Kyōhei Tsutsumi

Tsutsumi is the most commercially successful composer of the Japanese popular music of last five decades, selling over 76 million units on the country's singles chart from 1968 onwards. Two of his compositions won the grand prix of Japan Record Award— "Mata Au Hi Made" performed by Kiyohiko Ozaki in 1971 and "Miserarete" by Judy Ongg in 1979. Tsutsumi himself has also won the awards for best songwriting category five times. Recognized for his long-term contribution to establish Japanese popular music, Tsutsumi received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon by the Government of Japan in November 2003. Tsutsumi died of aspiration pneumonia on October 7, 2020, after home recuperation, at age 80.

• Name — Kyōhei Tsutsumi • Birth Name — Eikichi Watanabe • Other Names — Jack Diamond • Born — 28 May 1940 • Birthplace — Ushigome, Tokyo, Japan • Died — 7 October 2020 • Place of death — Tokyo, Japan • Education — Aoyama Gakuin University • Occupation — Composer, music producer, arranger • Years Active — 1963–2020

Eikichi Watanabe was born on May 28, 1940, in Ushigome, Tokyo City, now part of Shinjuku Ward. He was a student of Aoyama Gakuin, one of the most prestigious educational institutes in Japan. Watanabe learned piano when he was in kindergarten, and joined the college's jazz club in his teen years. After graduating from University, Watanabe worked as a director of Nippon Grammophon, a Japanese record label which later changed its name to Polydor Japan and is now owned by Universal Music Group. Tadataka Watanabe, his younger brother, became a record executive too, who has been chief producer of Warner Music Japan and well known as a discoverer of multi-million selling folk-rock duo Kobukuro.

On the suggestion of lyricist Jun Hashimoto, his senior graduate of university, Watanabe began his songwriting career under the pen name Kyohei Tsutsumi. "Kiiroi Lemon", his first recorded compositions co-written by Hashimoto and sung by then-unknown Masato Shimon (using stage name Kōichi Fuji), was issued as a single in 1966. However, it was initially released as a work composed by Kōichi Sugiyama, and Tsutsumi's name was not credited on the original pressing of the record. Tsutsumi's first hit, "Barairo no Kumo", was performed by the Village Singers and released as a single in 1967. He rose to fame in 1969, after release of "Blue Light Yokohama" recorded by singer and actress Ayumi Ishida. It was released as a single on Christmas Day of 1968 and topped the Japanese Oricon sales chart in the following year, becoming the fifth record to have sold over 1 million copies since the chart started counting sales in 1968. As a composer of the song, Tsutsumi won the 11th Japan Record Awards for the best songwriting category on December 31, 1969. In 2020, he became one of eight recipients of the Special Lifetime Achievement Award at the 62nd Japan Record Awards.

During the late 1960s and the 1970s, Tsutsumi released the following of his own albums. Most of those efforts were reissued in 2006, as part of compilation series entitled Kyohei Tsutsumi Solo Works Collection released by five different labels — EMI Music Japan, Sony Music Entertainment, King Records, Victor Entertainment, and Nippon Columbia. • Album — Details • Piano ga Utau "Osanai Hi" — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and the Feather Tones *Released: 1968 *Label: King Records • Cembalo Deluxe Vol.1: Koi no Kisetsu — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and the Feather Tones *Released: 1968 *Label: King Records • Cembalo Deluxe Vol.2: Nanairo no Shiawase — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and the Feather Tones *Released: 1969 *Label: King Records • Cembalo Deluxe Vol.3: Ano Hi Nagisa de... — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and the Feather Tones *Released: 1969 *Label: King Records • Futatsu no Hoshi — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and Kunihiko Suzuki *Released: July 10, 1969 *Label: Nippon Columbia • Hit Piano Touch — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi Orchestra *Released: 1969 *Label: Toshiba EMI • Hit! Hit! Hit!: "Shiranaide Aisarete/Koibito" — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi Orchestra *Released: March 1970 *Label: Nippon Columbia • Easy Listening Deluxe Album: Kyohei Tsutsumi Hit Original Sound by 16-ch System — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi Orchestra *Released: 1970 *Label: Victor • Headlight — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi Orchestra *Released: May 10, 1970 *Label: Nippon Columbia • Bacharach Meet the Beatles — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and the Feather Tones *Released: 1971 *Label: King Records • Dynamic Young Hit Deluxe — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and the Feather Tones *Released: 1971 *Label: Toshiba EMI • Tsutsumi Kyohei no Hibiki — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and Sound Now Orchestra *Released: 1972 *Label: Sony • Seishun no Harmony: Mirai kara Kita Tegami — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and Sound Now Orchestra *Released: 1972 *Label: Sony • Eiko e no Dasshutsu — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and Sound Now Orchestra *Released: 1972 *Label: Victor • Spectacle Sound by Special Request — *Performer: Kyohei Tsutsumi and Silver Strings *Released: 1973 *Label: Toshiba EMI • Hit Machine: Tsutsumi Kyohei no Sekai — *Performer: Doctor Dragon and the Oriental Express *Released: 1976 *Label: Toshiba EMI

