The Tigers (Japanese band)

The Tigers were a popular Japanese band during the Group Sounds era in the late 1960s. The group featured Kenji Sawada as their lead singer, and were signed by Watanabe Productions.

The group was first named "Funnys", and was formed in 1966. Their first TV performance was on 15 November 1966 on The Hit Parade. They changed their name to "The Tigers" following the suggestion to do so from then show director Koichi Sugiyama, who would later go on to compose many of their songs.[1] They appeared in several Japanese movies in the late 1960s.[2]

The Tigers recorded "Smile for Me", composed by Barry and Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees, which was released as a single in July 1969 in the UK and Japan. Also in March 1969, the group was featured on the cover of the US magazine Rolling Stone, the cover story was about rock music in Japan.

On 24 January 1971, The Tigers held their last concert, The Tigers Beautiful Concert, at the Nippon Budokan. After The Tigers broke up, Sawada formed the first Japanese supergroup, Pyg, in 1971.

In 1981, they reunited.