The cute Japanese singer and actress Ayumi Ishida was born in Osaka in 1948. She seems to have started her singing career in 1964 at the young age of 16. Ayumi recorded at least 23 singles with Victor in Japan during 1964-1967 and although she had some popularity with great songs like Shadow of Love on that recording label, it wasn’t until she left Victor and started recording with Columbia that she found super stardom thanks to her popular hit Blue Light Yokohama. Blue Light Yokohama was written by the well-known Japanese songwriter Tsutsumi Kyohei who wrote many popular Japanese songs during the 1960s & 70s. The song was a huge hit for Ayumi Ishida & Tsutsumi Kyohei, and it spent 32 weeks on the Japanese music charts. Blue Light Yokohama combines the charm of old style Enka music with a much more modern sound and in turn appealed to Japanese music fans of all-ages.
For your listening pleasure here are two of Ayumi Ishida’s popular singles. The first is Shadow of Love which was recorded in 1967 for Victor and was composed by Suzuki Kunihiko who’s also responsible for many popular Japanese songs during the 60s-70s as well as soundtracks for some great Japanese movies such as Onna banchô: Nora-neko rokku (Female Juvenile Delinquent Leader: Stray Cat Rock) the second is her big hit Blue Light Yokohama which was recorded in 1968 for Columbia.
Ayumi Ishida - Shadow of Love
Ayumi Ishida - Blue Light Yokohama
Last but not least, here’s a short but great video featuring Ayumi Ishida singing Blue Light Yokohama!
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