| Itsuki Hiroshi 五木ひろし |
|
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kazuo Matsuyama |
| Also known as | Masaru Matsuyama (1965-1967) Eiichi Ichijō (1967-1968) Ken Mitani (1969-1971) |
| Born | March 14, 1948 Fukui Prefecture, Japan |
| Genres | Enka, Pop |
| Occupations | Singer, Composer |
| Years active | 1965–Present |
| Labels | Tokuma Japan Communications |
| Website | www.itsuki-hiroshi.co.jp |
Hiroshi Itsuki (五木ひろし Itsuki Hiroshi, born March 14, 1948) is a Japanese male singer and composer. He sold 20 million records of singles and 4 million copies of LP albums by 1987.[1]
Itsuki is usually regarded as an enka singer, but he even covered Southern All Stars' J-pop song "Tsunami".[2]
In 1965, he debuted under the stage name "Masaru Matsuyama", but didn't achieve commercial success. Although he changed his stage name to "Eiichi Ichijō" in 1967 and then "Ken Mitani" in 1969, there was no change.
In 1971, he changed his stage name to "Hiroshi Itsuki" and was given the song "Yokohama Tasogare" (よこはま・たそがれ) by Masaaki Hirao. This reached the top of the Oricon weekly single chart.
His 2006 single "Takasebune" debuted at number 9 on the Oricon charts, becoming his first Top 10 single in 22 years since his 1984 single "Nagaragawa Enka".[3]
In 2008, he was featured in Morning Musume's Cover You album. He sang "Izakaya" with Ai Takahashi.