu at Hataris, and Atsushi Kuriyama at Sanders. On December 1, the group will take the first stage at "Number Ichiban" in Osaka. Hideto Noguchi, who was enrolled in the backbone at the time of formation, officially joined the group on December 28.

In January 1968, Norio Sugiyama and Atsushi Kuriyama left the group to pursuit their job career, but they still played an active role in the Kansai performance of the Swedish instrumental band "Sputniks" who had came to Japan in January. The Ox's "Goodbye Performance", which was decided to move to Tokyo on March 17, was so popular in Kansai that it was held at a club in Umeda, Osaka. After moving to Tokyo, they were camp at the 2DK apartment in Shibuya.

Before their debut, the group performed at a jazz cafe in Tokyo. With the performance of them falling off the stage and fainting because they were o enthusiastic during the show, it quickly became popular, especially fan girls. In May 1968, they made their record debut with "Girlfriend" (6th on the Oricon chart). The group became poplar as Hideto Noguchi's sweet singing voice (who had joined the band in January) and Ai Akamatsu's fairy tale atmosphere attracted many girls and their popularity soared. Later, they released their many hit songs such as "Dancing Seventeen" (28th on the Oricon chart), "Tears of Swan" (7th on the Oricon chart) and "I'm On Fire" (18th on the Oricon chart) were skipped one after another, becoming a super popular group alongside The Tigers and Tempters.

The use as a concert venue was often refused by theaters and local governments due to protests by the PTA and the Jijoren, as well as by the media and the educational community. (Ai Akamatsu later revealed that he fainting was just acting. Ai Akamatsu suddenly disappeared on May 5, 1969, and after appeared a month latter, he then left the band after got a call from a distributor about music copies. To find a new replacement, Hideto and Toshio meet Yûsuke Natsu (later became an actor) and he joined the band who was planning to participate in the formation of another GS band, Olive, on May 10, but the GS gere was already sluggish around this time, and the popularity of Ox was beginning to fade. On May 31, 1971, when the GS boom came to an end, they perforce their last concert the at Ikebukuro's jazz cafe "ACB" and was finally disbanded in mid-1971.

Members

 * Toshio Fukui - band leader, bass (born January 29, 1947 - )        Real name: same     (Nickname: Toshio)
 * Hideto Noguchi - vocal (born November 27, 1950 - )   Real name: Masayuki Nouchi    Stage name: Hideto Maki    (Nickname: Hideto)
 * Ai Akamatsu - keyboard, vocal  (Born February 14, 1951 - )  Real name: Yoshinobu Akamatsu    Disappeared in May 1969 and appeared a month later to tell the group that he want to leave the band  to took over his family business and is now a company owner.      (Nickname: Ai-chan)
 * Yuji Iwata - drums (born April 15, 1946 - )   Real name: same     (Nickname: Yuji)
 * Shiro Okada - guitar (born June 9, 1949  - )   Real name: same       (Nickname: Shiro)
 * Yusuke Taura - keyboard (born October 30, 1950 - died January 27, 2010)   Joining as Akamatsu's replacement, he started his solo singer debut and acting activities under the name of Yusuke Natsu in 1970, and after the dissolution, he completely turned into an actor for Toho and Toei companies.  Real name: Hisayuki Taura         (Nickname: Yuki)

Former members

 * Norio Sugiyama (guitar)
 * Jun Kuriyama (vocals)

Major hit songs

 * Girlfriend  (ガールフレンド, Gārufurendo); (May 1968)
 * Dancing Seventeen  (ダンシング・セブンティーン, Danshingu sebuntīn); (September 1968)
 * Tears of Swan (スワンの涙, Suwan'nonamida); (December 1968)
 * I'm On Fire  (僕は燃えてる, Boku wa moe teru)   (March 1969)
 * Rosario Forever  (ロザリオは永遠に, Rozario wa eien ni)   (June 1969)

Appearance
Televisions:


 * July 12, 1968 -  "Young 720"  *Semi-regular appearance      (broadcast: TBS TV)
 * October 1968 -  "LOL Young Pops"  *Guest appearance      (broadcast: Nippon TV)
 * October 1968  -  "Let's Go! Young Sounds"  *Guest appearance     (broadcast: Fuji TV)
 * January - March 1969 - "Din Don Dunn"   *Regular appearance and starring Akiko Wada          (broadcast: Nippon TV)

Movies:


 * July 20, 1968 -  "An Angel's Temptation"  (Starring Jun Mayuzumi & directed by Kogi Tanaka)                               (Distributed by: Shochiku)
 * March 29, 1969 -  "Fallen Leaves And Kiss"  (Starring Village Singers, Nana Ozaki, and Hiroshi Fujioka, directed by Kōichi Saitō)        (Distributed by: Shochiku)
 * May 2, 1970 -  "Alleycat Rock: Female Boss"  (Starring Meiko Kaji, Akiko Wada & The Mops, directed by Yasuharu Hasebe)               (Distributed by: Nikkatsu)

Gallery