AURA: Gt. PIE loses his battle with cancer

This news was reported on December 29, 2013 HP with the AURA.

"The Guitarist · PIE of Japanese visual kei band AURA (real name Shuji Hirakawa) who had been hospitalized for his disease to focus on treatment in May of this year has lost his battle with lung cancer and passed away on December 28th, 2013 at 46 years old."

Was held vigil  at 18:00 of December 30th for the musician and the funeral at 11:00 on December 31st , ceremonial hall, Naniwa-ku, Osaka -cho 2-10-11 Ebisuhon vigil " Minami Osaka festival , furthermore was instituted even a special website  for this service. 

The most accurate biography for AURA and it's members on the web translated,

 is from Last.fm (link) and quoted below:

 

Tokyo, Japan (1986 – 1992, 2006 – present)

AURA was formed in 1986 in Tokyo, Japan and were originally a KISS cover band. The band’s original line contained Reds, Pie, Marble, and Heath. KoREDS didn’t join the band until 1989, replacing Heath, who left to join Zi:Kill. When Heath joined ZI:KILL, he changed his name to Masami. In December of 1989, Aura went major and released the single, “Dreaming Now”. AURA released six singles and three albums from 1990 to 1992. AURA originally disbanded in 1992 due to poor record sells. The single, “Smile & Smile”, was used for the anime City Hunter ‘91. The band’s visual look has been compared to the more recent cosplay kei band, Psycho le Cemu, due to the vibrant colors used in their costumes.

After the disbandment, KoREDS started and produced the band AZZ while Reds went solo. Marble decided to trade in the rock ‘n’ roll life style to work in his family’s okonomiyaki resturant. Pie went on being the more successful member by being a support member for Ayumi Nakamura. In the late 90’s, Reds was apart of the band The Orange. During the mid 2000’s, KoREDS started the band Piranha with himself on vocals. In 2008, Piranha changed their name to Piranha 69 Kingz. KoReds also owns a recording studio called Ben Ten and is a producer.

Aura surprised their fans by reuniting for a 20th anniversary concert in 2006. The band decided to officially reunite after the success of the concert and released a self cover album of all of their classic hits. Everything was going all well and good until April 2007. On April 24, 2007, Pie annouced he was taking a little break from AURA and decided to travel. Aura also did two Jacks-a-Napes tours with the bands test-No. and THE DEAD POP STARS in 2007 and 2008. A third Jacks-a-Napes tour was announced early 2010 after a year absent of the said tour. Early 2008, Reds annouced that Pie decided he would no longer take part in the band. In April 2008, AURA released a new mini-album called “Mirai SOUL”. This is the first original release since 1992, their last being their self-titled album. Even if their popularity isn’t as big as other recently reformed acts like X Japan or D’erlanger, AURA is showing that they can still rock even if most of the members are in their 40’s.

credits: Jpop asia