Junko Ohashi

Junko Ohashi was a city pop / J-pop / soul singer born in Yūbari, Hokkaido, Japan on April 26, 1950. She is best known for her hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s including “Tasogare My Love” (1978) and “Silhouette Romance” (1981). Her musical journey began when she joined her first band while attending Fuji Women’s Junior College. After graduating, she continued performing and released her debut album, Feeling Now, in 1974. Her second album, 1976’s Paper Moon, was a hit thanks to the success of the single of the same name. Her next two albums – Crystal City (1977) and Flush (1978) – were successful and she was honored with numerous awards including Third Place at the 3rd Mallorca World Music Festival (1977), and The Silver Canary Award and the Foreign Jury Award at the Tokyo Music Festival (1977). In 1978, she achieved her greatest chart success so far with the single “Tasogare My Love,” which was taken from the television drama series Shishi no Gotoku. The song won her the Gold Award at the 20th Japan Record Awards. In 1979, she was the recipient of the Best Singer Award at the Tokyo Music Festival World Competition. She also won the Grand Prix at the Seoul Music Festival that same year. Her 1981 single “Silhouette Romance” rose to number 7 on the Oricon Singles chart and won her and the Best Song Award at the 24th Japan Record Awards. Further albums in her catalog include Tea for Tears (1981), Point Zero (1983), Question (1988), Neo History (1993), Tokyo Daze (1996), and three titles in her Terra series: Terra (2007), Terra 2 (2009), and Terra3 – Uta wa Toki wo Koete – (2019). Still a popular singer at this time, she was awarded the Best Arrangement Award at the 34th Japan Record Awards for the song “Love Goes Through Time.” In 2018, she was diagnosed with esophageal and breast cancer and took a hiatus, although she returned to performing and recording in 2019. Announcing a relapse, she stopped performing again in order to focus on her health. Junko Ohashi died on November 9, 2023, at the age of 73.