Ken Hirai

Okay, Ken Hirai is one of those artists I never get tired of recommending. He's got this tall, almost model-like frame, and then he opens his mouth and out pours this warm, velvety low register that just melts you—the contrast genuinely catches me off guard every time. The guy quietly stacks up karaoke immortals like "Hitomi wo Tojite" and "Rakuen," yet shrugs himself off as a "song idiot." I love that humility, especially since he even titled a photo book "A Lifetime of Song Idiocy" instead of acting like some untouchable diva. From his "Ken's Bar" cover sessions to nearly three decades in, his voice somehow keeps deepening rather than fading. Pure craft, zero ego. Easy artist to root for.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Ken Hirai is a Japanese singer-songwriter born on January 17, 1972, in Osaka and raised in Nabari, Mie Prefecture. He made his CD debut in 1995 with the single "Precious Junk," after winning a Sony Music Entertainment audition in 1993. His 2000 single "Rakuen" brought him widespread recognition, and his 2004 single "Hitomi wo Tojite," the theme song for the film Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World, became one of the best-selling singles of that year. He has continued to release music and perform through his 30th anniversary in 2025.

Name (English)

Ken Hirai

Name (Japanese)

平井堅

Reading

ひらいけん

Born

January 17, 1972 (age 54)

Origin

Osaka, Japan (birth) / Nabari, Mie, Japan (raised)

Height

183 cm

Occupation

Singer / Singer-songwriter

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Rat

Blood type

A

Agency

Pinnups Artist

Active years

1995–present

High school

Mie Prefectural Ueno High School

University

Yokohama City University, Faculty of Commerce

Debut

Made his CD debut in 1995 with the single "Precious Junk," which was used as the tie-up song for the Fuji TV drama Ousama no Restaurant.

Awards & achievements

• 2001 Japan Gold Disc Award – Rock Album of the Year (THE CHANGING SAME)
• 2002 Japan Gold Disc Award – Rock Album of the Year (gaining through losing)
• 2004 MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Male Artist Video (Hitomi wo Tojite)
• 2004 MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Movie Video (Hitomi wo Tojite)
• 2005 Japan Gold Disc Award – Rock & Pop Album of the Year (Ken Hirai 10th Anniversary Complete Single Collection '95-'05 Utabaka)
• 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Male Artist Video (POP STAR)
• 2007 Japan Gold Disc Award – Rock & Pop Album of the Year (LIFE is...)
• 2014 SPACE SHOWER Music Video Awards – Special Award (Ring)

Timeline

1. 1993Won the Sony Music Entertainment audition and signed with Sony Records
2. 1995Made his CD debut with the single "Precious Junk"
3. 2000Single "Rakuen" became a major hit, establishing his breakthrough
4. 2003Released the cover album Ken's Bar
5. 2004Single "Hitomi wo Tojite" (theme for Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World) became the year's biggest hit
6. 2004Album SENTIMENTALovers reached No. 1 on Oricon
7. 2005Released 10th-anniversary best-of album Utabaka
8. 2020Released the digital single "Kaibutsu-san feat. Aimyon"
9. 2025Held a 30th-anniversary concert at Yokohama Arena

Spouse

Unmarried

Hobbies

• Basketball
• Listening to music

Specialties

• Singing

Works summary

Works

224 (1995–2025)

By year (titles with a known year)

1995: 1, 1996: 4, 1997: 2, 1998: 3, 1999: 1, 2000: 26, 2001: 14, 2002: 11, 2003: 10, 2004: 14, 2005: 11, 2006: 6, 2007: 6, 2008: 11, 2009: 12, 2010: 5, 2011: 9, 2012: 7, 2013: 9, 2014: 8, 2015: 2, 2016: 8, 2017: 12, 2018: 13, 2019: 6, 2020: 1, 2021: 3, 2022: 1, 2025: 1, year unknown: 7

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://kenhirai.jp/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/hiraiken_official/
• Xhttps://x.com/KEN_HIRAI_staff
• YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwtMDxG0n0Yd0qds38ff0Q
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B9%B3%E4%BA%95%E5%A0%85
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q468166

Tags

• From Osaka
• Raised in Nabari, Mie
• Sony Music
• Pinnups Artist
• Hitomi wo Tojite
• Rakuen
• Utabaka
• Singer-songwriter

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.