As a singer (often he also worked as a songwriter) and actor, Sawada had prospered greatly on Japanese popular culture in last three decades of "Showa era". In the end of 1960s, he succeeded as a lead singer of the band The Tigers. After the breakup of The Tigers and another project PYG, he began his own solo career. As a solo singer, he had sold over 12 million copies singles and reached to the best-selling Japanese male solo music artist in the 1970s.
Music career
Sawada was lead singer of the best-known J-pop music act of the late 1960s Group Sounds era band The Tigers. A bona fide national teen idol, his nickname to the fans was Julie. Japanese pop stars of that era adopted nicknames, and oddly they were often English language girls' names. His nickname is derived from actress Julie Andrews as he is a fan of hers. The group was signed to Watanabe Productions.In 1969, the Bee Gees were commissioned to compose two songs for the band in an attempt at international success. One of the songs was a hit in Japan, titled "Smile For Me" and sung by Sawada. In spite of his English pronunciation being clear and concise, the recording did not make the pop charts in foreign markets as the Watanabe Productions management team had hoped. The band disbanded shortly after that record release.
In 1970, after The Tigers broke up, Sawada formed the supergroup, Pyg. Kenichi Hagiwara, Sawada's main rival in the Group Sounds era, was a co-lead vocalist.
When Pyg disbanded, Sawada had a solo career as a singer, but turned to acting as his main form of artistic expression.
Because Sawada started to wear trendy clothes and applied make-ups in 1970s, he was regarded as an influential innovator and was called "David Bowie of Japan".
Sawada also plays the shamisen.
Film career
Sawada's best known roles include Paul Schrader's biopic of the legendary Yukio Mishima, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and Takashi Miike's horror-comedy musical The Happiness of the Katakuris.Discography
Partial filmography
- Samurai Reincarnation (1981)
- Capone Cries a Lot (1985)
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
- Hiruko the Goblin (1990)
- Yumeji (1991)
- Pistol Opera (2001)
- The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
References
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday July 14, 2008 at 10:24:03 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.