WOWAKA (November 4, 1987 - April 5, 2019) was a Japanese musician. Songs using the voice synthesis software, such as Hatsune Miku, were uploaded onto the Japanese video platform, Nico Nico Douga. Since 2011, he had been active as vocals and lead guitar for the rock band, Hitorie. His moniker is regularly stylized as "wowaka".

About the Artist

wowaka was born in Kagoshima prefecture. He became interested in rock bands when he was a junior high school student and started learning to play the guitar. He was actively practicing during high school and university. While studying at the University of Tokyo, he served as the head of the "Tokyo University Sound Appreciation" group and began composing for a local band's original songs.

He had first heard about Vocaloid in December 2008 after listening to "Last Night, Good Night" and was stunned by the beauty and emotions that the song elicited. Additionally, he was amazed that the song was made by only a single person and thus commenced producing music using Hatsune Miku in April 2009, in addition to his band activities.

His first song was "In the Gray Zone" which was released on Nico Nico Douga in May 2009. In order to maintain consistency, the song and subsequent songs did not feature much in the way of visual works, including the lack of inclusion of Vocaloid characters. One of the main reasons is that he felt it more important to convey his ideas through song. Originally, he was only writing songs with a basic understanding on how to use the Vocaloid software but later on learned to manipulate the software to his desire. He had a close relationship with the Vocaloid creator Hachi, better known as the musician Yonezu Kenshi, and his band sound is similar in style to another Vocaloid producer Jin and has described his music has "Vocaloid-like".

wowaka's work was especially popular through his niconico videos and after releasing a self-produced CD, he helped establish BALLOOM on March 4, 2011, which was a new record label for musicians who mainly publish music on the Internet. The first nationwide album under the label was Unhappy Refrain which was released on May 18, 2011. Other works include Uraomote Lovers, World's End Dancehall, and Rolling Girl.

He was in charge of the lyrics and composition for the ending theme song "and I'm home" which were released in the Blu-ray/DVD releases of "Magical Girl Madoka Magica".

In 2011, he was performing vocals and guitar for the rock band Hitorie. On August 22, 2017 he released the song Unknown Mother Goose after a 6-year hiatus from Vocaloid activities. The song was a part of Hatsune Miku's 10th Anniversary compilation album, "HATSUNE MIKU 10th Anniversary Album 'Re:Start'". On October 23 of the same year, he released a self-covered version of the song with his band "Hitorie".

Death

wowaka passed away from acute heart failure on April 5, 2019. He was 31 years old. His family held a private ceremony.
When news of his passing was made public, he quickly rose to the top trend worldwide and remained in the number one spot for over 24 hours. Over one million tweets were send globally from fans and artists alike, expressing their grief. For a large number of fans, his music was what brought them into the Vocaloid fanbase and popular Vocaloid fan-dedicated websites contained countless posts and fan artwork for the beloved artist.
Fellow artists tweeted articles or heartfelt messages and were retweeted in the thousands. The Hitorie official website was so frequently accessed that at times connectivity to the site would be broken.
Hitorie announced that they would take a break from all tours in the immediate future. After approximately one month after his death, Hitorie would resume activities.

Popular Songs Featuring Hatsune Miku

wowaka's most popular songs are listed below.

Song Title	Release Date
Rolling Girl	Feb 14, 2010
World's End Dancehall	May 18, 2010
Two-Faced Lovers	Aug 30, 2009
Unhappy Refrain	May 2, 2011
Unknown Mother Goose	Aug 22, 2018

Links

Official website
Twitter account
Instagram
pixiv
Nico Nico Douga account
Hitorie's YouTube account
Wikipedia