Miho Nakayama

Born on 1st March 1970, in Saku, Nagano Prefecture, Miho Nakayama (中山 美穂, Nakayama Miho) was a renowned Japanese singer, songwriter, and actor who first rose to fame in the mid-1980s, setting a high standard with her performance in the 1985 drama Maido Osawagase Shimasu. This formed the catalyst for the release of her debut single, "C," a synth-pop teen bop written by Takashi Matsumoto and Kyōhei Tsutsumi, which won multiple awards, went to number 12 on Japan's singles chart, and sealed her fate as a pop starlet. Soon after, she became one of the country's most beloved idols, garnering the nickname of "Miporin" (ミポリン) and mining a dance-adjacent sound that yielded numerous chart-topping hits and standout singles during the 1980s and 1990s, including "Waku Waku Sasete," "50/50," "Catch Me," and "You're My Only Shinin' Star." She also put out a steady stream of albums in the 1990s, including Mellow (1992)—for which she wrote the bulk of the songs herself—Olive (1998)—which landed in the Top 10—and Manifesto (1999). She took a long break between albums after that, with Neuf Neuf only emerging in 2019. Miho Nakayama died on 6th December 2024 at her home in Tokyo, aged 54, with the official statement reporting it as an accident due to bathing. That same month, her singles "遠い街のどこかで…/ただ泣きたくなるの," "TADANAKITAKUNARUNO" and "SEKAIJUUNODAREYORIKITTO" found their way back into Japan's Oricon chart.

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