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Yumi Matsutoya | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Yumi Arai |
| Also known as | Yuming, Yumi Arai, Karuho Kureta |
| Born | January 19, 1954 Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan |
| Origin | Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | yuming |
Yumi Matsutoya (松任谷 由実, Matsutōya Yumi, born January 19, 1954), nicknamed Yuming (ユーミン, Yūmin),[1] is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and pianist. Generally the writer of both the lyrics and the music in her songs,[2] she is renowned for her idiosyncratic voice and live performances, and is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Japanese popular music.[3]
Her recording career has been commercially successful with more than 42 million records sold.[4] In 1990, her album The Gates of Heaven became the first album to be certified "2x million" by the RIAJ,[5] and she has had twenty-one No. 1 albums listed on the Oricon charts.[4] She is the only artist to have at least one number-one album every year on the Oricon charts for 18 consecutive years.[6]
After gaining several years of experience as a session musician, she debuted as a singer-songwriter in 1972. During her early career, she worked under her birth name Yumi Arai (荒井 由実, Arai Yumi). In 1975, Arai became known as a composer for "Ichigo Hakusho wo Mou Ichido", a commercially successful song recorded by the folk duo BanBan. She also gained popularity as a vocalist in the same year through the success of "Ano Hi ni Kaeritai", which became her first number-one hit on Japan's Oricon Charts. Other famous songs include "Haru-yo, Koi" and "Sweet, Bitter Sweet".
She also uses the name Kureta Karuho (呉田軽穂), which is derived from the Swedish film star Greta Garbo, when offering her work to other musicians. [7]
In The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture, it is written that "Yuming incorporated influences from progressive rock and European pop to produce a sophisticated, upper-middle-class female Japanese voice and sound in a contemporary musical and journalistic world dominated by discussions of folk music and social critique. This musical idiom is generally thought to have been first realised on [...] Cobalt Hour".[8] The album The 14th Moon and the three albums that ranked in the top 10 of the Japanese charts in 1976 (Cobalt Hour, Yuming Brand, and Hikōki-gumo) "contained several songs which are considered to be early classics of the J-pop genre."[9]
After marrying her musical collaborator Masataka Matsutoya in 1976, Arai began recording under her married name and has continued to do so. Throughout the 1980s, Matsutoya's music was prominently featured in advertisements for Mitsubishi Motors in her native Japan and her image was used to promote their vehicles. In addition to multiple hit singles, she has obtained enormous commercial success on the Japanese Albums Chart, particularly during the late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s.
The magazine Shūkan Gendai ranked Matsutoya third (behind only Miyuki Nakajima and Masayoshi Son) in a list of the smartest Japanese figures that was determined based on the criteria of "intelligence, determination, sensibility and capability".[10]
- ^ "J-Pop Icon Yumi Matsutoya to Celebrate Rugby Year on 'Kohaku' With 1984 Classic 'No Side'". Billboard. Billboard. December 20, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
- ^ Hoover, William D. (March 18, 2011). Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan. Scarecrow Press. p. 353. ISBN 978-0-8108-5460-4.
- ^ "Top 100 Japanese pops Artists – No.3｜HMV ONLINE". Hmv.co.jp. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
- ^ a b トピックス. "ミュージック – エンタメ – 最新ニュース｜MSN トピックス". MSN. Archived from the original on April 13, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
- ^ The Recording Industry Association of Japan. "社団法人 日本レコード協会｜レコード産業界の歴史 1990年～1999年 (Recording Industry Association of Japan – History of the Japanese record industry; 1990~1999)". riaj.or.jp. Retrieved May 17, 2008.
- ^ 浜崎あゆみ、歴代2位タイ、8年連続アルバム首位獲得！ (in Japanese). Oricon. January 9, 2006. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
- ^ "ユーミン、呉田軽穂を語る 純粋な部分、出し切る". 朝日新聞インタビュー. January 16, 2017. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021.
- ^ Buckley, Sandra, ed. (2009). The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture. Routledge. p. 305. ISBN 978-0-415-48152-6.
- ^ Music: The Definitive Visual History. DK Publishing. December 20, 2019. p. 433. ISBN 978-0-7440-2442-5.
- ^ Schreiber, Mark (January 4, 2020). "From hangover cures to prairie dogs, tabloids end 2019 with a bang". The Japan Times. Retrieved June 30, 2020.