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Digimon Theme Song Singer Kouji Wada Passes Away

Japanese singer Kōji Wada passed away on Sunday, April 3 due to cancer in his upper pharynx. He was 42. Close relatives held a private service for him.

Wada's agency Solid Vox will hold a "Wada Kouji Owakare no Kai" (Kōji Wada Farewell Event) event for his fans. The event will take place in Tokyo in the latter half of this month. Solid Vox will announce more details on the event on Wada's official website at a later date.

In 2003, a malignant tumor was discovered on Wada's upper pharynx and a lymph node on his neck. He was able to treat the tumor with chemotherapy and surgery and was told that he had recovered completely at that time. He then put his singing career on hold in 2011, after revealing that he was suffering from a cancer in his upper pharynx. He returned after two years in 2013.

Wada is most notable for performing theme songs for the Digimon anime franchise. His major debut came in 1999, when he performed the theme song "Butter-Fly" for Digimon Adventure. He has since provided the theme songs for Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers, Digimon Frontier, Digimon: Data Squad, and Digimon Xros Wars. He also performed the opening theme song for the original Japanese version of Transformers: Robots in Disguise (Transformers: Car Robots).

His latest work consisted of performing theme songs for Digimon Adventure tri., the six-part sequel film series of Digimon Adventure. He performed a remake of "Butter-Fly" titled "Butter-Fly ~ tri.Version ~" for the first film, and similarly performed "Seven ~tri.Version~," a remake of his song "Seven" from Digimon Adventure, for the second film.

Source: MoCa News