Masaki Haruna (Japanese: 春名 真樹, Hepburn: Haruna Masaki; born May 3), better known as Klaha, is a Japanese former singer-songwriter. He is best known as third vocalist of the visual kei rock band Malice Mizer from 2000 to 2001. He was previously in the 1990s new wave band Pride of Mind, and started a solo career after leaving Malice Mizer.
Bands
- Malice Mizer - former member
Credited On
No disc here credits them by name - the catalogue holds 1 release by Malice Mizer, credited to the band.
Biography
From the en.wikipedia article Klaha (CC BY-SA 4.0), revision 1368066887.
Early Life
Haruna was born on May 3 in Osaka, Kansai, Japan. In his early life, he was interested in classical music, opera, and chansons. He enjoyed the works of classical composers like Frédéric Chopin and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
1992–1996: Pride of Mind
Haruna started his musical career in the late 1980s or early 1990s as a keyboardist. Around this time, he gained a liking for artists such as Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, and Susumu Hirasawa. In February or September 1992, along with one of his former band members, Atsushi Fukuyama, he co-founded a new wave band named Pride of Mind. Haruna was the vocalist and lyricist of the band. He left Pride of Mind in 1996 with no intention to continue his musical career in the future. Haruna's only full-length album with Pride of Mind was Systems of Romance. Following his departure from the band, he modeled in at least one advertisement for a secondhand fashion shop.
2000–2001: Malice Mizer
Four years after Haruna's departure from Pride of Mind, in 2000, his friend Yu~ki, the bassist of Malice Mizer, invited him to provide vocals for the band's upcoming album, Bara no Seidou. Haruna adopted the name "Klaha" as his artistic pseudonym. His first release with the band was the "Shiroi Hada ni Kurū Ai to Kanashimi no Rondo" single. The Bara no Seidou album was released on August 23, 2000. Klaha remained a session vocalist until Malice Mizer's live at the Nippon Budokan in September 2000, when he became an official member of the band. In 2001, along with his fellow members of Malice Mizer, Klaha starred in a feature-length vampire movie Bara no Konrei (Mayonaka ni Kawashita Yakusoku). The band released three singles featuring Klaha as the vocalist: "Gardenia", "Beast of Blood", and "Garnet ~Kindan no Sono e~". Malice Mizer disbanded in December 2001.
2002–2004: Solo Career
Following Malice Mizer's disbandment, Klaha decided to start a solo career. He drastically changed his image, dropping Malice Mizer's gothic aesthetic and sound in favor of light, sentimental pop music, and billing himself as a "pop artist". In December 2002, he released a full-length album titled Nostal Lab, followed by the single "Märchen" in 2003. Both of those releases were accompanied by live tours. In 2004, he released an EP titled "Setsubou". After a live appearance in April 2004, Klaha's releases and performances stopped without explanation. His official website was shut down in 2009. It is presumed he permanently retired from public life. The musical rights to his solo work are partially managed by S4MG, which released his "Märchen" single on digital platforms in 2017. Malice Mizer guitarist Mana said he tried contacting Klaha in regards to him participating in the band's 25th anniversary concerts in September 2018, but received no response.