Yukihiro Takahashi is a Japanese musician, who is best known as the drummer and lead vocalist of the Yellow Magic Orchestra.  Yukihiro Takahashi first came to prominence as the drummer of the Sadistic Mika Band, and became known to western audiences after this band (led by Kazuhiko Katoh, formerly of The Folk Crusaders) toured and recorded in the United Kingdom. After the Sadistic Mika Band disbanded, some of the members (including Takahashi) formed another band called The Sadistics, who...

Yukihiro Takahashi is a Japanese musician, who is best known as the drummer and lead vocalist of the Yellow Magic Orchestra.  Yukihiro Takahashi first came to prominence as the drummer of the Sadistic Mika Band, and became known to western audiences after this band (led by Kazuhiko Katoh, formerly of The Folk Crusaders) toured and recorded in the United Kingdom. After the Sadistic Mika Band disbanded, some of the members (including Takahashi) formed another band called The Sadistics, who released several albums. Finally Takahashi recorded his first solo album Saravah in 1977. In 1978, Takahashi joined Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono to form the Yellow Magic Orchestra.  After the Yellow Magic Orchestra disbanded in the mid 80s, Takahashi went solo and released a large number of solo albums, primarily intended for the Japanese market. Takahashi has collaborated extensively with other musicians, including Bill Nelson, Iva Davies of Icehouse, Keiichi Suzuki of the Moonriders (often as a duo dubbed "The Beatniks", although Suzuki essentially functioned as a member of Takahashi's backing band during the Moonriders' brief hiatus) and in particular Steve Jansen. Takahashi has released a single Stay Close and an EP Pulse as a duo with Jansen.  Takahashi participated in temporary reunions of both the Sadistic Mika Band (missing the lead vocalist Mika who was replaced by Kaela Kimura), and The Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). Both of these reunions included tours of Japan, and an album of new material.  Currently Takahashi is a member of the duo Sketch Show, with Haruomi Hosono. Sketch Show has released two albums, one of which, Loophole, has been released in the UK.  His latest solo album Blue Moon Blue was released on 03/15/06 in Japan.  Both Takahashi and Hosono have recently reunited with Sakamoto as HASYMO - a combination of Human Audio Sponge and Yellow Magic Orchestra. This collaboration produced a new single "Rescue" in 2007 and a new album looks to be in the pipeline in the near future.