1981–1982: Beginnings Kubota got his start in 1981 when he met Haneda Ichiro at Komazawa University where they started the band Hottentots. A year later, he entered the Eastwest'82 contest and won the Best Vocalist award. By winning the contest, Kubota earned a record deal for his band to release their own music. He also started to appear as a guest vocalist for various albums for artists like Matsuoka Naoya. By the mid-1980s, Kubota began to compose for various artists like Iwasaki Hiromi, Koizumi Kyoko, and
Tahara Toshihiko.
1986–1989: Shake it Paradise and subsequent releases In June 1986, he finally debuted as a singer with the single "Shitsui no Downtown". The single charted at number 53 on the Oricon Singles chart. In September 1986, Kubota released his first album,
Shake It Paradise. The album reached number 22 on the Oricon charts. The album also spawned the singles "Ryuusei no Saddle" and "Missing". In December 1986, Kubota released a single, "Time", which charted at number 35 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart. In February 1987, Kubota released a single "Goddess", which charted at number 21 on the Oricon Singles chart. In April 1987, Kubota released his second album, ''
Groovin''', which spawned the singles "Randy Candy", "Psychic Beat", "Daiyamondo no Inutachi", "Kitakaze to Taiyō", and "Eien no Tsubasa". In October 1987, Kubota released a single "Cry on Your Smile", which reached number 8 on the Oricon Singles chart. In February 1988, Kubota released the single "You Were Mine", which reached number 3 on the Oricon Singles chart. The single also sold over 100,000 units in Japan, reaching gold certification status. In September 1988, Kubota released his third album,
Such A Funky Thang!. The album reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums charts and sold over a million copies. The album spawned the single "Dance If You Want It", which charted at number 2 on the Oricon Singles chart. In May 1988, he released his video
Super Duper Vol. 1. In July 1988, he released his concert video
Keep on Dancing. In January 1989, the second single "Indigo Waltz", which featured American-singer Lynn Davis, was released. The album's third single, "High Roller", charted at number 11 on the Oricon Singles chart. In October 1989, Kubota released his first
best-of album,
The Baddest. The album charted at number 1 on the Oricon chart and sold a million copies. The album's lead single "Give You My Love", which also featured Lynn Davis, reached number 3 on the Oricon Singles chart.
1990–1995: Various albums and career breakthrough In July 1990, he released his fourth studio album,
Bonga Wanga. In October 1990, he released the single "Be Wanabee", which reached number 16 on the Oricon Singles chart. In December 1990, Kubota released a single, "Our Song". In March 1991, Kubota released a duet single, "Forever Yours", with
Alyson Williams. The song was Kubota's first English language single. In December 1990, he released his second video
Super Duper Vol. 2. In September 1991, Kubota released his fifth album,
Kubojah: Parallel World I, which peaked at number 1 on the Oricon charts. The album spawned the singles "Keep on Jammin'" and "Honey B", which charted at number 15 on the Oricon Singles chart. The album's third single, "Amaoto", charted at number 33 on the Oricon Singles chart. In July 1991, he released his concert video,
Bonga Wonga Tour 91. In March 1992, Kubota released his fifth video album,
Super Duper Vol. 3. In July 1992, he released his sixth album,
Neptune. The album charted at number 3 on the Oricon Albums chart. The album featured the singles "Mayonaka No Taiyou" and "Let's Get A Groove: Yo! Hips". After the release of the singles, Kubota went on the "Funkin' On Neptune Tour". In 1993, Kubota went to New York to work on his music. In May 1993, Kubota released the single "Yume with You", which charted at number 5 on the Oricon Singles chart. On the same day, he released another single, "Orquesta Futari", which charted at number 13 on the Oricon Singles chart. In September 1993, Kubota released his second best-of album,
The Baddest II. The album peaked at number 1 on the Oricon charts. In November 1994, Kubota released the lead single "Yoru ni Dakarete (A Night in Afro Blue)" from his upcoming seventh album. The song charted at number 5 on the Oricon Singles chart. In December 1994, he released the singles "Za-Ku-Za-Ku Digame" and "Sunshine, Moonlight". The single "Za-Ku-Za-Ku Digame charted at number 17 on the Oricon Singles chart. In January 1995, he released his seventh album, ''
Bumpin' Voyage and his video album Super Duper Vol. 4''. The album reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums chart. In July 1995, he released the single "Niji no Grand Slam", which charted at number 11 on the Oricon Singles chart.
