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Akio Niitsu

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Japanese composer, arranger, and musician. Born August 19th, 1952. in Asakusa, Tokyo Japan. 1952-2002 He began playing guitar at the age of 14. he self-taught himself and mastered guitar techniques in all styles, from rock to jazz. During his third year of college, he and a friend fell 40 meters off a cliff in a minicar, but as luck would have it, they both survived, after the accident he decided to pursue his musical ambitions by composing, arranging, performing, and engineering all on his own, determined to "use this precious life to do what I love." He spent six months creating demo tapes using a four-channel open-reel deck, which was popular at the time. This caught the attention of a record company staff member, and he released the album "I.O." (1978) He brought some professional studio equipment to his home and produced the entire album by himself. It took him approximately two years to complete the project, a mind-boggling amount of time spent working alone. after a few years of recording, and working with other artists, In 1985, he retired from music to become a computer programmer. He died of respiratory failure in January 2002, at the age of 49. (He was freinds with Isao Tomita) This Bio was copied and re-edited from Takao Niitsu's (Akios younger brother) blog dating from September 16th, 2005, this was put together to bring awareness to the story of this creative and inspiring man.