Chage and Aska

From 1989 to 1997, Chage had a parallel project called MULTIMAX, a band he formed with guitarist and multi-instrumental master Keisuke Murakami (former The Alpha member) and singer Hiromi Asai.

Thanks to Aska's hit solo single "はじまりはいつも雨 (Hajimari wa Itsumo Ame)" in 1991 and several powerful tieups with TV programs, their popularity peaked during the first half of the 1990s.

[1] "Say Yes", released in 1991, is the sixth best-selling single in Japanese Oricon charts history.

That same year the duo approached Studio Ghibli for the creation of an animated promotional music video for one of their songs, On Your Mark.

EMI released a compilation tribute album (One Voice the Songs of Chage & Aska) by Western artists (Maxi Priest featuring Shaggy, Lisa Stansfield, Chaka Khan, Michael Hutchence of INXS, Alejandro Sanz, Cathy Dennis, Apache Indian, Boy George, Richard Marx, Londonbeat, Marianne Faithfull, and Wendy Matthews).

[5][6] Chage and Aska officially announced the band's "indefinite suspension" on January 30, 2009, to concentrate on their solo work.