Tsumura Ken
Tsumura Ken
Genres: enka, japanese, japan
Similar artists via Last.fm
Hayashi Isao
About Tsumura Ken
Ken Tsumura (December 12, 1923 - November 28, 1961) was a singer from Nyuzen Town, Shimoniikawa District, Toyama Prefecture. After graduating from Uozu Junior High School, he moved to Tokyo and became a student of Eguchi Yasi. He made his debut with Teichiku in 1943 (Showa 18), but was soon drafted into the army. In 1946, he made his comeback under the stage name Tsumura Ken. This stage name was a combination of the "Tsumura" from the lead character, Kozo Tsumura, from the film "Aizenkatsura," which was released during the war and took the world by storm, and the "Ken" from the actor who played him, Ken Uehara. Although he did not have a hit for a while, in 1951 (Showa 26), "Lil's Return from Shanghai" (lyrics: Jusaburo Tojo, music: Masanobu Tokuchi) became a big hit (it was made into a movie in 1952 by director Koji Shima, and later covered by Jinpachi Nezu). He became a big star overnight. This song was used as a motif in "Joinen Gai no Sousakengai", which was published in the magazine Bessatsu Bungeishunju in 1957 by the writer Seicho Matsumoto, and it is clear that people were still humming the song six years after its release. Riding on the success of "Lil's Return from Shanghai," other companies released several songs with the name "Lil," but no Lil song surpassed "Lil's Return from Shanghai." Incidentally, "Lil" is said to be an abbreviation of "my little daring." After that, he sang hits such as "Can You Find Lil?", "Lil of My Heart, Why Are You So Far Away?", "The Song of the Red Camellia", "Tokyo's Camellia Lady", "Let's Wait", and "With You" (a duet with Taeko Yoshioka). With his handsome appearance and beautiful voice reminiscent of a singer, he was nicknamed "Velvet Voice". They also appeared in the NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen eight times in a row from 1952 to 1958. On November 28, 1961, he was found by his family in a coma caused by carbon monoxide poisoning from exhaust fumes while driving a car that was left running in the garage of his home in Suginami Ward, Tokyo. He was taken to a hospital, but he never regained consciousness and died the same day. He was 37 years old. There was no sign of drinking. He was late coming home from playing mahjong, and worried about waking up his family, he fell asleep in his car, which caused the accident. He is buried in Kodaira Cemetery. Tsumura's "Red Muffler" was adopted as the theme song for Sanin Broadcasting's "Ongaku no Kazeguruma" program when the station first began broadcasting, and is still in use today. In addition, "Lil's Return from Shanghai" has been used as the arrival melody at Iyuzen Station on the Ainokaze Toyama Railway Line, located in Iyuzen Town.
Taken from Last.fm
596 listeners · 3,305 plays via Last.fm