Kyu Sakamoto

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Kyu Sakamoto 坂本九
Background information
Also known as	Kyu-chan
Born	December 10, 1941
Origin	Kanagawa, Japan
Died	August 12, 1985
Genre(s)	Japanese pop/rock, Soul, Kayokyoku
Occupation(s)	Singer, Songwriter, Actor
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1958-1985
Label(s)	Toshiba Records (Toshiba-EMI)
Associated acts	Danny Iida and his paradise kings
Website	Official Website

Kyu Sakamoto (坂本九 Sakamoto Kyū), born Hisashi Oshima (大島ひさし, Ōshima Hisashi, December 10, 1941 - August 12, 1985) was a popular Japanese singer and actor.

Kyu was born in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture as the youngest among nine siblings and his parents; Hiroshi Sakamoto and Iku Sakamoto. Which both worked at a restaurant. Already in high school Kyu began to sing and got very popular, in 1958 he joined the japanese pop-band "The Drifters" as a singer.

His most popular song, Ue o muite arukō ("Looking up while walking") known as Sukiyaki in the US, was a hit in Japan and topped the Billboard pop charts in the United States in 1963 -- to date the first and only song sung entirely in Japanese to do so. The song text is a tragic story, which many Americans are unaware of. The song was translated into English by the female R&B duo A Taste of Honey in 1981; the English version, which told the story of a love gone wrong, was almost as big a hit as the original, reaching #3 on the Hot 100, and was brought back into the Top 10 once more by the R&B vocal group 4 P.M. in 1994. Sakamoto, however, had only one other song reach the U.S. charts, "China Nights (Shina no Yoru)," which peaked at #58 in 1963.

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.

1 Albums
2 Filmography
3 Documentaries
4 Trivia
5 Legacy
6 External links

[edit] Albums

Sukiyaki And Other Japanese Hits (1963)
Kyu Sakamoto Memorial Best (2005)
Kyu Sakamoto CD & DVD The best (2005)

[edit] 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)

[edit] Documentaries

Ue wo Muite Arukou~Sakamoto Kyu Monogatari (2005)

[edit] 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).