was a Japanese singer-songwriter born on

Hashima Island , commonly called , is a tiny abandoned island off Nagasaki, lying about from the centre of the city. It is one of 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. The island's most notable features are its abandoned concrete buildings, undistu ...

Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast. N ...

. She first made her professional debut with the single, ''Kanashii Jiyū / Koi ga, Kiete Yuku''. She is also known as the Shelby Flint of Japan.

Biography

Early life

Okazaki was born in Hashima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture on December 29, 1959. She was born

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

. During her childhood, she was forced by her mother to use her right hand. However, after hearing that it was bad to force her to use her right hand, her mother quickly advised her to use her natural hand. During her school days, she spent time in the bakery where she worked part-time, and practiced with her band, ''Eleanor''. She was then in charge of the chorus and piano.

Career

Okazaki made her debut as a singer-songwriter in 1993. During the nineties, she continued singing and also wrote songs for various voice actors. As she became more involved with

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

she composed songs for Wedding Peach,

Fruits Basket , sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese manga magazine , published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The series' title comes from ...

Princess Tutu is a Japanese magical girl anime series created by illustrator and animator Ikuko Itoh. Inspired by ballet and fairy tales, particularly '' The Ugly Duckling'' and ''Swan Lake'', the story follows a duck who is transformed into the mythica ...

Symphonic Rain is a Japanese musical visual novel developed by Kogado Studio and first released as a limited edition version on March 26, 2004, for Windows as part of a series of " music adventure" games done by its Kuroneko-san Team; the regular edition follow ...

, Say "I love you.", and Love Hina. She formed the duo, Melocure in 2002 with singer-songwriter Megumi Hinata. In the following two years, the duo released several singles and an album, ''Melodic Hard Cure''. Okazaki also produced songs during these years for artists such as

Megumi Hayashibara is a Japanese voice actress, singer, lyricist and radio personality from Kita ward in Tokyo and is affiliated with self-founded Woodpark Office. One of the most prominent Japanese voice actresses since the 1990s, Hayashibara is best known for ...

Mayumi Iizuka is a Japanese actress, voice actress, singer and disc jockey who was born in Tokyo. She is currently affiliated with Across Entertainment and her label is Lantis. She is an instructor at the Stay Luck training school Follow-Up. For her singing ac ...

, and

Yui Horie is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with VIMS and Starchild. She has been affectionately nicknamed by her Japanese fans. She debuted as a voice actress in 1997, releasing her debut single "''My best friend''" on . Since then, sh ...

. According to her fans, the lyrics of Okazaki's songs are characterized by poetic imagery, depth of emotion, gentle optimism and simplicity.

Death

She was diagnosed with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenoca ...

in 2003 but still continued with her work. During this time there was little information released about her. The news was revealed to the public in the liner notes of the CD soundtrack re-release of the visual novel ''

'', which was released a year after her death. On May 5, 2004, Okazaki died suddenly at the age of 44 from

septic shock Septic shock is a potentially fatal medical condition that occurs when sepsis, which is organ injury or damage in response to infection, leads to dangerously low blood pressure and abnormalities in cellular metabolism. The Third International Co ...

as a result of

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is foll ...

. She was unable to speak any last words, and left her work unfinished.

Discography

Singles

Albums

Source:

References

External links

Okazaki Ritsuko's official homepage

Official site @ Star Child

Memorial page @ CDJapan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okazaki, Ritsuko Anime musicians 1959 births 2004 deaths Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese women pop singers Deaths from sepsis Musicians from Nagasaki Prefecture 20th-century Japanese musicians 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers