History Main / KenjiSawada

* HiddenDepths: Shiro Kishibe, despite being the least musically fluent of The Tigers, having been taught guitar by Taro rather than learning himself and playing tamborine and singing before actually being able to play guitar like he was brought in to do, is the most English proficient of the band, a very talented writer, and a seiyuu, voicing Mammoth Kong in AshitaNoJoe.

* CoverVersion: Have covered TheZombies "Time Of The Season" and several RollingStones BeeGees and TheBeatles standards, with Ittoku singing "Tell Me", and Julie singing "Nowhere Man".

* VocalTagTeam: Usually guitarist Katsumi "Toppo" Kahashi or Kenji Sawada would be on lead, but occasionally bassist Ittou Kishibe would StepUpToTheMic.
* TheWoobie: Kishibe Shiro, the Tigers second guitarist and tag vocalist and Osami "Sally" Kishibe's younger brother. His life story is a real tear jerker. His first wife divorced him after he went bankrupt, and when he was 52, his second wife of 7 years died at the age of 43 without warning, causing him to be in a catatonic state for many days. In 2011, he had a brain aneurysm, and like TaijiSawada, it ended up changing his appearance, making him appear much more frail than he actually is, and he needed a wheelchair for a while Although the good thing is, like Taiji, his skill never faded, as his voice is still almost as powerful as it was in the 1980s and 1970s.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: To most people today, Kenji "Julie" Sawada's antics onstage seem mundane in the age of artists like MaliceMizer, DirEnGrey and the like, but at the time he was in his prime years(1975-1982), Sawada's onstage antics on songs like STRIPPER were considered darlingly sexual and flamboyant, and producer/bandmate Kunihiko Kase's invention of the term "Visual" to describe Sawada's onstage costuming and persona. This later was taken by AtsushiSakurai and YoshikiHayashi and turned further into the VisualKei movement.

* IntercourseWithYou: STRIPPER, the title is self-explanatory, and the fist live of it actually [[TooSexyForThisTimeslot moved to watershed hours]] for NHK's 1981 New Years Eve show.

* LongRunner: First debuted in 1964, disbanded in 1971, reunited in 1981, disbanded again in 1983, had a mini=reunion in 2011, are reuniting again December of 2013.

* LongRunner: First debuted in 1964, disbanded in 1971, reunited in 1981, disbanded again in 1983, are reuniting again December of 2013.

[[IThoughtThatWas ''Probably'' not related to]] the [[Music/TaijiSawada bassist]] of X and Loudness.

'''Kenji "Julie" Sawada''' (born 1948) is a Japanese musician, actor and composer, best known to Americans for being in MishimaALifeInFourChapters. His claim to fame among Japanese is perhaps, according to many, such as {{SMAP}}, with planting the seeds of the VisualKei movement. His manner of dress when he performed, his heavy use of makeup, and his tendency to not seperate his stage personality from his real one are all traits later adopted by most VisualKei groups. His band, the Tigers, were one of many attempts to cash in on the Beatles by Japanese record labels, his was the most successful, with composer Koichi Sugiyama (yes,[[DragonQuest that one]]) giving much of their songs a very classical feel.. After the breakup of The Tigers, Sawada formed the SuperGroup PYG, bringing together many of his former rivals as musicians and churning out three albums. He later began a very successful solo career and became apt to a Japanese DavidBowie, acting in many roles to this day.

* UnbuiltTrope: Not only the costuming and makeup, but the very onstage act of VisualKei vocalists can be traced to Sawada. Just watch any of his live performances and you'll see the same type of behavior later made famous internationally by vocalists such as ToshimitsuDeyama of XJapan, such as wildly expressive gesticulating and even outright showing sadness or other emotions onstage.

* NewSoundAlbum: Human Renascence was the most ambitious effort by the Tigers, shifting them into total Baroque Pop territory. Their next three albums led by new guitarist/vocalist Shiro Kishibe took the band in a more PsychedelicRock direction, with a bit of dabbling in BaroquePop still.

* StageNames: In addidtion to the VisualKei UnbuiltTrope of costuming, the Tigers also used stage names most of the time(Which most VisKei bands also do), with Kenji Sawada going by Julie, and guitarist Shiro Kishibe going by Toppo.
* VocalTagTeam: Usually guitarist Shiro "Toppo" Kishibe or Kenji Sawada would be on lead, but occasionally bassist Ittou Kishibe would StepUpToTheMic.