Mariah

Mariah was formed by six musicians in 1980. Except for Murakawa, they were all jazz/fusion musicians and also known as popular studio musicians. The band is named after an earlier album by Shimizu Yasuaki. They play a mixture of pop rock like Toto or Queen and progressive symphonic rock. This style made jazz/fusion fans disappointed because they expected Mariah to play jazz or fusion because of the members' reputations. Besides, Mariah were promoted as a fusion group by their label. In spite of these adverse circumstances, they released five works. All the works are pop/progressive rock, not at all jazz/fusion. However they could not maintain this band for a long term. They disbanded in 1983.