Masaki Ueda (; born 7 July 1949) is a Japanese R&B and soul singer and composer.

Life and career

Born in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, the son of a doctor, Ueda spent part of his childhood with his grandparents in

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is ...

, Hyōgo, as both his parents became infected with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

."SPACE/OF FOLK/&ROCK いま最前線へ、上田正樹インタビュー". ''Gekkan Meisei'', September 1983,

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

, pp. 56-57. When his father died and his mother recovered and remarried he moved to Takayama City,

Gifu is a Cities of Japan, city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. Durin ...

. He became interested in music in 1966, after having attended a concert of

The Animals The Animals, currently billed as Eric Burdon & the Animals (featuring original frontman Eric Burdon) and also as Animals & Friends (featuring original drummer John Steel (drummer), John Steel), are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Ne ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

, and subsequently formed his first student band, with whom he performed a folk repertoire. While still a student at the Gifu University, in 1972 Ueda made his record debut with the single "Kin'iro no taiyō ga moeru asa ni" ("In the morning when the golden sun burns"). In 1974 he formed a band, Masaki Ueda & South To South, with whom he recorded an album; the group disbanded in 1976 and Ueda reprised his solo career. Ueda's major hit was the 1983 song "Kanashii iro ya ne" (悲しい色やね, "Sad Colors"), whose lyrics in 1988 inspired a film with the same title directed by Yoshimitsu Morita, in which Ueda also appeared. His 1999 single "Hands of Time" became a hit in South Korea, selling over 200,000 copies. In 2001, Ueda's duet with Indonesian singer in the song "Forever Peace", also known as "''Biar Menjadi Kenangan''", topped the Indonesian singles chart. His song "Somewhere Sometime" was chosen as the theme song of the 2007

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

drama series '. In 2022, he held a national tour as to celebrate his 50 years of career.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ueda, Masaki 1949 births Living people Singers from Kyoto Japanese male singers Japanese male composers Soul singers Japanese rhythm and blues singers