JUNKO YAGAMI

Born on 5 January 1958 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Junko Yagami is a renowned Japanese singer-songwriter who rose to prominence in the 1980s and became one of the leading figures of Japan’s city pop music scene during that era. One of her biggest hits arrived in 1983 via the single "Tasogare no Bay City," which found a new audience during the city pop revival of the 2020s. The single arrived nearly ten years into her career, having made her musical debut as a contestant on the 1974 Yamaha Popular Song Contest and testing the waters with a string of pre-debut numbers such as "Rainy Day Hitotsugoto" (1974) and "Happy Time" (1975). Her first full-length release arrived in 1978 with 思い出は美しすぎて ("Memories are too beautiful") and she went on to build a strong following in the 1980s with releases such as Lonely Girl (1983), Communication (1985), and Yagamania (1986). She is also known for her contributions to soundtracks for television dramas and films. However, her career didn't stop in the 1980s. The 1990s also proved to be a fertile period for Junko Yagami who notched up a cache of LPs for various labels such as the NEC Avenue-released Mellow Cafe (1993) and Renaissance (1994). She returned in 2013 following a lengthy hiatus with the new album Here I Am 〜Head To Toe〜, followed by There You Are in 2016 and TERRA - here we will stay in 2021.