Koji Wada

Kōji Wada was a Japanese pop singer who was best known for performing theme songs for several installments of the Digimon anime television series. He made his recording debut in 1999 with his first and most famous single, "Butter-Fly", the theme song of the anime Digimon Adventure. He was signed with the Lantis recording label. His nickname was "Immortal Butterfly Singer". Wada was born in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, Japan. He had a passion for music since childhood and learned to play the guitar and the piano. He participated in several bands and auditioned for various record labels before being discovered by Michihiko Ohta, a composer and producer who worked on the Digimon series. Ohta invited Wada to sing the opening theme for Digimon Adventure, which became a huge hit and established Wada as a popular anisong singer. Wada continued to perform songs for the Digimon franchise, including opening themes for Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers, Digimon Frontier, Digimon Savers, and Digimon Xros Wars. He also performed two songs used as ending themes for Digimon Frontier, "Innocent: Mujaki na Mama de" and "an Endless tale" (with Ai Maeda). He sang various other songs for the series, such as "Bokura no Digital World" (the "memorial" theme for the series), "Yūki o Uketsugu Kodomo-tachi e" and also several Christmas songs. He also performed the theme song for Transformers: Robots in Disguise. In 2003, Wada released his first original album, All of My Mind, which included many of his previous works. He also collaborated in Michihiko Ohta's self-cover album Mirai e no Message: Ōta Michihiko Self-Cover, featuring in two tracks – a cover version of "Hontō no Tsuyosa" (Patamon's Theme) and in "3 Primary Colors" (the Tamers theme), along with Ai Maeda. Later, he released an album called The Best Selection: Welcome Back!. It contained several of his earlier works as well as two new songs, titled "Pierce" and "Kimi no Keshiki". On August 1, 2008, he debuted a mini-album titled Ever, which contained five brand new songs. An album titled Kazakami no Oka Kara, was sold at his live concerts in Japan throughout the end of 2009 in commemoration of his 10th anniversary in music, and it was released worldwide on January 11, 2010. Wada also performed in several live concerts and events, both in Japan and abroad. He visited Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Argentina, where he had many fans who loved his songs. He also participated in charity events and supported causes such as environmental protection and animal welfare. In 2003, Wada was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his upper pharynx and a lymph node on his neck, but he recovered after undergoing chemotherapy. However, in 2011, he announced that his cancer had metastasized and that he was putting his career on hold to focus on his treatment. He resumed his activities in 2013, but his health condition remained unstable. He died on April 3, 2016, at the age of 42. His last single, "Seven: tri. Version", was released only five days prior to his death. A tribute album for Wada was released in Japan on July 31, 2016, under the name of "Digimon Song Best of Koji Wada".