Takuya Hirano

Taku Hirano is a Professor of Practice in Music Industry Studies and the Strategy, Leadership, Analytics Minor (SLAM). Drawing on his three-decade career in the music industry, Taku brings a unique and current real-world perspective into introducing the global creative industries and business of music. As one of the most in-demand percussionists of his generation, he has been referred to by Mick Fleetwood - founder and drummer of Fleetwood Mac - as his “Secret Weapon,” and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and music icon Stevie Nicks has proclaimed nightly on her solo tours that Taku is "the best percussion player, I think, in the world."

Born in Japan and raised in the United States, Taku was trained in European classical music, Black American Music, and Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, West African, Indian and Japanese percussion traditions. He attended Berklee College of Music for both undergraduate and graduate studies and was the institution’s first graduating hand percussion principal, with four years of tutelage under Afro-Cuban percussion master Giovanni Hidalgo.

Taku’s graduate studies in music business encompassed artist entrepreneurship, music licensing, music publishing and rights administration, copyright law, music metadata and data analytics, music policy and law, artist management, marketing, finance and a master’s thesis on the musicology, science and market viability of functional music for wellness. He has also received certifications in music supervision, music rights management, generative AI for business, and conducted ethnomusicological research in Cuba through the U.S. Treasury Department. Taku is a Regular Guest Artist in Percussion at The University of Georgia, and has also been a Professional-In-Residence at The University of Texas at Austin and an Artist-in-Residence at Carnegie Mellon School of Music and at Berklee College of Music for their Music Business, Professional Music, Music Therapy and Music Education departments.

Taku’s client list has spanned the pinnacles of practically every commercial music genre. He has toured the world as the percussionist for Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, John Mayer, Bette Midler, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Richie, LeAnn Rimes, Isaac Hayes and Dr. John, as a soloist on Indian and Japanese percussion for Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman’s Slumdog Millionaire/Jai Ho world tour, as a featured soloist on the eighth top-grossing music tour of all time, Michael Jackson: THE IMMORTAL World Tour by the Michael Jackson Estate and Cirque du Soleil, as a member of the UNESCO International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert band under the direction of Herbie Hancock, and as

a consultant to Trent Reznor for the Nine Inch Nails Lights In The Sky world tour. He has performed in major arenas and stadiums in 30 countries across five continents, twice in South Africa for President Nelson Mandela, and twice at the White House for President Barack Obama.

Taku’s live performance credits also include Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Shakira, Ariana Grande, Snoop Dogg, Ed Sheeran, Usher, Jonas Brothers, Pharrell Williams, Annie Lennox, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, John Legend, Lil Wayne, Patti LaBelle, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, Melissa Etheridge, Queen Latifah, Andrea Bocelli and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. His recording credits include Dr. Dre, Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Stevie Nicks, Ziggy Marley, Jennifer Hudson, LeAnn Rimes, Lionel Richie and Nelly Furtado, as well as numerous major motion picture soundtracks, film scores, television shows, national commercials and sound libraries.

In addition to being a longtime voting member of the Recording Academy and performing on multiple GRAMMY Awards telecasts (most recently backing Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Chris Stapleton in 2023), Taku was also a featured artist on the 63rd GRAMMY Awards (2021) “Music Requires Listening” segment by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, Jr. and is a frequent music industry panelist on DEI and AAHNPI issues. Taku has also been featured in national ad campaigns for Guitar Center, and included in ORIGIN. magazine’s list of “Top 100 Creatives.” Website: https://taku.ninja/