上田竜也

Tatsuya Ueda (上田竜也) (b. October 4, 1983 in Kanagawa, Japan) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, television personality and radio host. Ueda joined Johnny & Associates in 1998 and became a member of popular J-pop group, KAT-TUN, in 2001. The group officially debuted in 2006 and has 18 consecutive number ones on the Oricon single and album charts to their name.

Before he became a part of the group, Ueda was part of several ジャニーズJr. groups such as B.B.A., M.A.D., B.B.D. and Toshiotoko. He became KAT-TUN’s leader early on but later quit the postion thus rendering the group leaderless from then on. However, it is a situation that all members are comfortable with.

He is one of the few members who regularly compose music and lyrics for the group or himself, being able to play the piano and guitar, and has stated in the past that he prefers songwriting to acting — an occupation he did not take up seriously until 2009 when he performed as “Romeo” in the stageplay “Romeo & Juliet” and starred in his first television drama in Fuji TV’s “Konkatsu!” with senpai 中居正広 (Masahiro Nakai) of SMAP. Prior to this, he had performed with other KAT-TUN members as a supporting cast member in the musicals “Millenium Shock”, “Shock Geki Shock”, “Shock is Real Shock”, “Hey! Say! Dream Boy” and “Dream Boys”.