Initially joining as their drummer in 1983, Sakurai fronted the band for 38 years and 23 studio albums, nearly all of which reached the top ten on Japan's Oricon chart.

[1] Sakurai released the solo album Ai no Wakusei in 2004, and was a member of Schwein alongside his Buck-Tick bandmate Hisashi Imai, Sascha Konietzko and Raymond Watts.

After falling ill during a Buck-Tick concert, Sakurai died from a brainstem hemorrhage in a Yokohama hospital on October 19, 2023.

[2] After buying a large stereo in his fifth year of elementary school, the first record Sakurai ever bought was Shinji Harada's Feel Happy.

[2] He was impressed by Kiss' makeup and the Bay City Rollers' melodies and clothing, but preferred Harada, Twist, and Char.

Sakurai's last name was originally written with the first kanji as "桜" ("sakura"), but when his mother died in 1990 he changed it to "櫻", the older version.

[10] On December 9, 2018, Sakurai was visibly unwell during Buck Tick's concert at Zepp DiverCity, but he insisted on finishing the performance.

[11] Outside of Buck-Tick, Sakurai appeared on the song "Masquerade" from Der Zibet's 1991 album Shishunki II, and its re-recording for 2010's Kaikoteki Mirai - Nostalgic Future.

[12][13][14] He collaborated with Dutch band Xymox on the song "Yokan" (予感) for the March 1992 compilation album Dance 2 Noise 002.

[17] Sakurai and his Buck-Tick bandmate Hisashi Imai teamed up with English and German industrial musicians Raymond Watts and Sascha Konietzko to form the supergroup Schwein in 2001.

[16] In a 2023 interview with Visual Music Japan, Watts cited Schwein as his favorite collaboration to date and called Sakurai a "grand vocalist".

It features music composed by a variety of musicians such as Wayne Hussey, Taiji Sato (Theatre Brook), and Robin Guthrie.

[31] Several musicians publicly expressed their condolences over his death, including Tomoyasu Hotei, Sugizo, Gackt, Daigo, and Diamond Yukai.

[36] Show Ayanocozey remarked, "he was a true rock hero who lived on stage until the very end, and was in the spotlight right up to the moment of his death.

[41] According to Shweta Basu, the musician's good looks and "aloof and dangerous aura" inspired many fictional characters, most notably the rock singer Kouji Nanjo in the manga series Zetsuai 1989.

[36] Dir En Grey vocalist Kyo was inspired to become a rock star after seeing a picture of Sakurai on the desk of a junior high school classmate.