In his latest album titled
"Nothing But Your Love," which was released on July 25th, 2000
under the Epic Records label, Toshi Kubota is taking center stage with
his second all English endeavor. ?uestlove of The Roots
has described Kubota's sound as a landmark stride in the
progress of global music cohesion, "For every culture,
there has to be somebody that represents soul. [S]oul music is
universal, and not just a "black thing," so to
speak. Toshi will eventually be known as a groundbreaker. Just
for rewriting the book of what is the definition of soul,
who's allowed to play in the game, who's not allowed to play in the
game… He's taking the book and he's gonna rewrite it and show the
world that Sam Cooke and Otis Redding aren't the only
ones allowed to define soul." Toshi Kubota's vision extends
beyond most international artists wanting a piece of the Western music
scene, "Eventually, I would like to reach across the world with
my music. I want my message or attitude to tear down the
barriers that exist between people, cultures, stereotypes,
and bias. I would like to get rid of the barriers that exist
between those kinds of things with my music."
Toshi Kubota has an impressive
armada of parishioners riding on his musical sermon of
one love, one groove scripture. Having firmly established a
musical career in his native Japan, his mission and purpose as a
person and artist has become even more distilled over the years.
To date, Kubota has released nine albums and two greatest hits
compilations to combine for an impressive 11 million albums
sold worldwide. He has collaborated with industry greats such as
Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, Soul II Soul's Caron
Wheeler and the Funk Maestro himself, George Clinton.
From watching a pre-recorded broadcast of the American Grammy
Awards and a performance of Stevie Wonder, Toshi Kubota has
always had an appreciation of soul and R&B. It wasn't long before
Kobuta relocated to Tokyo to pursue his musical interests. His
first album "Shake It Paradise" released in 1985 launched
his meteoric career. Finally in 1994, Kobuta moved to the
heart of the action, New York. Just one year later in
1995, Kubota released his all English debut album, 1995
release for Columbia, "Sunshine Moonlight".
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