On 1On 13th Dec 1964, Hideto "hide" Matsumoto was born in the city of Yokosuka in Kanagawa, Japan. hide was a fat little kid with the weight over 70 kg. He was always one of the most fat ones in the class. He was so fat that he was even made to run the school field during the lunch time. He hated his fat body for he was often laughed at by his appearance. 
From when he was still little, his parents were very enthusiastic about their son's education. hide had many tuition outside the class. His parents even sent him for the one-month-home-stay program to LA and Canada. The purpose of the program was to "learn and feel" the local environment there. He didn't remember much about the trip though. 
    He was not only a loving son but was also a "Grandma-boy". He often called himself "Grandma-boy". His Grandmother was a very fashionable lady who was a beautician in the town. She had even breached his hair. hide admitted that she was a great influence on his "visual". It was in grade 2 in Secondary that he first listened to the rock music. He listened to KISS' [ALIVE II] and got shocked by the sound. He fell in love with the rock and KISS. He was so crazy about KISS that he even joined an unofficial KISS fan club near his home. 
    He started to listen to various rock music from then. Next year, hide's Grandmother bought him a Gibson guitar. He was the only one in school who had a Gibson guitar and everyone called him "Gibson". However, he did not really know how to play guitar. He learnt to play it on his own by looking at score chords in the magazine. hide's dream was to form a band and perform. Unfortunately, his school banned the "electrics" and so there was no way he could form the band with his schoolmates. 
    There was a street called Dobuita near his home. There were many shops and bars in Dobuita. It was the most crowded and internationalized place in the vicinity. With the friends he met in Dobuita, he formed a band and named it "Saber Tiger". He was in his 2nd year in High School then.
    Saber Tiger performed in bars and live houses in Yokosuka. Saber Tiger became the quite famous local band in town. As a leader of the band, hide, who was always aiming at the better, was frequently changing its members to achieve for the best. Saber Tiger was becoming quite a famous band in the amateur scene too. However, too frequent member-changes were giving him a tough time. Eventually, Saber Tiger disbanded because of too many member-changes. 
    After the Saber Tiger's disbandment, hide decided to return to his normal life and become a beautician. hide had been attending the Beautician School during his 6 years in Saber Tiger. He had already got the beautician certificate.  When YOSHIKI called hide, hide told him that he was going to leave the music life and have a haircut. YOSHIKI asked hide to join his band, X, which was facing a break-up due to a member loss. Quite strangely, hide, who had been so determined never to join the band again, said "Yes" without any moment of hesitation. 
    In Jan, 1987, hide became the official member of X. At that time, members were 3, YOSHIKI, Toshi and Taiji. Soon after hide joined, Pata, another guitarist, joined the band too. All members, except Toshi had been the leaders before they joined X. As a result, X became the powerful band with ex-leaders as  members. In April, 1988, X released their first album "Vanishing Vision" from the Indie label, EXTASY RECORDS which YOSHIKI had established. X was famous for their aggressive yet beautiful performances. Every concert they held was sold-out. They were a big success. 
    Their first Major debut album (their 2nd album) "BLUE BLOOD" was released the following year in 1989. Their success continued with sold-out concerts. After the recording in LA and NY, X released their 2nd album, "Jealousy" in 1991. It was of course a big hit, and X held their first Tokyo Dome concert which was a sold-out. X also performed in the 42nd Kohaku-Utagatsen*. (An annual event held on every New Years Eve. Only top singers are invited to perform. It is a great honor to be on that show.)
    After the 3 Days Live in Tokyo Dome, the bassist TAIJI disjoined the band. X held many auditions and finally Heath was chosen as the new bassist of the band. At the same time, X changed its name to X-Japan to broad their market to overseas. In Aug, 1993, hide debuted his solo works with the release of two new singles "EYES LOVE YOU" and "50% & 50%".
    His solo debut was a great success ranking the top in the renowned local music chart, Oricon. The "EYES LOVE YOU" clip was even voted the Viewer's Choice Award in MTV. In Sep, he released a video "Seth et Holth" in which he starred with TUSK of ZI:KILL.hide and TUSK wrote the story and composed the soundtrack. The video was visually so astonishing that anyone could know how talented and distinguished hide was. This video also ranked no.1 in Oricon Video Chart.