矢沢永吉

Eikichi Yazawa (矢沢 永吉, Yazawa Eikichi; born September 14, 1949) is a Japanese singer and songwriter. He is the father of singer Yoko Yazawa. He has been nicknamed as "Ei-chan" (永ちゃん), "Boss" and "The King of Rock". Eikichi Yazawa was born in Hiroshima, on September 14, 1949. His father was a bicycle shop owner but died of radiation sickness when Eikichi was in the 2nd grade of elementary school. His mother had disappeared, leaving her husband and son behind when Eikichi was 3 years old. He was mainly raised by his paternal grandmother in poverty until he graduated high school. Being bullied in school, such as having a cake thrown at his face, he started to think and practice his philosophy of "being big" which allowed him to survive the poverty and the bullying. When he was in junior high school, he listened to music such as the Ventures and the Beatles, which led him to a career as a rock musician. He started to learn the guitar, and on New Year's Day of 1968, he composed his first song, "I Love You, OK". In 1968, three weeks after he graduated from high school, Yazawa left Hiroshima by train to Tokyo. But on the way, he experienced pain from sitting too long and decided to get off and start living in Yokohama. Making ends meet by working a few jobs, he formed several bands: The Base, E-Set and Yamato with changing members. All of these bands mainly played in the clubs of Yokohama. But after the breakup of Yamato, Japanese musical trends switched to folk music, which led to several clubs closing one after another. In early 1972, he started recruiting members for a new band by placing notices in music stores. With new members, Johnny Okura (side guitar and side vocals) and Toshikatsu Uchiumi (lead guitar), he formed the band Carol. Yazawa was the lead vocalist and bassist of the group. The band received wide recognition after their appearance on the October 1 episode of "Live Young!" on Fuji TV. After seeing their performance on the program, Mickey Curtis helped produce their debut single "Louisiana" on December 20 of the same year. Mickey also introduced them to a drummer, You Okazaki, who later become a member of the band. Carol's style was deeply influenced by The Beatles, especially when they were based in Liverpool. With their motorcycle jackets, pompadour hairstyles, and early rock 'n' roll style numbers, along with their cover versions of "Johnny B. Goode" and "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", the band gained notable popularity and greatly influenced Japanese popular music. Their biggest hit "Funky Monkey Baby" released on June 25, 1973 and became a standard of Japanese rock music. Carol broke up in 1975 after their infamous final concert in Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall, Tokyo. After the last song "Last Chance" was played, firecrackers accidentally exploded and burned down the stage. In the history of this traditional hall, the event is referred to as the biggest "Hibiya Legend". In May 1975, Yazawa flew to the U.S. to start his solo career after signing with CBS Sony. His first solo album, I Love You, OK, was recorded at the A&M Studios in Los Angeles and produced by The Godfather soundtrack producer, Tom Mack. Because Yazawa switched his style of music, I Love You, OK got generally unfavorable reviews. His first solo concert tour, E.Yazawa Around Japan Part-1, ended disastrously, as Yazawa could not fill the venue in Sasebo city, Nagasaki, which only held 1,500 people. He made an oath to himself under the catchphrase of "Remember Sasebo" to become the biggest-selling rock artist in Japan. He continued to tour around the country to show that Carol's former leader was now a solo artist. On July 24, 1976, under the name of The Star in Hibiya, he finally went back to Hibiya Hall with sold-out audiences and a new album, A Day. Backing him up at this concert was The Sadistics. His 33000 Miles Road Japan tour played 66 concerts and he steadily gained popularity as a superstar of Japanese rock. After the remarkable success of his third album Open Your Heart, Yazawa played his first solo performance at Nippon Budokan on August 26, 1977, to a sold-out crowd of over 13,000 people. His live album, Super Live Nippon Budokan, which contains most of the concert, was released three months after the show. This album is often described as the best live album of Japanese rock. 1978 is regarded as one of the best years of Yazawa's career. Not only did his 4th album, Goldrush, which was later rated No. 5 on list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time" of Rolling Stone Japan, go to #1 in the Oricon charts, but his autobiography Nari-Agari (trans. Upstart) which was edited by video game designer and ad writer Shigesato Itoi, sold over a million copies. On August 28, he performed a concert in Korakuen Stadium in front of 50,000 attendees. He also ranked 1st of top-earning musicians by Japanese government, beating the Enka queen Hibari Misora. The following year, he performed at 96 venues, including Nagoya Stadium. Despite his success, he experienced an "emptiness" by being on top and getting everything he wanted. In 1980, Yazawa signed a contract with Warner Pioneer (now Warner Music Japan) and moved to the West Coast of the United States. He tried to overcome the emptiness by conquering a new land. Yazawa moved to Los Angeles and started to find musicians to record his new album. In 1981, he released his first English album Yazawa. This album was produced by Bobby LaKind of the Doobie Brothers, and Paul Barrere of Little Feat. The musicians included John McFee, Patrick Simmons, Keith Knudsen, Cornelius Bumpus, Willie Weeks, Richard Hayward, Kenny Gradney, and Mark Jordan. He also released the album Rising Sun for the Japanese market. In 1982, he released the single "Rockin' My Heart" and his second English album, Yazawa It's Just Rock'n'Roll, produced by Bobby and John McFee. "Rockin' My Heart" was recommended by Billboard magazine in its February 19, 1983 issue. He also released the album P.M.9 for the Japanese market. In September, he began his P.M.9 1982 E.Yazawa Concert Tour with John McFee, Richie Zito, Dennis Belfield, Keith Knudsen, Mark Jordan, and Bobby LaKind. This tour included two Budokan concerts. John and Keith would be long term musicians of Yazawa's concerts until 1996. The next few years included Yazawa releasing an album in Japanese, 1984's E', which was the first of his albums produced by Andrew Gold. In 1985, he sang at Live Aid where his performance of the song "Take It Time" was broadcast worldwide. During this period, Yazawa's music style could almost be described as AOR, under the influence of his American friends. Unfortunately, Yazawa's marketing in the U.S. was non-existent because Warner Pioneer didn't advertise or commit other resources for the album. It just distributed the album through Elektra/Asylum, which didn't have to advertise Yazawa's music at all. Yazawa realized this and decided to sign with EMI Music Japan and headed back to his home country. In 1987 he released his last album in English, Flash in Japan, only in America. (It was later released in Japan in 1999). During that year's Rock'n'Roll Knight 2 tour, bassist George Hawkins joined Yazawa's band and would play with them until 2016. In 1988, Yazawa's first album on EMI, Kyohansha (translated: Accomplice), was released. This album was recorded in London, with U.K. musicians such as Jaz Lochrie, Alan Murphy, Micky Moody, and Jimmy Copley. He played 76 concerts this year, with the last one being his first at the Tokyo Dome. The following year, he held two additional concerts there. On the 1990 tour Rock'n'Roll Army, Keyboardist Guy Allison joined. He is still part of the band. 1991's album, Don't Wanna Stop, was a new challenge for him. Half of the album was recorded in London by producer George McFarlane, and the other half was produced in L.A. by Andrew Gold. In 1992, he started to appear in ads for Suntory's brand-new canned coffee product, Boss. It