Rie Tomimatsu (born on November 26, 1985[1][2]), known professionally as Rie a.k.a Suzaku (In Japanese, リエ エー・ケー・エー スザク), is a Japanese heavy metal guitarist, singer, and songwriter.[3][4][5] She is the first female to be a solo Japanese heavy metal guitarist.[6] Suzaku won a gold medal at the national Guitar competition. Her record label is Poppin Records. She has released five albums and six mini albums.[7] In 2019, she started a band called the Muses.[8] Suzaku has sixteen solo albums and one album with the Muses.[9] She is one of Shinko Music W100 Guitarist's 100 Females.[10]
Suzaku was born in Kawasaki Japan.[11] Her sister Emi Tomimatsu important to her childhood life.[12] Her sister got a keyboard when Suzaku was four years old. Her parents taught her about heavy metal music.[12][13] Her father is a guitarist.[12] Her parents played Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and Camel in their house.[12]
She liked music by X Japan.[12][14] When a member of X Japan, Hide, visited a sick child, Suzaku learned that music could help sick people feel better.[12] She wanted to play music.[12]
In middle school she joined her school's classical guitar group.[15] The group worked hard.[15] They practiced two times every day.[15] She also started learning to play rock and metal on her guitar.[12] She learned to play rock music by ear.[12][15] This means she listened to music and played what she heard. She did not have sheet music for heavy metal music.[12][15]
In high school Suzaku wanted a band.[15][12] No one wanted to join her band.[15] She kept practicing alone.[15] Boys did not like playing guitar with her.[15]
After high school Suzaku attended the Muse Conservatory of Music.[12][1] Again, none of her classmates played metal music.[12]
Suzaku started her career by winning a gold medal at the national guitar competition. Suzaku then switched to the electric guitar to continue her career. She then entered a music college to learn how to sing.[1] She joined her first band. Suzaku continued her career by signed her songs with Poppin Records.[1] She then decided to continue her career as a soloist.[6]
Suzaku does a lot of composing.[12] Suzaky uses keyboard to compose music, not guitar.[14] She played on an Electone keyboard.[12][14] She was only interested in heavy metal music, but then she started listening to other music.[12] Soon, she began writing many kinds of music.[12][16] Suzaku believes that genre is not important in music.[14]
She works with other popular musicians, for example: Ibuki, Dia, Mitsuru Sutoh, Shingo Tanaka, Mayumu Hidaka and Kanade Sato.[17]
Suzaku has five full length albums and six extended play albums.[7] She released her first album in 2010.[1][6] It was called Messiah.[1][6][17] Her first full album was Kingdom of the Sun.[18] It was all music made with instruments, no people sang on the album.[18] Her second full album, Noah's Ark, had many different people singing songs.[18]
Suzaku started with a band called Ran.[17] She then moved to a solo career.[17] Suzaku created a band called RiViNi in 2017.[19][17] They played together for two years.[20] Their album, Resistance, came out in 2018.[21] In 2019, Suzaku signed with King Records and released Top Runner.[3] She also started a band called The Muses.[8]
Suzaku has an Instrumental Summit concert series.[22] She has also written and performed some music for wrestling competitions.[12] In 2019, Suzaku performed at the first Metal Matsuri in London, UK.[4] [23]