Biography

Jun Senoue (瀬上純, Senoue Jun, born August 2, 1970) is a Japanese composer and guitarist who works for Sega, known for his various contributions in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. He is also the songwriter for the band Crush 40, which has also contributed to many Sonic games. Senoue was born on August 2, 1970, in Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan, and started playing the piano at the age of three. After moving to Panama at the age of 12, he became dedicated to rock music after being exposed to MTV. He began to teach himself to play the electric guitar at the age of 15, and made his first original band recording by the age of 17.

After graduating from college with a degree in economics from Aoyama Gakuin University in 1993, Senoue sent demo tapes to Namco and Sega, later hiring him. His first project with the company was on Dark Wizard, where he arranged a medley of the game's music for its staff roll. In 1993, he wrote a few jingles and music tracks for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, his first involvement in the Sonic series. After doing multiple projects in the Sega Worldwide Soccer series in the mid-1990s and other games such as the Sega Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast, Senoue was selected to be the lead composer and sound director of Sonic Adventure in 1998. The game's success led to him being promoted as series sound director.Senoue moved to San Francisco in 1999 and began to work on Sonic Team USA games such as NASCAR Arcade, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog. In 2005, Senoue released an EP with Japanese voice actress Junko Noda, titled "Ready!". The project went under the name JxJ, and was only available to purchase in Japan. In 2007, Senoue provided three new arrangements for the Japanese console release of OutRun 2 SP, including covers of existing series tracks "Splash Wave" and "Rush a Difficulty", and an original track titled "Lift You Up!". Also in 2007, Senoue arranged and performed "Angel Island Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In 2010, Senoue performed several gigs in Tokyo with former Magna-Fi guitarist, C.J. Szuter, in a band called Bubblicious Blvd.In 2009, Senoue announced a compilation album titled The Works. Containing only three Sonic related songs, it mostly features more obscure works he provided for other games. The album was released on October 21, 2009. More recently, Senoue worked as the sound director, composer, and arranger for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I, Episode II, and Sonic Generations. At a Sonic festival at Joypolis in December 2015, Senoue announced a sequel to The Works, titled The Works II, which released two months later.