Formed in Tokyo in 1973, The Alfee started as a folk-oriented quartet linked to Meiji Gakuin’s student music scene, then solidified as a trio in 1975: Masaru Sakurai (bass, vocals), Kohnosuke Sakazaki (acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals), and Toshihiko Takamizawa (electric guitar, vocals), with Takamizawa later becoming the band’s main songwriter and leader. They debuted on record as Alfie with the single “Natsu Shigure” (August 25, 1974) and followed with their first album Seishun no Kioku (July 25, 1975), but label tensions in the mid-1970s stalled their momentum until a restart with a new deal and the single “Love Letter” in 1979. Their commercial breakthrough arrived in 1983 with “Marie-Anne,” which also led to high-profile TV exposure and kicked off decades of large-scale live activity, including a famed 100,000-attendance Tokyo Bay show in 1986 and a long-running tradition of Budokan performances. Across the 1980s and beyond, they pivoted toward a harder rock sound while keeping all three members as vocalists, and they became an Oricon fixture with a long streak of top-10 singles, later adding milestones like a Guinness World Record tied to marathon broadcast theme songs, the 2015 alter-ego project The KanLeKeeZ (and its 2016 album), and major anniversary events. The band have held their 50th-anniversary Budokan concerts in December 2023, released the 2024 double A-side “Ko.Da.Ma.” / “Romance ga Maiorite Kita Yoru,” and 2025’s “Heart of Rainbow”. In December 2025, the group released the album titled Kimiga Ikiru Imi.
