Masayuki Suzuki

Overview

Masayuki Suzuki (鈴木雅之, born September 22, 1956, in Ōmori, Ōta, Tokyo) is a Japanese singer, vocalist and music producer. A member of Rats & Star (originally Chanels), he is nicknamed "Martin" and is known for his sunglasses and moustache. His sister, Kiyomi Suzuki, is also a singer. Rooted in doo-wop, R&B and soul and devoted largely to love songs, he is called Japan's "King of Love Songs." He describes himself not as a "singer" tied to one genre but as a "vocalist" able to color any music with his own style. His best-of albums MARTINI and MARTINI II both sold over a million copies. He won the Excellent Album Award at the 53rd Japan Record Awards for DISCOVER JAPAN (2011), the Best Vocal Performance Award in 2016, and the 67th Japan Art Festival Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award (Popular Entertainment) in 2017. Since 2019 he has performed the opening themes of the anime Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. Because his maternal grandfather was a nori seaweed fisherman in Ōmori, he was named an Ōmori Nori goodwill ambassador.

Career

Group Years

Suzuki formed Chanels in 1975 with friends from Ōmori. It began as an amateur group that simply enjoyed covering doo-wop. On February 25, 1980, as lead vocalist, he made his major debut with the single "Runaway," a million-seller. The group followed with songs such as "Tonight" and "Machikado Twilight," and Suzuki composed some tracks. In 1983 the name changed to Rats & Star, releasing "Me-gumi no Hito" and "T-shirt ni Kuchibeni"; the album SOUL VACATION was produced by Eiichi Ohtaki. The group disbanded in 1996.

Solo Career

Suzuki debuted as a solo vocalist in 1986 with "Glass Goshi ni Kieta Natsu," released the day after the anniversary of "Runaway." His first album Mother of Pearl (1986) was followed by Radio Days (1988), Dear Tears (1989), Mood (1990), Fair Affair (1992), Perfume (1993), She See Sea (1994) and Carnival (1997). He worked with Yoshiyuki Osawa, Tatsuro Yamashita, Kazumasa Oda and Ray Parker Jr., among others, delivering mainly love songs.

The early 1990s brought "Mo Namida wa Iranai," "Koibito," "Chigau, Sou Janai" and "Shibuya de 5-ji." The best-of albums MARTINI (1991) and MARTINI II (1995) were million-sellers. Duets became a hallmark: "Lonely Chaplin" with his sister Kiyomi Suzuki (1987) and "Shibuya de 5-ji" with Momoko Kikuchi (1994), released as a double A-side with "Chigau, Sou Janai."

In the 2000s he released Medium Slow (2000), Tokyo Junction and the cover album Soul Legend (2001), Martini Blend (2003), Shh... (2004) and, for his 25th anniversary, Ebony & Ivory (2005), supported by a tour. In 2007 he released "Futari de Ii Janai" with Hitomi Shimatani, followed by the duet compilation Martini Duet; the 2008 single "Koi no Flight Time 12pm" reunited him with Kikuchi, and Still Gold arrived in 2009.

DISCOVER JAPAN (2011), his first cover album, won the Excellent Album Award at the Japan Record Awards. The series, begun in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, covers classic Japanese songs and continued with II (2014), III (2017) and DX (2022). In 2015 he issued his first all-time best, ALL TIME BEST Martini Dictionary. dolce (2016), for his 30th solo anniversary, featured contributions from Yumi Matsutoya, Koji Tamaki, Toshinobu Kubota, Yasuyuki Okamura, Ken Yokoyama and Angela Aki; that year he won Best Vocal Performance at the 58th Japan Record Awards and played 22 concerts nationwide. His 2017 Art Encouragement Prize citation praised him for preparing ground for American R&B in Japanese pop and spreading what might be called "kayo soul." In February 2022 he released the cover best DISCOVER JAPAN DX alongside a video of his 40th-anniversary tour.

Anime Themes and Recent Activity

On February 27, 2019, he released his 39th single, "Love Dramatic feat. Rikka Ihara," the opening of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, his first anime theme (written by Yoshiki Mizuno, sound produced by Akimitsu Homma). The album Funky Flag followed that year. On April 15, 2020, he released the 40th-anniversary album ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL with his 40th single "DADDY ! DADDY ! DO ! feat. Airi Suzuki" (no relation), which won the Reiwa 2 Anison Grand Prize.

On June 8, 2022, he released his 42nd single "GIRI GIRI feat. Suu" (of Silent Siren), the opening of the third season. In December 2022 the digital single "Love is Show feat. Reni Takagi" became the opening for the film Kaguya-sama: Love Is War – The First Kiss That Never Ends. SOUL NAVIGATION (2023) centered on dance and funk; Snazzy and a tour video followed in 2024. In 2025, the 45th anniversary of his major debut, he released All Time Doo Wop ! !. On December 10, 2025, the digital single "Abunai Kioku feat. Aoi Koga" became the opening of the TV special Kaguya-sama: Love Is War – The Stairway to Adulthood, his fifth consecutive theme for the franchise. On March 25, 2026, he released MARTINI DUET DELUXE, a three-disc duet best marking his 40th solo anniversary and 70th birthday; Disc 3, "King & Kaguya family," collects all five series themes.

Musical Style

Suzuki has built his career on doo-wop, R&B and soul. Influenced by his sister's records and radio programs, he grew up on R&B, Motown and Atlantic-label music, and cites Nobuyasu Okabayashi, Happy End, RC Succession, Uriah Heep, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Ray Parker Jr. and Luther Vandross as shaping his outlook. After going solo he chose to be a pure vocalist rather than write his own songs, interpreting material by outside writers and producers as his own and aiming to deliver ballads with care using "just one microphone." He sees duets not as competition but as drawing out the best in a partner. For the anime series he billed himself as the "big new face of anime songs."