Hiroomi Tosaka (登坂 広臣, Tosaka Hiroomi; born March 12, 1987) is a Japanese singer and actor. He is a vocalist of the J-pop group, Sandaime J Soul Brothers He joined the group after winning the Vocal Battle Audition 2 alongside Ryuji Imaichi. As a member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers, he has received the Japan Record Awards twice.
Tosaka debuted as an actor in the 2014 film Hot Road, for which he won the Newcomer of the Year Award at the 38th Japan Academy Film Prize. In 2019, he starred in Yuki no Hana ("Snow Flower"), a romance film based on Mika Nakashima's famous song of the same title.
In 2017, he debuted as a soloist with the digital single "Wasted Love", while remaining a member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers. For his solo activities he uses his birth name stylized as HIROOMI TOSAKA. In April 2019, he released "Blue Sapphire", the theme song for the film Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire (名探偵コナン 紺青の拳(こんじょうのフィスト)) included in his single "Supermoon" released on April 10.
On February 20, 2021, as he moved his solo project to his own company CDL entertainment(LDH Records), where he can produce on his own, he changed his stage name as an solo singer into ØMI.
On October 15, 2021, he released the digital single "Answer... Shine". The song "You" on this single was produced by Suga from BTS. It topped iTunes Top Songs Chart in 42 countries and regions around the world, and ranked No. 3 on Billboard World Digital Song Sales Weekly Charts.
Contents
Early life
Hiroomi Tosaka was born on March 12, 1987, in Tokyo, Japan. He did not have too much enthusiasm about studying as a high school student, so he decided to go to a technical college for hairstylists after high school without too much consideration about his future. He went to Kubota Barber Beauty College, and after graduation, he worked at a hair salon. He quit his job after 6 months and started to work as a shop assistant at an apparel store in Daikanyamachō, Shibuya. The customers he served during that times included Takahiro and Ryohei Suzuki.
Though he was always fond of singing, he considered being a singer a dream too unrealistic to achieve, and therefore preferred a future as a hairstylist. When he was studying at Kubota Barber Beauty College, Takahiro passed the Vocal Battle Audition 2006: Asian Dream and became a vocalist of Exile. Tosaka was very much impressed and inspired by this since Takahiro had also been a hairstylist before the audition. For this reason, the dream of becoming a singer became serious for him.
Career
In February 2010, Tosaka participated in Exile presents Vocal Battle Audition 2: ~Yume o Motta Wakamono-tachi e~. He received a flyer and decided to have a try, but he did not have any experience at singing besides being good at Karaoke. Since he had not received professional vocal training or sung in public before, he was called the "Cinderella Boy without Experience" during the audition. However, his talent began to show and helped him to pass the audition. He then met Ryuji Imaichi in the second round of the audition, and they both considered each other to be strong competitors after seeing their performances for the first round on Shûkan Exile's coverage of the audition. As Imaichi and Tosaka both were selected as two of the ten finalists after the third round, it was announced that the two winners of Vocal Battle Audition 2 would become the vocalists of the new dance and vocal group Sandaime J Soul Brothers. On September 15, 2010, the final round of the audition was held at Akasaka Blitz music venue, and Tosaka won the audition alongside Ryuji Imaichi. The two became the vocalists of Sandaime J Soul Brothers. A few days later, as they finished the recording of Sandaime J Soul Brothers' first single "Best Friend's Girl", the seven members of Sandaime J Soul Brothers met each other for the first time. On September 27, he made his first public appearance as a singer during the Fantasy Goya-sai: Exile Tamashī (FANTASY後夜祭～EXILE魂～; FANTASY Late Night Festival ~EXILE Soul~) live performance from Exile at Toyota Stadium. On November 10, Tosaka made his mainstream debut as member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers with the single, "Best Friend's Girl".
In February and March 2012, Tosaka participated in VBA Live Tour 2012 Vocal Battle Stage held in Tokyo and Osaka, alongside other LDH's vocalists who have participated in the Vocal Battle Audition. This is the first time he performed without performers after his debut. From 2012 to 2015, Tosaka was a studio commentator for the reality television show Terrace House: Boys × Girls Next Door and the film Terrace House: Closing Door. From November 2012 to March,2013, he also appeared in TBS's music variety show EX-LOUNGE.
In August 2014, he made his acting debut in the film Hot Road. Leading the film alongside Rena Nōnen, he played Hiroshi Haruyama, who was a member of the motorcycle gang "Nights" and fell in love with Rena Nōnen's character Kazuki Miyaichi, a troubled teenage girl. With his role in this film, he won Best New Artist Award at the 39th Hochi Film Awards, Sponichi Grand Prize Newcomer Award at the 69th Mainichi Film Awards, the New Actor Award at the 24th Japan Movie Critics Awards, and the Newcomer of the Year Award as well as Popularity Award at the 38th Japan Academy Film Prize.
Personal life
He has an older sister.
He played soccer in his school days, and enjoys following soccer.
He expressed in several occasion that Takahiro has a major influence on his life and his music career. Takahiro's success during the Vocal Battle Audition 1 inspired Tosaka to take part in Vocal Battle Audition 2, which led to his debut as vocalist of Sandaime J Soul Brothers. Takahiro also encouraged him to debut as an actor.