• Year — Single — Performer — Lyricist • 1968 — "Blue Light Yokohama" — Ayumi Ishida — Jun Hashimoto • 1971 — "Mata Au Hi Made" — Kiyohiko Ozaki — Yū Aku • 1973 — "Akai Fūsen" — Miyoko Asada — Kazumi Yasui • "Watashi no Kare wa Hidari-kiki" — Megumi Asaoka — Kazuya Senke • 1974 — "Yoroshiku Aishū" — Hiromi Gō — Kazumi Yasui • "Amai Seikatsu" — Gorō Noguchi — Michio Yamagami • 1975 — "Romance" — Hiromi Iwasaki — Yū Aku • "Sentimental" • 1979 — "Miserarete (Theme of Aegean Sea)" — Judy Ongg — Yōko Aki • "Sexual Violet No. 1" — Masahiro Kuwana — Takashi Matsumoto • 1980 — "Sneaker Blues" — Masahiko Kondō • 1981 — "Blue Jeans Memory" • "Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku" — Ayumi Date • 1982 — "Jōnetsu Neppū Serenade" — Ayumi Date • "Furarete Banzai" — Takashi Matsumoto • "Harajuku Kiss" — Toshihiko Tahara — Akira Miyashita • "Shower na Kibun" — Yoshiko Miura • "Horetaze! Kanpai" — Masahiko Kondō — Takashi Matsumoto • 1983 — "Midnight Station" • "Tameiki Rockabilly" • "Royal Straight Flush" • 1984 — "Ichiban Yarō" — Masao Urino • "Meikyu no Androla" — Kyōko Koizumi — Takashi Matsumoto • "Yamatonadeshiko Shichihenge" — Chinfa Kan • 1985 — "Majo" — Takashi Matsumoto • "Nantettatte Idol" — Yasushi Akimoto • "Kamen Butōkai" — Shōnentai — Tetsuya Chiaki • 1987 — "Ballad no You ni Nemure" — Takashi Matsumoto • "Naimono Nedari no I Want You" — C-C-B • 1987 — "Mizu no Rouge" — Kyōko Koizumi • "Stripe Blue" — Shōnentai • "Sayonara no Kajitsutachi" — Yōko Oginome — Masao Urino • "Kimi Dake ni" — Shōnentai — Chinfa Kan • "Naite Mirya Iijan" — Masahiko Kondo • "ABC" — Shōnentai — Takashi Matsumoto • 1988 — "Jirettai ne" — Hiromi Mori • 1994 — "Tenca wo Torō (Uchida no Yabō)" — Yuki Uchida — Kohmi Hirose, Sora Kawasaki • 1999 — "Yamenaide, Pure" — KinKi Kids — Takashi Matsumoto • 2003 — "Ambitious Japan! — Tokio — Rei Nakanishi