Aki Yashiro

Aki Yashiro (born on 29 August 1950 in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture) is a Japanese vocalist who began her career singing jazz in hostess clubs until deciding to concentrate on singing in the 'enka' style. Enka is a popular form of modern Japanese music which stylistically resembles certain traditional styles and appeals to audiences with more conventional musical tastes. At first, her career got off to a slow start and her 1971 debut single "Ai wa Shindemo" failed to make an impression on the charts. After a series of appearances on the YTV show Zen Nihon Kayo Senshuken, Aki Yashiro's career received a significant boost and her 1973 album Namida Koi sold over a million copies. The hits kept coming for the young singer—including 1979's "Funauta" (Boat song) and 1980's "Ameno Bojo" (Yearning in the rain)—and she enjoyed a run of seven Oricon top ten singles, becoming the first female enka singer to have had such a consistent run of success. A badge of honour for any enka singer is to be asked to appear on the hugely popular TV show, Kohaku Uta Gassen, which is broadcast every New Year's Eve. Aki Yashiro has appeared on the show no less than 23 times, a measure of the singer's enduring popularity with traditional Japanese music lovers. She continued to release music sporadically up until her death in 2023, releasing albums like 2001's Mood (+3) and 2021's Aki Yashiro Best Hit - New Recordings & New Singles. However, following a hiatus to treat a collagen disease in September 2023, she passed away on 30 December 2023 after developing anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis and subsequently dying from interstitial lung disease in a hospital in Tokyo.

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