Eikichi Yazawa
| Eikichi Yazawa 矢沢 永吉 |
|
|---|---|
| Born | September 14, 1949 |
| Origin | Hiroshima, Japan |
| Genres | Rock |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Labels | Garuru Records (his indie label) |
| Website | www.eikichiyazawa.com |
Eikichi Yazawa (矢沢 永吉 Yazawa Eikichi?, born September 14, 1949 in Hiroshima) is an influential Japanese singer-songwriter, and important figure in Japanese popular music.
Yoko Yazawa of The Generous is his daughter.
Yazawa formed the band Carol in 1972, a rockabilly group which became a legend in Japanese music. After the band broke up in 1975, Yazawa flew to the U.S. to start his solo career. His first solo album, I Love You, OK, was recorded at the A&M Studio in Los Angeles and produced by Tom Mack.
In 1977, he was the first Japanese solo rock artist to perform at the Budokan hall in Tokyo, to a full crowd of over 13,000 people. He now holds the record of most performances at the Budokan hall, having performed there over 100 times (the hundredth being on December 16, 2007).
1978 was a greatly successful year for Yazawa. His fourth studio album, Gold Rush, went to #1 in the charts. He also held a hugely successful performance at the Korakuen baseball stadium (now the Tokyo Dome) for over 40,000 people.
In 1980, Yazawa signed a contract with the Warner Pioneer (present ) record company and moved to the West Coast of the United States. He recorded the albums Yazawa (featuring members of American rock bands Little Feat and The Doobie Brothers), It's Just Rock n' Roll (also featuring members of The Doobie Brothers and several songs written by John McFee and Bobby LaKind), and Flash in Japan, all of which were released worldwide, but were not very commercially successful compared to his Japanese releases. In 1988, he signed to EMI Music Japan.
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