1995–1998: Transition to American music and subsequent releases In September 1995, Kubota released his eighth album,
Sunshine, Moonlight, which was his first English album. The album reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums chart and sold over a half of million copies worldwide. In April 2005, Kubota released the lead single "A Love Story" from his album "
For Real?", which charted at number 43 on the Oricon Singles chart. In August 2005, he released the second single, "Club Happiness", which charted at number 40 on the Oricon Singles chart. In November 2005, he released the third single, "Beside You", which charted at number 25 on the Oricon Singles chart. In March 2006, he released his fourteenth album,
For Real?, which charted at number 13 on the Oricon Albums chart. In July 2006, he released a duet single with
SunMin called "Keep Holding U", which was featured on the soundtrack of the movie
Nihon Chinbotsu. The single charted at number 16 on the Oricon Weekly Single chart. In August 2007, Kubota released the concert DVD
Live 2006 We For Real, which chart at number 43 on the Oricon DVD chart.
2007–2010: Timeless Fly and Love & Rain: Love Songs In 2007, Kubota began working on his fifteenth album. In August 2007, he released a single called "Magic", which featured rapper
Kreva. In March 2008, Kubota released another single, "
Flying Easy Loving Crazy", a duet song with
Misia. "Flying Easy Loving Crazy" was the second in a series of collaborative singles released by Kubota. The song, featuring Japanese R&B singer
Misia, with whom Kubota had worked in the past, was written and composed by Kubota. It served as image song for the Japanese promotional campaign of the
Cirque du Soleil production
Dralion,
Daihatsu Dralion in Japan. The single charted for six weeks and sold a total of 10,505 copies. In January 2010, Kubota released the singles "
Tomorrow Waltz" and "Star Light". The single "Tomorrow Waltz" charted at number 33 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart. In February 2010, he released his fifteenth album,
Timeless Fly. The album peaked at number nine on the Oricon Albums chart. Shortly after the release of the album, Kubota began the "
Timeless Fly Tour" in Japan. Kubota also toured on the "Hall Tour 2010". In June 2010, he released the single "
Love Rain (Koi no Ame)", which charted at number three on the Oricon Singles chart and sold over 21,000 copies in its first week. In November 2010, he released his fifth compilation album,
Love & Rain: Love Songs. The album peaked at number eleven on the Oricon Albums chart.
2011–2012: Gold Skool In July 2011, Kubota release the single "
Nagareboshi to Koi no Ame". The single charted on number 24 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart and sold over 2,727 copies in the first week of its release. In August 2011, he released his sixteenth album,
Gold Skool. The album charted at number three, selling over 33,000 copies in its first week of release. In September 2011, Kubota released the second single "
Koe ni Dekinai". The single charted number 20 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart and sold over 3,287 copies in its first week of release. In October 2011, Kubota began the "Gold Skool Tour". On 7 October 2011, the concert tour began at Misato City Culture Hall in Saitama, Japan. The toured lasted for twenty dates. The tour concluded on 25 December 2011, when he performed at Fukuoka City Hall for the second time during the tour. In January 2012, Kubota began his "Party Ain't A Party! Toshinobu Kubota 25th Anniversary! Tour", which celebrated his twenty-five years in the music industry. The toured only lasted for six dates. The toured concluded at National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. In May 2012, Kubota released the concert DVD ''Party Ain't A Party!'', which charted at number 5 on Oricon DVD charts.
2013–present: Kubossa, L.O.K. and 30th Anniversary In May 2013, Kubota released the dual single "Bring me up!/
My Cherie Amour". On 15 May 2013, Kubota announced that his seventeenth album,
Kubossa: Parallel World II, would be released in July 2013. Kubota's
In the Universe Tour began in August 2013. In 2014, Kubota began recording his eighteenth album. In November 2014, Kubota began the "L.O.K Tour 2015" for his upcoming album. In January 2015, Kubota announced that his eighteenth studio album "L.O.K." would be released on 18 March 2015. The album's title is an acronym for "Lots of Kisses". In March 2016, Kubota released a DVD called
L.O.K Supa Dupa, the DVD showed his national tour which had shown over 40+ shows. In June 2016, Kubota announced his 30th anniversary, he said that he will be making special preparations for this year. ==Artistry==