| Kyu Sakamoto 坂本 九 |
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 Kyu Sakamoto, along with his wife Yukiko Kashiwagi
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Kyu-chan |
| Born | December 10 1941 |
| Origin |  Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan |
| Died | August 12 1985 (aged 43) |
| Genre(s) | Pop, rock, soul, kayōkyoku, enka |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, actor, TV personality |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, Piano, Trumpet |
| Years active | 1958–1959 (The Drifters) 1959-1960 (Danny Iida & his paradise kings) 1961-1985 (solo) |
| Label(s) | Toshiba Records (Toshiba-EMI) |
| Associated acts |
Danny Iida and His Paradise Kings, Kayoko Moriyama |
| Website | Official Website |
Kyu Sakamoto (坂本 九 Sakamoto Kyū?, born Hisashi Oshima (大島久 Ōshima Hisashi?), December 10 1941 - August 12 1985) was a popular Japanese singer and actor.
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Biography
Kyu was born in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture as the youngest among nine siblings (his given name Kyu (九) means 'nine'). His parents, Hiroshi Sakamoto and Iku Sakamoto, both worked at a restaurant. In high school Kyu began to sing and became very popular. In 1958 he joined the Japanese pop-band "The Drifters" as a singer. One of his best known and most beloved songs was "Ashita ga Aru Sa" ("There's Always Tomorrow"). It was covered by the Japanese band Ulfuls in 2001. Kyu worked very hard for old, young and handicapped people in Japan. "Ashita Ga Aru Sa" was the leading theme of the 1964 Handicap Olympics in Tokyo. In 1985, Kyu Sakamoto was killed in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123. Before the doomed aircraft hit the ground, he managed to write a farewell note to his wife Yukiko Kashiwagi. Married in 1971, they had two daughters, Hanako and Maiko.
Sukiyaki
His most popular song, Ue o muite arukō ("I look up when I walk") was popular in Japan and the United States. Released by Capitol Records in the US as Sukiyaki (Capitol 4945), it topped the Billboard pop charts in the United States for three weeks in 1963 -- to date the first and only song sung entirely in Japanese to do so. The lyrics tell the tragic story of a man who looks up while he is walking so that his tears won't fall. The verses of the song describe him doing this through each season of the year.
The song was performed in English by the female R&B duo A Taste of Honey in 1981; the English version, which also told the story of a love gone wrong, was almost as big a hit as the original, reaching #3 on the Hot 100 and remaining on the Hot 100 chart for 24 weeks. "Sukiyaki" was brought back into the Top 10 once more by the R&B vocal group 4 P.M. (4 Positive Music) in 1994 and again in 1998 by another popular Japanese artist known as Utada Hikaru. The English lyrics of the version recorded by A Taste of Honey are not a translation of the original Japanese lyrics but a completely different set of lyrics set to the same basic melody. Sakamoto had only one other song reach the U.S. charts, "China Nights (Shina no Yoru)" (Capitol 5016), which peaked at #58 in 1963. His only American album, "Sukiyaki and Other Japanese Hits" (Capitol 10349), peaked at #14 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart (now [2007] known as the Billboard 200) in 1963 and remained on the Pop Albums chart for 17 weeks. In the summer of 1963 Kyu went out on a world tour that lasted to the beginning of 1964. A few of the countries that he visited included the United States (including Hawaii), Germany, and Sweden. When Sakamoto visited the United States he was a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show and The tonight show with Steve Allen.
Albums
- Sukiyaki And Other Japanese Hits (1963)
- Kyu Sakamoto Memorial Best (2005)
- Kyu Sakamoto CD & DVD The best (2005)
Filmography
- Takekurabe (1955)
- Subete Ga Kurutteru (1960)
- Kigeki: ekimae danchi (1961)
- Ushichi jini aimasho (1963)
- Shiawase nara te o tatake "Clap your hands when you are happy" (1964)
- Garibā no Uchū Ryokō "Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon" (1965)
- Kyu-chan no Dekkai Yume "Kyu-chan's big dream" (1967)
- Tokkan (1975)
Documentaries
Trivia
- The asteroid 6980 Kyusakamoto is named after Kyu Sakamoto.
- Kyu's bloodtype was A.
- His nickname (Kyū) is an alternate reading of the kanji (九) for his given name (Hisashi).
- An Internet rumour, reporting that Kyu Sakamoto's luggage found in the wreckage of JAL Flight 123 contained S/M "equipment," has been proven as false.[1]
