is a Japanese

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer-songwriter. In 1952, at the age of twelve, she began singing country western despite not speaking English. She performed at U.S. military bases, eventually being signed with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. By 1964 she had recorded five albums and twenty-one singles for the company. That year she was booked to play regularly at The Mint Las Vegas, and also performed for the first time at the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

, receiving a standing ovation. In 1965 her song "Lonely Together" was the first song by a Japanese singer to reach the American country music charts. Shortly after, she returned to Japan, where she has continued to perform. Fujiyama was the subject of the 2015 documentary film ''Made In Japan''.

Bibliography

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujiyama, Tomi 1941 births Japanese country musicians 20th-century Japanese guitarists 20th-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese guitarists 21st-century Japanese women singers Japanese women guitarists Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Japanese sopranos Grand Ole Opry members Musicians from Nagoya 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese singers Living people Asian country singers Country guitarists