The talented songstress Kayoko Moriyama was born in Japan on Feb. 23, 1942. She is often referred to as the “First Lady” of Japanese pop music, but she’s not very well known outside of Japan and I’ve had a hard time trying to to find information about her, but here’s what I do know. Corrections are welcome!
Kayoko Moriyama has a really lovely voice and covered many popular songs during the 1960s. Her first big hit was a Japanese version of the Italian diva Mina’s hit single Tintarella Di Luna which was released in 1960. Tintarella Di Luna was a huge success for Kayoko Moriyama and many more hits followed. She covered a lot of popular songs throughout the 1960s including Pocket Transistor, which was originally recorded by Alma Cogan as Just Couldn’t Resist Her And Her Pocket Transistor, and Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo, which was originally recorded by the actress Sophia Loren.
During the 1960s Kayoko Moriyama also started acting and appeared in some Japanese television dramas and musical comedies alongside the well known Japanese pop star Kyu Sakamoto. She also costarred in the critically acclaimed Japanese film Kuroi junin no onna (aka Ten Dark Women, 1961) directed by the award winning filmmaker Kon Ichikawa (The Burmese Harp, Tokyo Olympiad, An Actor’s Revenge, etc.).
Kyoko Moriyama’s career seemed to wane a bit in the late 1960s, but in 1970 she updated her image and recorded Butterfly Samba. The song was another huge hit for her in Japan and it propelled Kayoko Moriyama into the spotlight once again. She continued recording throughout the 1970s for Columbia Japan, but she seemed to have stopped recording in the early 1980s. I believe she still performs live on occasion.
Here are three of Kayoko Moriyama’s most popular singles which I really enjoy. I hope you’ll like them too!
Kayoko Moriyama - Tintarella Di Luna (1960)
Kayoko Moriyama - Pocket Transistor (1965)
Kayoko Moriyama - Butterfly Samba (1970)
Download all three songs HERE
Kyoko Moriyama’s offical web page at Columbia Japan can be found here:
http://columbia.jp/moriyama/index.html
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