| Jun Senoue | |||||||
| Native Name: | 瀬上 純 | ||||||
| Native Name Lang: | ja | ||||||
| Birth Date: | August 2, 1970 | ||||||
| Birth Place: | Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan | ||||||
| Alma Mater: | Aoyama Gakuin University | ||||||
| Employer: | Sega | ||||||
| Years Active: | 1993–present | ||||||
| Module: |
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is a Japanese composer and guitarist. Employed by video game company Sega, he is known for his musical contributions to the company's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. He serves as the primary songwriter and one half of the Japanese-American rock duo Crush 40, which he formed with Johnny Gioeli in 2000. The duo contributed songs to each of the series' major titles until 2010, after which Senoue remained involved in musical production for further Sonic games.
Senoue was born on August 2, 1970, in Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan, and started playing the piano at the age of three. After moving to Panama at the age of 12, he became dedicated to rock music after being exposed to MTV.[1] [2] He began to teach himself to play the electric guitar at the age of 15,[3] and made his first original band recording by the age of 17.[3] After graduating from college with a degree in economics from Aoyama Gakuin University in 1993,[2] Senoue sent demo tapes to Namco and Sega, the latter of whom hired him.[1] His first project with the company was on Dark Wizard, where he arranged a medley of the game's music for its staff roll.[4] In 1993, he wrote a few jingles and music tracks for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, his first involvement in the Sonic series.[3] After doing multiple projects in the Sega Worldwide Soccer series in the mid-1990s and other games such as the Sega Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast, Senoue was selected to be the lead composer and sound director of Sonic Adventure in 1998. The game's success led to him being promoted as series sound director.[1]
Senoue moved to San Francisco in 1999 and began to work on Sonic Team USA games such as NASCAR Arcade, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog.[1] In 2005, Senoue released an EP with Japanese voice actress Junko Noda, titled "Ready!".[5] The project went under the name JxJ, and was only available to purchase in Japan. In 2007, Senoue provided three new arrangements for the Japanese console release of OutRun 2 SP, including covers of existing series tracks "Splash Wave" and "Rush a Difficulty", and an original track titled "Lift You Up!". Also in 2007, Senoue arranged and performed "Angel Island Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[6] In 2010, Senoue performed several gigs in Tokyo with former Magna-Fi guitarist, C.J. Szuter, in a band called Bubblicious Blvd.[1]
In 2009, Senoue announced a compilation album titled The Works. Containing only three Sonic related songs, it mostly features more obscure works he provided for other games. The album was released on October 21, 2009. More recently, Senoue worked as the sound director, composer, and arranger for , Episode II, and Sonic Generations.[1] At a Sonic festival at Joypolis in December 2015, Senoue announced a sequel to The Works, titled The Works II, which released two months later.[7]
See main article: Crush 40. Crush 40 is a hard rock band originally formed by Senoue in 2000 to perform on NASCAR Arcade. It consists of Senoue on guitars, Johnny Gioeli on vocals, Toru Kawamura on drums, and Takeshi Taneda on bass. Since its inception, the band has created several theme songs for the Sonic the Hedgehog series.[1] In October 2008, Crush 40 took the stage at the Tokyo Game Show to perform some of their most popular Sonic based songs in front of a live audience for the first time. Gioeli and Senoue have since created a YouTube account and uploaded video footage of the event. In 2009, a new Crush 40 album was released titled The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs. The compilation contained most of the band's Sonic releases, as well as a mixture of old tracks from NASCAR Arcade and brand new songs. In August 2010, Crush 40 performed at the "Summer of Sonic" convention in London, marking their first full-length performance and first performance outside Japan.[8] In 2012, the band performed at two conventions, at the Summer of Sonic in Brighton and at the Sonic Boom event during the San Diego Comic-Con.
