Kiyohiko Ozaki (尾崎紀世彦), born 1 January 1943 in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward and raised in Chigasaki, was a Japanese pop singer known for his distinctive voice and sideburns, sometimes referred to as the "Japanese Tom Jones." After learning the ukulele at 13 and forming the Hawaiian band Hilo Hawaiians, he joined Jimmie Tokita's Mountain Playboys before launching a solo career in 1970 with his debut single "Wakare no Yoake" on Philips Records. Ozaki's breakthrough came in 1971 with the million-selling single "Mata au hi made", which won the Japan Record Award that year, followed by hits such as "Sayonara wo mou ichido", "Yuki ga furu", and "Koi suru hito wa hitori". He released his first studio album, First Album, in 1971 and continued to issue records, including the 1979 single "My Better Life" and the 1987 hit "Summer Love". Ozaki made his Kōhaku Uta Gassen debut in 1971 and returned to the contest in 1972 and 1990, recorded the theme for the anime "Gulliver Boy", and performed alongside The Wonders, whose members later backed his chart-topping tracks. After a long illness, he died of liver cancer on 30 May 2012 in Tokyo; he was posthumously awarded a Special Achievement Award at the 54th Japan Record Awards in December 2012 and entered the Popular Music Hall of Fame in October 2013.
