NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Soul man from Japan Now Toshi's mix of house and harmony is hitting big

By KAREN HUNTER
Daily News Staff writer
HE SPEAKS with an accent, but sings in pure funk. in the U.S.

Toshi Kubota, the Japanese Soul sensation. blends the old sounds of Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder and even Luther Vandross with an up-to-date Smoothed-out funk ala D' Angelo.

And that's quite an accomplishment for someone who just started speaking English fluently two years ago.

"They say music is a universal language." said 28-year-old Kubota, who goes by the single moniker "Toshi."

And with his debut album, "Sunshine Moonlight" - an album he produced and wrote on the Columbia label and the first English release by a Japanese artist in the U.S. - he proves it. With this album, it's easy to see why many dub him an honorary "brotha," because he gets down -- especially in his duet with former Soul II Soul crooner Caron Wheeler. in a remake of Bill Withers' "Just the Two of Us."

In his video for his first single. "Funk It Up," the sexy singer surrounds himself with beautiful women of all races as he croons over the house-music beats.

He embodies the funk he sings about with his trendy looks. the cropped fade with a smattering of a goatee, the Canal St. apartment and the cub hopping.

"I felt if I was going to reach people here with my music, I had to live with them and be around them," said Toshi, who will be appearing at the Tunnel Nov.17.

But he didn't have to move to New York to feel the funk. It was already inside of him.

"That's true and I can't explain it." said Kubota, 28, of his ease in translating his music for America. "My parents didn't even know what soul music was. In fact. no one in my family even spoke English. I just listened to it instinctively, there was no reason. I guess it's just in my blood."

Toshi, who hails from Shizuoka. Japan. near Mount Fuji, a rural town where his father still owns a grocery store, knew he had talent at an early age. His parents, after watching him mimic songs from a Japanese variety show. encouraged him to compete in a singing contest at a local amusement park when he was just 2 years old. He sang a popular Japanese tune.

"It is my earliest memory of performing," said Toshi. "And I know I was scared at first. I didn't want to do it. But once I was up there. it was comfortable. People stared at me and clapped for me. And I loved it."

The push to funk came several years later when he heard Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" on the radio.

"I didn't understand the words," said Toshi. who easily breaks off into song and scat as he describes his fascination with R&B. 'I just liked the sound. Then I heard Natalie Cole's 'Mr. Melody,' and I knew what I wanted to do."

While his entire family, including his two older sisters. listened only to Japanese music. Toshi would steal away to his room for a dose of soul. From Wonder and Cole to Earth, Wind & Fire and The Commodores with Lionel Richie. Toshi was hooked.

v "Through these songs I learned how to speak English." he said. "And I learned how to write music and perform and sing."

He left the countryside for Tokyo to attend college. where he graduated with a degree in economics. But while in school he was a lead singer of a band. After graduation he went solo and became a huge hit in Japan. singing his unusual soul in the Japanese tongue.

"I would do a little Rick James and some '7Os disco and they went wild." he said.

Toshi was known as the Japanese Michael Jackson as he sold millions of records -- 9 million worldwide -- and packed the houses at some of Japan's huge $50-a-seat stadiums. He even outsold Pink Floyd and James Brown (both big acts in Japan).

"But my big dream has always been to make a record in the United States." he said. "Only then would I be for real."