Takuya Hirano (平野 琢也, Hirano Takuya) (born October 22, 1973, stylized as Taku Hirano) is a Japanese percussionist. He has performed as a solo artist and as one half of the duo Tao Of Sound. He has toured with Fleetwood Mac and Whitney Houston as a percussionist.
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Biography
Takuya "Taku" Hirano was born in Osaka, and grew up in Fresno, California and Hong Kong. He attended Hong Kong International School and graduated from Roosevelt School of the Arts at Theodore Roosevelt High School (Fresno), where he studied orchestral percussion, jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz, and salsa music. He then attended Berklee College of Music, studying under Giovanni Hidalgo and Jamey Haddad, graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor of Music as the college's first Hand Percussion principal. He has also studied drum set with Alan Dawson and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, as well as in Havana, Cuba with Changuito.
As a percussionist, Hirano has toured with Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Richie, Isaac Hayes, Dr. John, Lindsey Buckingham, John Mayer, A.R. Rahman, Hikaru Utada, LeAnn Rimes and with Cirque du Soleil on Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour.
Hirano has recorded with Dr. Dre on 2001, Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Jay-Z, The Temptations, Hikaru Utada, Stevie Nicks, LeAnn Rimes, Josh Groban, Chromeo, Ziggy Marley, Emmanuel Jal, Nelly Furtado and Lionel Richie, in addition to working on major motion picture soundtracks.
As co-founder of the production duo Tao Of Sound, he has worked as a producer and programmer of commercial sound libraries, and remixer for artists such as Kanye West, Kitaro, and The Ahn Trio. Tao of Sound has released four albums under the record label Domo Records: Metro (2010) Ronin- Extended Play (2012), Ronin (2013), and These Times (2016).
Hirano was a columnist for Drum! magazine, a contributor for Modern Drummer magazine a drum clinician, and has served as an artist-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University, as a teacher at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and as a guest lecturer at Loyola University New Orleans College of Music and Fine Arts and New York University Steinhardt. He is a regular visiting artist at Hugh Hodgson School of Music at University of Georgia, and an ongoing regular guest artist, speaker and panelist at his alma mater, Berklee College of Music, where he was awarded the 2026 Alumni Achievement Award, and is a Professor of Practice at Tulane University.
Hirano was listed in Modern Drummer 's Reader's Poll 2014, 2013, and 2012, and Drum!'s Drummies awards 2015 Percussionist of the Year (runner up), 2015 Rock/Pop/Hip-Hop Percussionist (runner-up), 2013 Studio Percussionist (runner-up), 2013 Rock/Pop/Hip-Hop Percussionist (runner-up), 2012 Studio Percussionist (runner-up), 2012 World Percussionist (runner-up), 2011 Percussionist of the Year (runner-up), 2011 Studio Percussionist (runner-up), 2011 Jazz/Fusion Percussionist (runner-up), 2011 Live Performer (runner-up), 2011 Rock/Pop Percussionist of the Year (runner-up), 2010 Rock/Pop Percussionist of the Year, 2009 Rock/Pop Percussionist of the Year, 2008 Percussionist of the Year (runner-up), 2008 Best Worldbeat Percussionist (runner-up), and 2007 Percussion Rising Star.
In 2018 and 2019, Hirano toured with Fleetwood Mac on their An Evening with Fleetwood Mac World Tour. He also served as the percussionist in the house bands for the Fox television shows Showtime at the Apollo and The Four: Battle for Stardom.
Hirano endorses Meinl percussion instruments, Zildjian cymbals, Remo drum heads, Vater Percussion drum sticks, Drum Workshop drums and hardware, and Roland Corporation electronic percussion.
On July 16, 2021, Hirano released his debut single on Ropeadope Records, "Come And Get It" featuring jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold. On October 1, 2021, Hirano released his debut album "Blu York - Live in NYC" on Ropeadope Records, recorded live at the Nublu Club in New York City in 2020.
Awards
Berklee College of Music – Alumni Achievement Award (2026)
ORIGIN Magazine – 100 Top Creatives (2015)
Modern Drummer Magazine Reader's Poll 2015 – Best Percussionist (Runner-up)
Modern Drummer Magazine Reader's Poll 2013 – Best Percussionist (Runner-up)
Modern Drummer Magazine Reader's Poll 2012 – Best Percussionist (Runner-up)
Drum! Magazine Drummies 2015 – Percussionist of the Year (Runner-up); Rock/Pop/Hip-Hop Percussionist (Runner-up)
Drum! Magazine Drummies 2013 – Studio Percussionist (Runner-up); Rock/Pop/Hip-Hop Percussionist (Runner-up)
Drum! Magazine Drummies 2012 – Studio Percussionist (Runner-up); World Percussionist (Runner-up)
Drum! Magazine Drummies 2011 – Percussionist of the Year (Runner-up); Studio Percussionist (Runner-up); Jazz/Fusion Percussionist (Runner-up); Live Performer (Runner-up); Rock/Pop Percussionist of the Year (Runner-up)
Drum! Magazine Drummies 2010 – Rock/Pop Percussionist of the Year
Drum! Magazine Drummies 2009 – Rock/Pop Percussionist of the Year
Drum! Magazine Drummies 2008 – Percussionist of the Year (Runner-up); Worldbeat Percussionist (Runner-up)
Drum! Magazine Drummies 2007 – Percussion Rising Star of the Year; Rock/Pop Percussionist (Runner-up)
Discography
As leader
Blu York - Live in NYC (Ropeadope Records / Modern Icon Recordings 2021)
Come And Get It (feat. Keyon Harrold) - single release (Ropeadope Records / Modern Icon Recordings 2021)
With Tao Of Sound
These Times (Domo Records 2016)
Ronin (Domo Records 2013)
Ronin- Extended Play (Domo Records 2012)
Metro (Domo Records 2010)
Other artists/projects
Jazz Funk Soul – Simpatico (2025)
Jennifer Hudson – The Gift of Love (Jennifer Hudson album) (2024)
Naveen Kumar (musician) – Rhythm of Soils (2024)
LeAnn Rimes – God's Work (2022)
Killing Me Softly With His Songs (Documentary Film Score/On-camera) (2022)
The Masked Singer - The Masked Singer (American season 8) (2022)
Lionel Richie – Renaissance Deluxe Edition (2021)
Dumpstaphunk – Where Do We Go From Here (2021)
Julius Rodriguez – Midnight Sun (2021)
The Masked Singer - The Masked Singer (American season 5) (2021)
LeAnn Rimes – Chant: The Human & the Holy (2020)
Gorden Campbell – Conversations (2020)
Mike Phillips – Pulling Off The Covers (2020)
Will Downing – Romantique, Pt. 1 (2019)
The Bronx, USA (HBO Documentary Film Score/On-camera) (2019)
Lindsey Buckingham – Solo Anthology: The Best of Lindsey Buckingham (2018)
iZombie (TV series) – Season 3 (2017)
Naveen Kumar (musician) – Silence Is Bliss (2015)
Touring credits
Taku has been a percussionist on many tours since the late 1990s.