The band released their first live album in October 2012, titled Live!, which featured songs from their concerts in Tokyo. In August 2013, the band performed in St. Louis for the Sonic Boom 2013 event,[9] and also performed at the 2015 Youmacon in Detroit.[10] For the 25th anniversary of the Sonic series, Crush 40 performed at the San Diego House of Blues during Comic-Con in July 2016, and at Summer of Sonic in London the following month.[11] [12] At the 2017 Comic-Con in July, Senoue performed various Sonic material with the Video Game Orchestra.[13] Crush 40 also contributed to 2019's Team Sonic Racing, performing its main theme "Green Light Ride".[14]
| Title | Role(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Dark Wizard | Ending theme | |
| 1994 | Sonic the Hedgehog 3 | Music with several others | |
| Game no Kanzume | Arrangements | ||
| Music with several others | |||
| Sonic & Knuckles | Music with several others | ||
| 1995 | Victory Goal | Music | |
| Metal Head | Music with Teruhiko Nakagawa | ||
| Sega International Victory Goal | Music | ||
| F1 Challenge | Sound effects | ||
| In the Hunt | Music with Masahiro Ito; Sega Saturn version | ||
| 1996 | J. League Victory Goal '96 | Music | |
| Sega Worldwide Soccer 97 | Music with Seirou Okamoto | ||
| Sonic 3D Blast | Music with Tatsuyuki Maeda; Sega Genesis version | ||
| Music with Richard Jacques, Kenichi Tokoi, and Tomonori Sawada | |||
| 1997 | Sega Worldwide Soccer '98 | Music with several others | |
| 1998 | Sega Rally 2 | "Soul on Desert" | |
| Sonic Adventure | Lead composer | ||
| 2000 | NASCAR Arcade | Music | |
| 2001 | Sonic Adventure 2 | Lead composer | |
| 2003 | Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team! 2 | Music | |
| Sonic Heroes | Lead composer | ||
| 2005 | Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team! 3 | Music | |
| Shadow the Hedgehog | Lead composer | ||
| 2006 | Sega Rally 2006 | Music with several others | |
| Sonic Rivals | Sound supervision | ||
| Sonic the Hedgehog | Vocal track production | ||
| 2007 | Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team! 5 | Music | |
| OutRun 2 SP | Music with Mitsuharu Fukuyama | ||
| Burnout Running | Guitars | ||
| Sonic Rivals 2 | "Race to Win"; sound supervisor | ||
| "Nights and Reala: Theme of a Tragedic Revenge" | |||
| 2008 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | "Angel Island Zone" | |
| Sonic Unleashed | Vocal track coordination | ||
| 2009 | Sonic and the Black Knight | Lead composer | |
| Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games | Arrangements with Teruhiko Nakagawa; Wii version | ||
| 2010 | Vocal track coordination | ||
| Music | |||
| Sonic Free Riders | "Free" | ||
| Sonic Colors | Vocal track coordination | ||
| 2011 | Sonic Generations | Lead composer; arrangements with several others | |
| Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games | Music with several others | ||
| 2012 | Music | ||
| 2013 | Let's Make a Soccer Team! | Music; guitars and keyboards | |
| Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games | Arrangements with several others | ||
| 2014 | Uta Kumi 575 | Sound; arranged "Spirited Away" | |
| Music with several others | |||
| 2015 | Music with several others | ||
| 2016 | Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games | Music with several others | |
| Yakyuu Tsuku! | Guitars | ||
| Maimai Pink Plus | "Nitrous Fury" | ||
| Puyo Puyo Chronicle | Arrangements with Naofumi Hataya, Kenichi Tokoi, and Tomonori Sawada | ||
| 2017 | Sonic Mania | Audio engineering | |
| Sonic Forces | Guitars; recording coordination | ||
| 2018 | Puyo Puyo Champions | Arrangements | |
| Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | "Mega Man 4 Medley"[15] | ||
| 2019 | Team Sonic Racing | Lead composer | |
| Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Video Game | Music with Kenichi Tokoi and Tomonori Sawada | ||
| Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 | Sound editing | ||
| 2020 | Sonic at the Olympic Games - Tokyo 2020 | Music with Hidekuni Horita, Kenichi Tokoi, and Tomoya Ohtani | |
| 2021 | Arrangements with Tomoya Ohtani and Kenichi Tokoi | ||
| 2022 | Sonic Origins | Sound director; Sonic 3 music adaptations[16] | |
| Sonic Frontiers | Recording coordination | ||
| 2023 | Sonic Superstars | Sound director; music[17] |
| Album | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Thrill of the Feel | With Crush 40 as "Sons of Angels" |
| 2003 | Crush 40 | With Crush 40 |
| 2005 | Ready! | Music with Junko Noda |
| 2009 | Ted Poley's Greatestits Vol. 1 | "Takoyaki Rock" |
| The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs | Compilation, with Crush 40 | |
| The Works | ||
| Leaving the End Open | Guitars on "Before This" by Hardline | |
| 2011 | Rise Again | EP, with Crush 40 |
| 2012 | Live! | Live album, with Crush 40 |
| 2015 | 2 Nights 2 Remember | Live album, with Crush 40 |
| 2016 | The Works II | |
| 2019 | The Works III | |
| Driving Through Forever | Compilation, with Crush 40 |