Before he became a part of the group, Ueda was part of several ジャニーズJr. groups such as B.B.A., M.A.D., B.B.D. and Toshiotoko. He became KAT-TUN’s leader early on but later quit the postion thus rendering the group leaderless from then on. However, it is a situation that all members are comfortable with. He is one of the few members who regularly compose music and lyrics for the group or himself, being able to play the piano and guitar, and has stated in the past that he prefers songwriting to acting — an occupation he did not take up seriously until 2009 when he performed as “Romeo” in the stageplay “Romeo & Juliet” and starred in his first television drama in Fuji TV’s “Konkatsu!” with senpai 中居正広 (Masahiro Nakai) of SMAP. Prior to this, he had performed with other KAT-TUN members as a supporting cast member in the musicals “Millenium Shock”, “Shock Geki Shock”, “Shock is Real Shock”, “Hey! Say! Dream Boy” and “Dream Boys”. He is also the first member of the group to hold a series of solo concerts of his own in September 2008 entitled “Mouse Peace” which featured songs he wrote across a myriad of genres such as dance, rock, ballad and folk. He later went on another solo tour entitled “Mouse Peace uniting with FiVe” in 2010. Ueda is also noted for his interest in boxing and has enough talent in the sport for him to be advised by professionals to acquire a license of his own. Ueda was also a co-host of KAT-TUN’s own variety/talk show, “Cartoon KAT-TUN”, from its inception in 2006 to its end in 2010. He is a co-host of a radio show called “R-One KAT-TUN” with bandmate 中丸雄一 (Yuichi Nakamaru) aired by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting. Some of his known solo songs are “Love in Snow”, “Pieces”, “Kakigoori”, “Sparking”, “Lost”, “Ai no Hana”, “Dictator”, “Hara Peko Man”, “Haruka Mirai e”, “Sodachi Jima”, “Teen’s”, “Time”, “Yankee Kata Omoi Chuu”, “Hana no Mau Machi”, “Rabbit or Wolf”, “Deep Red Drop”, “Friends”, “Marie Antoinette” and “Niitoman”. |
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