Maeda Ken

Other Name: 前田健

Age: 53

Birthday: June 14, 1971

Nationality: Japanese

Gender: Male

Maeda Ken, born in Tokyo, was a Japanese actor, singer, and comedian well-known for his monomane. He also created the Maeken Trance Project, of which he was the leader of several ganguro and kogal, known as LOVE♡BOOM. Maeda went to America when he was 19 and lived in Manhattan for four years. Because of this, he was fluent in English. He studied music and dance at the Broadway Dance Center, and after going back to Japan in 1994 he began a one-man show named "Monomane Battle". He imitated a song by Watanabe Machiko perfectly, making the transition from male to female in his act flawlessly. Years later he began imitating Matsuura Aya. In 2004 Ken became a regular on TV Asahi's Ganbai Gekijou (Sold-Out Theater) and later created Maeken Trance Project. The group's first single, Koi no Buchiage Tengoku was released in August 2005 and was a trance remake of the mega-hit Dragostea Din Tei by Romanian group O-Zone . It reached #12 on the Oricon and had an exceptionally long period of sales. It is rumored that Ken was influenced by Gorie, another popular crossdressing comedian. With the release of his book "Maeda Ken no Koi Kyara Shindan" (Maeda Ken's Love Character Diagnosis) in November of that year, Ken came out as gay. This has not hindered his career, as he later became a voice actor for Digimon Savers and released a second single for Maeken Trance Project in August 2006. (Source: Generasia).