Tatsuro Yamashita

Overview

Tatsuro Yamashita (山下達郎) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer, born on February 4, 1953, in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo. His music from the early 1980s is widely regarded as a cornerstone of city pop, and during the overseas city pop revival that began in the 2010s he was frequently called the "King of City Pop." His best-known song, "Christmas Eve," has charted in Japan for more than 35 consecutive years. He is married to singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi and records for Warner Music Japan. HMV Japan ranked him sixth among its top 100 Japanese artists.

Career

Early years

Raised in Ikebukuro, Yamashita played percussion in school brass bands for six years in junior high and high school. The Ventures drew him to Western pop, and he taught himself guitar. In 1966 he formed the amateur band Die Bauern, a group in which every member sang. In 1972 he and amateur-band friends self-produced the album ADD SOME MUSIC TO YOUR DAY.

Sugar Babe and solo debut

In spring 1973 he formed Sugar Babe with Taeko Onuki and others, and that September the group joined Eiichi Ohtaki's stage as backing vocalists at the last concert of Happy End. Produced by Ohtaki, Sugar Babe made its debut with the album Songs (1975). At Ohtaki's Niagara label he contributed chorus and string arrangements, most notably on NIAGARA MOON (1975) and NIAGARA CALENDAR (1977). He began writing songs for other artists around 1975, and until about 1977 he was known as the "god of chorus," something of a studio-musician figure.

After Sugar Babe disbanded in 1976, he signed with RCA and launched his solo career with Circus Town the same year. In 1976 he also released Niagara Triangle Vol. 1 with Ohtaki and Ginji Ito. SPACY (1977) and GO AHEAD! (1978) followed, along with PACIFIC in 1978. His 1979 award-winning album Moonglow achieved only moderate success.

Stardom and beyond

In 1980 "Ride on Time" reached No. 3 on the Oricon chart and the album of the same name topped it, propelling him to stardom. ON THE STREET CORNER also appeared that year, followed by For You (1982) and Melodies (1983). "Christmas Eve" first appeared on Melodies. Made famous as a commercial song for JR Central's "Xmas Express," it topped the charts in 1990 and has sold nearly 2 million copies; it is still sold in small limited editions each Christmas season. An English version with lyrics by Alan O'Day has been covered by Pentatonix, the Commodores, All-4-One and Idina Menzel, among others.

In 1989 he released the Ventures tribute The Ventures Forever on Toshiba EMI. In 2008 he released the single "Zutto Issho sa" (theme of the drama Bara no Nai Hanayasan), and in 2009 "Bokura no Natsu no Yume / Muse" (theme of the film Summer Wars). In 2011 his album Ray of Hope topped the weekly Oricon Albums Chart, making him the fourth singer to top the chart at least once per decade for four decades running.

As a solo artist he has released 13 original studio albums, five cover albums, two live albums, multiple compilations and over 50 singles. With roughly 9 million albums sold, he is the most commercially successful Japanese male solo artist in the history of the Japanese album chart.

Songwriting and collaborations

He wrote hits such as Masahiko Kondo's "High Teen Boogie" (1982) and KinKi Kids' debut single "Garasu no Shonen" (1997) and "Jet Coaster Romance" (1998). He collaborated with his wife Mariya Takeuchi on songs including "Plastic Love," and with American songwriter Alan O'Day on "Your Eyes," "Magic Ways," "Love Can Go the Distance" and "Fragile." He also partnered with the Hawaiian band Greenwood, whose biggest hit was a cover of "Sparkle," and has composed for films and television commercials. His work was rediscovered abroad during the vaporwave boom of the 2010s, and "Plastic Love," for which he built the backing track, has passed 100 million views in total on unofficial YouTube uploads.

Principles

He holds three principles: no face-to-face television appearances, no concerts at huge arena-class venues such as the Nippon Budokan, and no books. To ensure every listener hears high-quality sound, he has long performed at Nakano Sun Plaza Hall (capacity 2,222). He made his first Kohaku Uta Gassen appearance, at the 73rd edition, as a surprise voice message for KinKi Kids' stage.

Musical style

Yamashita draws heavily on Curtis Mayfield and James Brown, and is a devoted fan of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. His tastes also range across doo-wop, soft rock, blue-eyed soul, sweet soul, vocal groups and garage rock. He is known for "one-man a cappella," multitracking his own voice.

Called a "sound craftsman" for his commitment to music-making and sound quality, he handles vocals, backing vocals, arrangement, guitar, computer programming, synthesizer and percussion himself, and some songs are performed entirely by him. He is especially skilled at rhythm guitar cutting. His music is heavily acoustic, yet shows wide knowledge of analog and digital recording and modern production technology. Although he often sings in English, he does not speak the language and learns his English lyrics phonetically. His main guitar is a 1970s Fender Telecaster, and he is a collector with over 60,000 records.