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

Life and career

Born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

, 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 i ...

, Hyōgo, as both his parents became infected with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

."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 (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

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

Takayama City Takayama City Hall is a city located in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 88,473 in 35,644 households, and a population density of 41 persons per km2. The total area of the city was making it the largest city ...

Gifu is a 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. During the Sengoku ...

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

The Animals The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound an ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most p ...

, and subsequently formed his first student band, with whom he performed a folk repertoire. While still a student at the

Gifu University is a national university in the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It is sometimes abbreviated as Gidai (岐大) or Gifudai (岐阜大). National University Corporation The Tokai National Higher Education and Research System established ...

, 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 was a Japanese film director who was born in Tokyo. Career Self-taught, first making shorts on 8 mm film during the 1970s, he made his feature film debut with ''No Yōna Mono'' ('' Something Like It'', 1981).Mark Schillin"Director Yoshimitsu ...

, 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 REZA "Forever Peace" topped the Indonesian singles chart. His song "Somewhere Sometime" was chosen as the theme song of the 2007

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

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