Ken Kitamura (北村 健), known professionally as ken, was born in Osaka, Japan on November 28, 1968. He is the guitarist of Japanese rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel. He is also the leader/guitarist/vocalist of the band, Sons Of All Pussys (also known as S.O.A.P) and has released a solo album entitled In Physical.

Two months before his graduation in 1992, Ken left the Nagoya Institute of Technology, where...

Ken Kitamura (北村 健), known professionally as ken, was born in Osaka, Japan on November 28, 1968. He is the guitarist of Japanese rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel. He is also the leader/guitarist/vocalist of the band, Sons Of All Pussys (also known as S.O.A.P) and has released a solo album entitled In Physical.

Two months before his graduation in 1992, Ken left the Nagoya Institute of Technology, where he was an architect major, to join  L'Arc~en~Ciel at the request of his childhood friend tetsu. He has written a breadth of L'Arc~en~Ciel's music ever since his joining, including "As If In A Dream", "Vivid Colors", "Niji", "The Fourth Avenue Café", "Shout At The Devil", "Kasou", "Lies and Truth", "Lover Boy", and "Twinkle Twinkle".

In 2002 Ken's own band, S.O.A.P, became active as a result of a break in L'Arc~en~Ciel's activities, with ex- L'Arc~en~Ciel member Yasunori Sakurazawa (Sakura) as the drummer, and Ein as the bassist (a half Japanese/German model who appears in a few L'Arc PVs). Each member contributed songs based on themes; Ken with love, Ein with Desire, and Sakura with his experiences in jail, and together they released three albums; Grace, Gimme A Guitar, High! and one single, Paradise. All S.O.A.P. activities have ceased since 2004. On August 23, 2006, Ken released a solo album titled In Physical, referring to himself as just Ken and has taken a new "clean" appearance similar to his early days with  L'Arc~en~Ciel.

Ken is currently an endorser for Fernandes Guitars and is usually seen playing these guitars live with  L'Arc~en~Ciel. However he tends to mod his models instead of using them stock. For instance, in the past he used to use Van Zandt pick-ups heavily in his own personal guitars and has since moved on to Kinman pick-ups (this change having now been reflected in one of his more recent FERNANDES musician models). However he has also used many different guitars in and out of L'Arc~en~Ciel, including Gibson, Fender, and Steinberger models.