Keisuke Kuwata

Keisuke Kuwata (born on February 26, 1956) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who rose to fame in the late 70s as the frontman of soft rock outfit Southern All Stars. Inspired by Western artists like The Beatles and Bob Dylan, Kuwata formed Southern All Stars in 1977 alongside keyboardist and future wife, Yuko Hara. The band enjoyed massive success in their native Japan with their debut single, “Katte ni Sindbad,” which made it to the top ten on the Japanese charts in 1978. Following a string of chart-topping releases during the early 80s, SAS went on hiatus due to Hara’s pregnancy. Kuwata then embarked on a solo career, releasing his critically-acclaimed eponymous studio debut in 1988, which topped the Oricon Weekly Chart for two consecutive weeks. During the 90s, he made his debut as a film director with Inamura Jane (1990), whose soundtrack he wrote and recorded, and released the compilation From Yesterday (1992). More accolades ensued with The Lonely Sun (1994), an album influenced by American blues and rock ‘n’ roll that won Best Album at the 36th Japan Record Awards. At the turn of the decade, Kuwata teamed up once again with SAS for the blockbuster single “Tsunami” (2000), which won a Japan Gold Disc Award for Song of the Year, and released a Dylan-inspired collection of songs entitled ROCK AND ROLL HERO (2002). After receiving treatment for esophageal cancer in 2010, Kuwata resumed his music career with MUSICMAN (2011) and followed up six years later with the double platinum winner Garakuta (2017). In 2020, he wrote the theme song for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the synth-driven “Smile-like the clear sky-,” which reached Number 64 on Billboard Japan’s Hot 100.

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