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Hiroshi Itsuki (五木ひろし, Itsuki Hiroshi, born March 14, 1948) is a Japanese singer and composer. As of 1987, he had sold 20 million singles and 4 million LP albums.[1]
In 1965, Itsuki debuted under the stage name "Masaru Matsuyama," but did not initially achieve commercial success. Although he changed his stage name to "Eiichi Ichijō" in 1967, and then to "Ken Mitani" in 1969, there was no improvement in his music's commercial sales. In 1971, he changed his name to "Hiroshi Itsuki" and was given the song "Yokohama Tasogare" (よこはま・たそがれ) by Masaaki Hirao. Written by lyricist Yoko Yamaguchi, "Yokohama Tasogare" reached the top of the Oricon weekly single chart.[3]
His 2006 single "Takasebune" debuted at number 9 on the Oricon charts, becoming his first Top 10 single in 22 years, since his 1984 single "Nagaragawa Enka".[4] In 2008, he was featured in Morning Musume's Cover You album. He sang "Izakaya" with Ai Takahashi. Also in 2008, he collaborated with the girl group Cute, letting them record the song "Edo no Temari Uta", he himself was planning to include in his end-of-year album. Cute's producer Tsunku liked the song and thought that if performed by girls the enka lyrics will sound like "a modern fairytale".[5] In what was called a collaboration by Tsunku[6] and a rivalry between two performers by Sankei Sports,[5] they both released the song as CD singles, Cute on July 30, and Itsuki as his 132nd single on October 22. Cute's version, entitled "Edo no Temari Uta II", was nominated for the main Japan Record Award of 2008, which also meant receiving a Gold Award from the Japan Composer's Association.[7][8][9]
Discography
Top 10 singles
#
Title
Date/Position
1
Yokohama Tasogare (よこはま・たそがれ Yokohama Twilight) Debut single
1971 (#1)
2
Nagasaki kara fune ni notte (長崎から船に乗って Riding on a boat from Nagasaki)
^五木ひろしの新曲「高瀬舟」 オリコン初登場９位 [Hiroshi Itsuki's New Song "Takasebune" Debuted at #9 on the Oricon Charts] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
