Hidden Figures of City Pop - Part 1

I remember a few years back I got free tickets to view a movie called “Hidden Figures” . It was a movie based on a true story about 3 Afro-American Women and how their scientific achievements helped put the first American into space. The movie reminded me of an important lesson on how a lot of the biggest accomplishments throughout history were made possible due to the efforts of people we may have never heard of who work behind the scenes. That sentiment definitely applies to music as well, especially City Pop. While we are only exposed to certain big names like Mariya Takeuchi & Tatsuro Yamashita, there are a lot of lesser-known musicians (lesser-known relative to us the foreign audience) that we don’t hear talked about that have contributed greatly to the sound of City Pop.

Jake H. Concepcion

If there is a memorable saxophone solo that you’ve heard in your favorite Japanese song, it was probably thanks to this guy. Known as “The King of Sax” Jake H. Concepcion is the Kenny G of Asia. While he doesn’t have a large discography of his own, his saxophone prowess has been featured with almost every artist you can think of, from Tatsuro Yamashita and Yoshino Fujimaru, to jazz group Cassiopea’s Super Flight, to various idols such as Seiko Matsuda, Yumi Matsutoya (Yumming), Minako Honda and Amii Ozaki. Heck, except for Weekend Fly To The Sun, Jake has played on every one of Toshiki Kadomatsu’s 80’s albums. He’s even played with a few rock bands as well, including but not limited to Southern Allstars, L'Arc ~ en ~ Ciel on their 1996 album True, and rockabilly star Yazawa Eikichi.

Alan O’Day

Anybody who’s a fan of Tatsuro Yamashita knows that he’s a pro at singing in both Japanese & English. However he didn’t write all of his English songs on his own, during the ‘80s, Tats got help from the late American singer-songwriter Alan O’Day, who was known for his hit single, "Undercover Angel" a million-selling Gold-certified American #1 hit in 1977**.** The first song Allan helped Tatsuro write was "Your Eyes" in 1982 for the album For You, which became a hit in Japan. Building on his overseas success, he co-wrote six songs for Yamashita's follow up LP Big Wave and won a Gold Disc Award for it. O'Day would continue to collaborate with Yamashita well into the '90s, including songs such as Fragile and The Girl In White. He also wrote the song Every Night by Mariya Takeuchi for her 1980 album Miss M. Unfortunately Allan passed away on May 17, 2013.

Sentimental City Romance (センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス)

Sentimental City Romance  is a Japanese pop/rock band from Nagoya, formed in 1973. As of 2014, they are the longest-running band in Japan, going steady for over 40 years. SCR, unfortunately, has never had any hit singles. But that hasn't stopped them from being a key player in the development of Japanese music, mainly by being a backup band for various significant artists including Miyuki Nakajima, Sunny Day Service, EPO, and of course, Mariya Takeuchi, most notably on her debut album, Beginning.

Tetsuji Hayashi (林哲司)

I'm sure every fan of City Pop is familiar with the summer sensation Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe. One of the things that people might not realize is that there were a number of key figures that worked behind the scenes to help Omega Tribe achieve the musical prowess that they have. One of those figures was singer-songwriter Tetsuji "Tycoon" Hayashi, who helped compose and arrange almost half of the Classic Omega Tribe song library, including hits like Transit in Summer, Glass No Palm Tree, & Summer Suspicion. Influenced by American pop music, Hayashi originally got his start at age 20, when he got into the Yamaha Music School and worked as an editor at the Yamaha Magazine. Soon after in 1973, he became a singer-songwriter debuting with his 1977 solo album, Back Mirror, but it wasn't successful. To compensate for his not as famous solo career, he's written songs for hundreds of other artists such as Mariya Takeuchi (二人のバカンス/Vacation for Two), Junko Ohashi (The Last Number), Momoko Kikuchi, and Miki Matsubara, most notably her most famous song, 真夜中のドア - Stay With Me.

David Foster

A Canadian musician, record producer, composer, songwriter, and arranger. He has been a producer for many musicians, everyone from Chaka Khan to Michael Jackson, to Kenny G. He also helped produce iconic albums for City Pop artists as well. Foster was a session musician and composer on Mariya Takeuchi’s Miss M, and he also helped Ami Ozaki produce her 1980 album, HOT BABY, with Ami handling all of the songwriting while Foster took care of the arrangement. He also worked on songs for other artists such as Junko Yagami’s Purpletown (1980), and Seiko Matsuda’s Blue (1988).