Yukiko Okada
| Yukiko Okada | |
|---|---|
Yukiko Okada in 1984
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| Native name | 岡田 有希子 |
| Born |
Kayo Satō (佐藤 佳代?) August 22, 1967 Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan |
| Died | April 8, 1986 (aged 18) Tokyo, Japan |
| Other names | Yukko |
| Occupation | |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1984–1986 |
| Labels | |
Yukiko Okada (岡田 有希子 Okada Yukiko?, August 22, 1967 – April 8, 1986) was a Japanese pop singer and winner of the talent show Star Tanjō! in Tokyo, Japan.
Okada was born on August 22, 1967, the second daughter of the Satō family. The family later moved to Nagoya. In elementary school, Okada loved to read, especially comic books, and she was a talented artist. In junior high school, Okada wanted to become a singer and applied for every possible audition, anything from major productions to the smallest talent recruitment, hoping to become a star. She was rejected every time until she was finally accepted to a TV talent program, Star Tanjō! on Nippon Television – similar to Star Search - which she won in March 1983.
On April 21, 1984, Okada released her first single, "First Date". She was known as "Yukko", which is a common abbreviation for the name "Yukiko" in the Japanese language.
That year, Okada won Rookie of the Year, and was awarded the 26th Japan Record Awards Grand Prix Best New Artist Award for her third single, "-Dreaming Girl- Koi, Hajimemashite".
Okada played the leading role in her first television drama Kinjirareta Mariko (The Forbidden Mariko), in 1985. Her 1986 single "Kuchibiru Network", written by Seiko Matsuda and composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, reached number one on the Oricon weekly singles chart dated February 10, 1986.
On April 8, 1986, Okada was found with a slashed wrist in her gas-filled Tokyo apartment, crouching in a closet and crying. Two hours later, Okada jumped to her death from the seven-story Sun Music Agency building. The reason for the suicide is still unknown. Her death resulted in many copycat suicides in Japan, soon christened with the neologism "Yukiko Syndrome".
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