Kyōhei Tsutsumi facts for kids

Kyōhei Tsutsumi (筒美 京平, Tsutsumi Kyouhei) (born Eikichi Watanabe, May 28, 1940 – October 7, 2020) was a famous Japanese composer, music producer, and arranger. He created many popular songs that shaped Japanese pop music for decades.

Tsutsumi started writing songs around 1966. He became very well-known in the late 1960s with Ayumi Ishida's hit song "Blue Light Yokohama." He wrote almost 3,000 songs during his career. More than 500 of these songs made it onto the Japanese Oricon singles chart.

He was the most successful composer in Japanese popular music over the last 50 years. His songs sold over 76 million copies on the country's singles chart since 1968. Two of his songs won the top prize at the Japan Record Award. These were "Mata Au Hi Made" by Kiyohiko Ozaki in 1971 and "Miserarete" by Judy Ongg in 1979. Tsutsumi himself also won awards for best songwriting five times.

In 2003, the Japanese government honored him with the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon. This award recognized his big contributions to Japanese popular music. Kyōhei Tsutsumi passed away on October 7, 2020, at the age of 80.

Early Life and Education

Eikichi Watanabe (渡辺 栄吉, Watanabe Eikichi) was born on May 28, 1940. His birthplace was Ushigome, Tokyo City, which is now part of Shinjuku Ward. He went to Aoyama Gakuin, a very respected school in Japan.

Watanabe started learning to play the piano when he was just a little kid in kindergarten. As a teenager, he joined his college's jazz club. After finishing university, he worked as a director at Nippon Grammophon. This was a Japanese record company that later became Polydor Japan. Today, it is part of Universal Music Group.

Music Career Highlights

A composer named Jun Hashimoto, who was older than him at university, suggested that Watanabe start writing songs. He began using the stage name Kyohei Tsutsumi. His first recorded song was "Kiiroi Lemon" in 1966. He wrote it with Hashimoto, and Masato Shimon sang it.

Tsutsumi's first big hit was "Barairo no Kumo," sung by the Village Singers in 1967. He became truly famous in 1969. This was after the release of "Blue Light Yokohama," sung by Ayumi Ishida. This song came out on Christmas Day in 1968. It quickly reached the top of the Japanese Oricon sales chart the next year. It was the fifth song to sell over 1 million copies since the chart began in 1968. For composing this song, Tsutsumi won the 11th Japan Record Awards for best songwriting.

In 2020, he received a special award. He was one of eight people to get the Special Lifetime Achievement Award at the 62nd Japan Record Awards.

Number-One Hit Songs

Kyōhei Tsutsumi composed many songs that became number one hits in Japan. Here are some of them:

See also

In Spanish: Kyohei Tsutsumi para niños