吉井和哉 Yoshii Kazuya was born 吉井一哉 on October 8, 1966. He formed the band The Yellow Monkey in Tokyo in 1988 handling guitar, songwriting and later vocals. They signed to Columbia, and released their first album in 1992 climbing into the Orikon charts with their fourth album. They held their last concert in 2001, and Yoshii made his solo debut as YOSHII LOVINSON in 2003 before reverting to the name 吉井和哉 in 2006. Despite having a new back up band