Momoe Yamaguchi

Momoe Yamaguchi was born on 17 January 1959 at Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo Hospital in Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo.

Not long afterwards she was left in the care of her maternal grandparents.

At around four, she returned to her parents and the family then moved to Yokohama.

Her father, a medical doctor who was married to another woman with children, was never married to her mother.

The family moved once again to Yokosuka.

Her mother raised Momoe and her younger sister Toshie by herself.

Toshie Yamaguchi studied in the US from partway through high school to college while Momoe made a life in Japan.

Momoe has a niece in the US who she has never met.

Yamaguchi began a career in show business while she was still a student in junior high school.

Momoe Miura (三浦 百恵), known by her maiden name Momoe Yamaguchi (山口 百恵), is a Japanese former singer, actress, and idol whose career lasted from 1972 to 1980.

Often simply referred to by her given name "Momoe," Yamaguchi is one of the most successful singers in Japanese music, releasing 32 singles, including three number one hits, and 21 studio albums.

She also starred in 15 feature films and several television serial dramas.

At age 21, Yamaguchi retired at the height of her popularity to marry her frequent costar, Tomokazu Miura; she has never performed or made a public appearance since.

Therefore, she is called a legendary idol in Japan.

At the end of 1972, at the age of 13, Yamaguchi, along with many of her schoolmates, applied by postcard to appear on the idol talent search television show Star Tanjō!.

After a series of successful preliminary auditions, she appeared on the show covering a hit song "Kaiten Mokuba", by Yumi Makiba earlier that year (itself a cover of "Prima Vera" written by The Ventures).

Though she finished second, Yamaguchi received offers from several music producers, and signed with Hori Productions.

Her family moved to Tokyo.

Yamaguchi transferred to Shinagawa Joshi Gakuin, and then attended Hinode Joshi Gakuin High School, a school which allows its students to carry on careers in show business.

Initially she was promoted together with two other singers, Junko Sakurada and Masako Mori, as the Hana no Chūsan Torio (meaning "The lovely trio of third-year middle school students") since they were all in the third year of middle school (chūsan).

Her first single, "Toshigoro", coupled with her first movie of the same title, did not fare well in the charts, peaking at 37 on the Oricon singles chart.

But her second single "Aoi Kajitsu" peaked at number 9.

Japanese pop culture historians have credited its success to its suggestive lyrics.

The chorus goes "You can do what ever you want with me; it's OK if rumors spread that I'm a bad girl".

Her early songs were written for her by the Hori Productions songwriting team of composer Shunichi Tokura and lyricist Kazuya Senge.

One of her biggest hits was her 5th single "Hito natsu no Keiken" ("an experience one summer"), which includes lyrics like "I'll give you the most precious thing a girl has".

and "Everyone experiences it at least once, the sweet trap of seduction".

The suggestive lyrics attracted widespread press interest.

The young singer was frequently asked salacious questions such as "What do you think a girl's most precious thing is?", to which she replied magokoro ("her devotion").

By the end of 1974, her phenomenal popularity was demonstrated by her being invited to be the opening female singer for the 25th Kōhaku Uta Gassen, Japan's most popular musical show, with the song Hito Natsu No Keiken.

She would continue to appear in this show every year until her retirement.

With her increasing popularity, Yamaguchi gained more control over her career and was able to select her own songwriters.

One of her choices was Ryudo Uzaki.

She chose him because she liked his song "Secret Love", recorded by the Down Town Boogie Woogie Band.

Their first collaboration resulted in the single "Yokosuka Story" in 1976, written by Uzaki with lyrics by his wife, Yoko Aki.

Aki was inspired to write the song because both she and Yamaguchi, whom she had never met when the song was originally ordered, had both lived in Yokosuka.

"Yokosuka Story" was Yamaguchi's biggest hit, selling more than 600,000 copies, and peaked at number one on the charts.

This was the beginning of a collaboration with the husband and wife songwriting team which only ended with Yamaguchi's retirement.

Songs were also written for her by writers such as Masashi Sada, who wrote one of her most popular hits, "Cosmos".

Her popularity as a singer was paralleled by rising success in a series of films and television programs.