Tatsuro Yamashita

Tatsurō Yamashita
山下 達郎
Yamashita in 2005
Born	Tatsurō Yamashita (山下 達郎) February 4, 1953 (age 71) Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan[1]
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1975–present
Title	Biography
Spouse	Mariya Takeuchi ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	1
Musical career
Genres	City pop disco funk kayōkyoku R&B soft rock soul
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards, drums, percussion
Labels	AIR, Moon, Niagara, RCA, RVC, Warner Music Japan, EastWest Japan, MMG
Musical artist
Website	tatsuro.co.jp
Signature

Tatsurō Yamashita (山下 達郎, Yamashita Tatsurō, born February 4, 1953), occasionally referred to as Tatsu Yamashita^[2] or Tats Yamashita,^[3] is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer, who is known for pioneering the city pop style of music.^[4][5][6]

His most well-known song is "Christmas Eve", a best-selling song released in Japan in the 1980s. It has appeared on the Japanese charts for over 35 consecutive years.^{[7][8][9][10]}

He is known for his collaborations with his wife Mariya Takeuchi on many songs, including "Plastic Love",^[11] and the American songwriter Alan O'Day, with whom he co-wrote the songs "Your Eyes", "Magic Ways", "Love Can Go the Distance", and "Fragile" (interpolated by American rapper Tyler, the Creator on "Gone, Gone / Thank You").^[12] He is sometimes called the "king" of city pop.^[13][14][15]

Yamashita is considered a major contributor to Japanese music and is ranked by HMV Japan as the sixth among the top 100 Japanese Artists.^[15][16][17]

Yamashita was a member of the band Sugar Babe^[18] with musicians Taeko Onuki and Kunio Muramatsu, who released their only album Songs in 1975.^[19][1] After the group disbanded in 1976, Yamashita signed to RCA and launched his solo career, releasing the album Circus Town the same year. Also in 1976, he teamed up with Eiichi Ohtaki, the producer of Sugar Babe,^[20] and Sugar Babe member Ginji Ito to release Niagara Triangle Vol. 1 which was cited by MTV as one of the finest collaborative efforts of that period.^[21] His 1979 award-winning album Moonglow gained only moderate success,^[22] but his 1980 song Ride on Time reached No. 3 on the Japanese Oricon chart and the album of the same name topped the chart subsequently,^[23][24][16] propelling him to stardom.^[1]

Tatsuro's music has been regarded as a symbol of Japanese outdoor music, as represented by Ride on Time and For You in the early 1980s.^[25][26][27]

In 2011, Yamashita's newly-released album Ray of Hope topped the weekly Oricon Albums Chart, making him the fourth singer to have topped the chart at least once per decade for four decades running.^[28][29]

He has been called a "sound craftsman" because of his commitment to music-making.^[30][31] A mutli-faceted musician, some of his songs are recorded entirely by himself, including vocal backup, guitar arrangement, synthesizer, and percussion. His music is heavily acoustic, but also demonstrates a wide range of knowledge about analog and digital recording, and latest musical production technology, including computer programming.

"Christmas Eve", one of Yamashita's best-known songs in Japan and the best-selling Japanese single of the 1980s,^[7][8][9] first appeared on his 1983 album Melodies. It topped the charts in 1990 and has since ranked in the top 100 on the Japanese charts every Christmas season. The song was most famously a commercial song for JR Central's "Xmas Express."^[32] It has sold nearly 2 million copies since its release and continues to be sold in small quantities as a limited edition every Christmas season. The English-version of the song, with lyrics by Alan O'Day, was also recorded by Yamashita and has been covered by artists such as Pentatonix, the Commodores, All-4-One, and Idina Menzel.

As a solo artist, Yamashita has released 13 original studio albums, five cover albums, two live albums, multiple compilations, and over 50 singles. He is the most commercially successful Japanese male solo recording artist in the history of the Japanese album chart, selling approximately 9 million albums in total.^[33][34] He has also composed for films and television commercials, and worked on records by other artists. Yamashita frequently collaborated with Alan O'Day, who wrote the English lyrics for some of his most popular songs, such as “Christmas Eve”. He has also collaborated with his wife Mariya Takeuchi, whom he married in 1982. They have one daughter.^[35]

Kiyoshi Matsuo [ja], a Japanese record producer, who discussed Johnny Kitagawa's sexual harassment allegations in various media outlets, had his management contract terminated by Smile Company [ja], to which he had belonged. He alleged that Yamashita and his wife Mariya Takeuchi, who also belong to the company, were in agreement with the company's policy.^[36][37][38]

Following materials are not marketed to the record retailers, though they have been available via mail order to his official fan club.^[48]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tatsurō Yamashita.

• Official website (Japanese)
• Artist page at Warner Music Japan
• Tatsuro Yamashita discography at Discogs