Mondo Grosso

The longtime solo project of Japanese electronic artist Shinichi Osawa, Mondo Grosso was formed in Kyoto in 1991, 24 years after Osawa's birth on February 7, 1967. A self-titled debut album, Mondo Grosso, was released in 1993, featuring a full band and establishing the project's blend of jazz, dance music, hip-hop, R&B, and other diverse sounds. Osawa's bandmates left the band following the release of 1995's Born Free, however, turning Mondo Grosso into a one-man band. Osawa released Mondo Grosso's third album, Closer, in 1997 and then signed with Sony Music. Released in 2000, MG4 marked Mondo Grosso's first major-label release, with the remix album MG4R following in 2001. A number of collaborative singles followed, including 2002's "Everything Needs Love" (featuring BoA), 2003's "Shinin" (featuring Kj), and 2003's "Hikari" (featuring UA). 2003 also saw the release of Mondo Grosso's fifth album, Next Wave, and the remix record Henshin. A live album, Live on the Next Wave, arrived in 2004. Although subsequent issues with his record label prompted Shinichi Osawa to release material under his own name for more than a decade, he resurrected the Mondo Grosso project during the late 2010s with 2017's It's Born Again and Again and 2018's Attune/Detune. In 2022, he returned with "Mondo Grosso / In This World," a single featuring guest artists Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hikari Mitsushima.