Toru Yamashita (Japanese: 山下 亨, Hepburn: Yamashita Tōru, born December 7, 1988, in Osaka[1]), better known by his stage name Toru, is the guitarist and leader of the Japanese rock band One Ok Rock.
He was in the hip-hop dance group Heads along with Ryota Kohama from One Ok Rock before they disbanded in 2002.[2]
Early life
Toru was born on December 7, 1988, in Osaka, Japan before moving to Tokyo. Ryota Kohama, bassist from One Ok Rock, is his childhood friend. With two other men, Kohei and Takuya, Toru and Ryota formed a hip-hop dance group called Heads when they were fifth and sixth-graders. They participated in dance competitions in the late 1990s, between the years 1995 to 1999.[3]
Career
Yamashita performing in 2017
Heads debuted with a single entitled "screeeem!" in July 2000 and followed with "Gooood or Bad!" in November, produced for Amuse, Inc. The group performed every weekend in Osaka's Kyoubashi and Tokyo's Akihabara, shopping and amusement districts.[4]
Heads disbanded in 2002 and in 2003 they took a break to improve their abilities. They merged into a new group with seven other members and were called GROUND 0.[citation needed]
In 2005, Toru took a main role in TV series Shibuya Fifteen.[5] He contributed a cameo as a high school student in Kamen Rider Hibiki.[6] That year, he invited Ryota, their upperclassman Alex and his friend Koyanagi Yuu to form a rock band. Later, Toru become the leader of this band, later named ONE OK ROCK. He met Takahiro Moriuchi when he performed with his previous band and then stalked him until he joined One Ok Rock, after repeated rejections.[7][8] After Alex quit the band, Yamashita switched from rhythm guitar to lead guitar.[9]
Toru Yamashita uses many guitars from time to time. Toru used Gibson Les Paul guitars in early One Ok Rock live concerts. He started with a Gibson Les Paul Standard Black and then purchased a Les Paul Custom Alpine White in 2009. Four years later, this guitar was signed by the members of Fall Out Boy on the front side and Avril Lavigne on the rear side. Toru has first seen using PRS Guitars during the band's final tour at Nippon Budokan. During the JinseixBoku era, he changed most of his guitar to PRS Guitars and hasn't been seen playing his Gibson Les Paul guitars as often. Recently, he has been using Fender Stratocaster since Eye of the Storm tour.[citation needed]
Personal life
On July 28, 2020, it was announced that Yamashita had been tested positive for COVID-19.[10]
On December 28, 2021 Toru announced on his Instagram that he has married actress and model Aya Omasa.[11]
