, nicknamed , was a Japanese record producer, songwriter and singer. He sometimes used the spelling of "Kazuhiko Katoh".

History

As a member of

the Folk Crusaders , also known as simply , was a Japanese folk group, popular in Japan in the later half of the 1960s. Career The band was formed in 1965 by the five university students Kazuhiko Katō, Osamu Kitayama, Yoshio Hiranuma, Mikio Imura and Masaki Ash ...

, Katō launched his recording career in the mid-1960s. "Kaettekita Yopparai (I Only Live Twice)", their psychedelic debut song composed by Katō and released in 1967, sold more than 1.3 million copies in Japan, and became one of the best-selling singles of the early Japanese popular music industry. The group also starred in director

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's 1968 film ''Kaette kita yopparai'' (alternately known as ''Sinner in Paradise'' or '' Three Resurrected Drunkards''). After the breakup of Folk Crusaders in 1970, Katō gained success for his production works for other musicians, including Shigeru Izumiya,

Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Regarded as an influential figure in the city pop genre, she is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan, having sold over 16 million records, and has received several accolades. Her husband is Tatsu ...

, and

Takuro Yoshida is a Japanese male singer-songwriter. He was born on April 5, 1946 in Okuchi, Kagoshima and raised in Hiroshima. He made his debut with the single "Imeji no Uta / Mark II" on June 1, 1970. His 1972 recording of "Tabi no Yado" sold over one m ...

. In particular, Sadistic Mika Band, the acclaimed project he started with his first wife Mika Fukui, received international success. Their 1974 album entitled ''Kurofune (The Black Ship)'' is regarded as one of the most significant Japanese rock albums of the mid-1970s. The group was disbanded and reassembled again several times, with new vocalists such as

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, Karen Kirishima, and

Kaela Kimura is a Japanese pop rock singer, lyricist, fashion model and television presenter. Career Born in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father, Kimura started working as a model in 2002 for the Japanese magazine ''Seventeen (Jap ...

. As a composer, Katō wrote the theme song "

Ai Oboete Imasu ka is the third single by Japanese singer-songwriter Mari Iijima, released on June 5, 1984, by Victor Entertainment. Written by Kazumi Yasui and Kazuhiko Katō, it was used as the theme song of the 1984 mecha anime film '' Macross: Do You Remember ...

" for the anime film '' Macross: Do You Remember Love?'', which was released during the summer of 1984 in Japan. He later formed a songwriting team with his second wife, the late Kazumi Yasui. Most of the songs they wrote were recorded and produced by

Kenji Sawada is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and actor, best known for being the vocalist for the Japanese rock band The Tigers. Nicknamed because of his self-professed adoration of Julie Andrews, he was born in Tsunoi, Iwami (now part of Totto ...

. In 1990, Katō teamed up with graphic artists,

Haruhiko Shono is a Japanese computer graphics artist for films as well as a video game director. He has served as director for numerous computer games and has provided CG work for motion pictures with , where he serves as corporate representative. He is best k ...

and

Kuniyoshi Kaneko was a Japanese painter, illustrator and photographer perhaps best known for his paintings and drawings of women in bondage such as his illustrations for a Japanese edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The musical performer Momus Mom ...

, to provide the music for the award-winning Japanese computer game, '' Alice''. In March 2008, Katō formed the rock band Vitamin-Q with

Masami Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician, coming to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and guitarist in the group Ippu-Do. His subsequent output includes solo work and collaborations. Tsuchiya's career in music started with ...

Gota Yashiki is a Japanese musician, both an independent acid jazz artist and drum/bass player, as a member of the band Simply Red. Biography He was born in Kyoto, Japan, on 26 February 1962, where at a young age he learned how to play traditional Japan ...

, Rei Ohara and Anza.

Death

Katō committed suicide by hanging on October 17, 2009 at a hotel in Karuizawa, Kitasaku District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Police discovered a

suicide note A suicide note or death note is a message left behind by a person who dies or intends to die by suicide. A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depen ...

in his hotel room.

Albums

Titles in brackets are for rough translation purposes only. *ぼくのそばにおいでよ (Come Near Me) (1969) *スーパー・ガス (Super Gas) (1971) *それから先のことは (Then What Lies Ahead) (1976) *ガーディニア (Gadinia) (1978) *パパ・ヘミングウェイ (Hemingway Papa) (1979) *うたかたのオペラ (1980) (Better known as "L'opéra fragile") *ベル・エキセントリック (Belle Excentrique) (1981) *あの頃、マリー・ローランサン (Around Her, Marie Laurencin) (1983) *ヴェネチア (Venice) (1984) *マルタの鷹 (The Maltese Falcon) (1987) *ボレロ・カリフォルニア (California Bolero) (1991)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kato, Kazuhiko 1947 births 2009 suicides 20th-century Japanese composers Japanese folk singers Japanese male composers Japanese male singer-songwriters Japanese record producers Musicians from Kyoto Suicides by hanging in Japan 20th-century Japanese male singers 20th-century Japanese singers Sadistic Mika Band members The Folk Crusaders members