Ken Kitamura (born November 28, 1968, in Maibara, Shiga) is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter, best known as guitarist of the rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel.
He has written a breadth of L'Arc-en-Ciel's material, including "Vivid Colors", "The Fourth Avenue Cafe", "Niji", "Kasou", "My Heart Draws a Dream", "Daybreak's Bell" and "Chase".
Two months before his graduation in 1992, Ken left the Nagoya Institute of Technology, where he was an architect major, to join L'Arc-en-Ciel at the request of his childhood friend Tetsuya.
In 1994, L'Arc-en-Ciel signed a contract with Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Ki/oon division and released their major debut album Tierra that same year.
Sakura officially announced his departure from L'Arc-en-Ciel on November 4, and the band held their first concert back at the Tokyo Dome on December 23, 1997, entitled Reincarnation.
with ex-L'Arc-en-Ciel drummer Sakura, and bassist Ein (a half Japanese/German model who appeared in a few L'Arc music videos).
Each member contributed songs based on themes; Ken with love, Ein with desire, and Sakura with his experiences in jail, and together they released three albums; Grace, Gimme a Guitar and High!, and one single, "Paradise".
On August 23, 2006, Ken began a solo career with the release of the single "Speed" by Danger Crue Records.
[11] Ken contributed guitar to the song "The Inside War" from Sid bassist Aki's 2015 album Ephemeral,[12] and produced Baroque's 2016 single "Girl".
[13] Ken arranged the songs "Monokuro no Keshiki" and "Ryūsei" for Mucc's 2017 self-cover album Koroshi no Shirabe II: This is Not Greatest Hits, and also provided keyboards and programming to the former.
[17] He composed, co-wrote and co-arranged the rock opera-style song "The Love Letter" for Tatsuro's 2022 album Hikagaku Hoteishiki.
[27] Ken signed an endorsement contract with guitar string manufacturer Dean Markley USA in September 2015.