or Matchy is a Japanese singer, lyricist, actor, racing car manager and former semi-professional racing driver. He was a member of the
Tanokin Trio
Tanokin Trio (たのきんトリオ) was a Japanese group, composed of three Johnny's idols, Toshihiko Tahara (Toshi), Nomura Yoshio (Yoshi), Masahiko Kondo (Matchy). It was active for a short period in the early 1980s (dissolved on 28 August 19 ...
.
Kondō is also a semi-professional racing driver and a racing team owner. He founded the racing team ''Kondo Racing'' in 2000, which currently competes in both
Super Formula
The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as being the top level of single-seater racing in Japan and regional motorsports in Asia. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) an ...
and
Super GT
Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is ...
.
Biography
1980–1987: Early recording career
Kondō was born in
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
. Working for the agency
Johnny & Associates
is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as .
History 1962–1989
In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ...
, Kondō was signed to the record label RVC. His debut single "Sneaker Blues" debuted at number-one on the
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
weekly single charts in December 1980. With the single he became the first artist to have a debut single to go straight in at number one on Oricon at release. As of 2008, he is the only solo male singer to have a debut single to debut at number one in his teens in Oricon history. The single topped the Oricon charts for five consecutive weeks, and eventually sold over one million copies.
On March 5, 1981, Kondō released his first studio album ''Thank Ai You''. He wrote the lyrics of the songs "Gloria" and "Just A Dance" for the album. ''Thank Ai You'' topped the Oricon weekly charts making him the youngest solo male singer to have the debut album to reach number one on the charts at the age of 16 years 8 months. In 1982, he scored another hit called which topped the Oricon weekly charts for two weeks (1/25/1982 - 2/1/1982).
In 1985 Kondō moved from RVC to CBS Sony (now
Sony Music Entertainment Japan
, often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...
). On December 31, 1987, his song "Orokamono" won the grand prix award at the 29th Japan Record Awards.
1988–2004: Racing career and "Midnight Shuffle"
Kondō learned to drive when he was already famous as a singer. Kondō had always had an interest in cars from an early age and driving on the track engendered his desire to drive race cars. He practiced and was accepted into a racing team when he was 19 in 1984 going on to having a moderately successful career on Japan's race circuit. In 1988 he took part in the
All-Japan Formula Three Championship
was a national motor racing championship that takes place in Japan. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses small single seater Formula Three chassis.
As a result of Formula 3 naming regulations by the FIA, on 13 August 2019, series pro ...
for the first time. On November 10, 1989, he released the single "Andalucia ni Akogarete", which was his cover version of the single by
Masatoshi Mashima
is a guitarist who has performed with Japanese rock bands such as The Blue Hearts, The High-Lows and The Cro-Magnons.punk rock band
The Blue Hearts
was a Japanese punk rock band active from 1985 to 1995. They have been compared to such bands as the Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Ramones.
released on October 21, 1989. While Mashima's original version peaked at number thirteen, Kondō's cover version reached number nine in the Oricon charts.
In 1994, he took part in the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
for the first time. He also made his debut in the
All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship
All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Originally titled as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It was the top level of sports car r ...
that year with
Team Taisan
Team Taisan (チーム・タイサン, stylized as Team TAISAN) is a Japanese auto racing team founded in 1983 by Yasutsune "Ricky" Chiba and owned by the Taisan Industrial Company. Most active in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the All ...
, winning on his debut race at
Fuji Speedway
is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the FIA World Sportscar Championship and nati ...
in the wheel of a ex-
Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
Porsche 962C
The Porsche 962 (also known as the 962C in its Group C form) is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the Europe ...
. The victory, coupled with a third-place finish in the final round at
Mine Circuit
Mine Circuit (みねサーキット) was a motor racing circuit in Nagao, Nishiatsu-cho, Mine, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. It used to be known as ''Nishinihon''. The track closed in February 2006.
It was one of the main circuits in Japanese mot ...
, allowed him to finish 9th in the
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
standings. Kondō remained with Team Taisan for the next season and was credited with a win in the fifth round of the season at Sportsland Sugo despite being ineligible to score championship points on that round because he did not met the minimum distance requirement.
His 1996 song "Midnight Shuffle" peaked at number four in the Oricon weekly single charts. The song was the theme of
Japanese television drama
, also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thriller ...
''Ginrō Kaiki File: Futatsu no Zunō o Motsu Shōnen'', in which then-
Johnny's Jr.
is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as .
History 1962–1989
In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rent ...
Koichi Domoto
is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, singer-songwriter, composer, lyricist, television personality, Voice acting in Japan, voice actor. Along with Tsuyoshi Domoto (with whom he has no blood-relation), he is a member of the duo KinKi Kids, who holds ...
played a main role. Kondō appeared on
NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestr ...
's
Kōhaku Uta Gassen
, more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...
annual TV show singing "Midnight Shuffle". In the same year, Kondō switched teams to compete with the
NISMO
, abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departmen ...
factory team on the newly-rebranded GT500 class in JGTC. He went on to finish 11th and 19th in the
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
and
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
standings respectively.
Kondō concentrated his efforts to his full-time racing career starting from 1998, rarely appearing on TV and not putting out any new songs. His occasional appearances on TV were as a racer or racing commentator. On the same year he made his first and only season in JGTC's GT300 class as the driver
NISMO
, abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departmen ...
's GT300 team, finishing 6th in the standings. Kondō returned to GT500 in the following year with Toyota Team Cerumo, where he would compete for four seasons before retiring from JGTC at the end of the
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
season. On May 22, 2002, he released a single but it was a cover for his 1985 song "Yoisho".
2005–present: Returning to the recording studio
In 2005 Kondō decided to make a full return as a singer for the 25th anniversary of his debut. On December 14, 2005, he released the single "Chōsensya", which means ''challenger''. He appeared in many TV programs, held dinner shows and went on a limited concert tour. He joined many of his successors such as
SMAP
SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-pi ...
,
KinKi Kids
is a Japanese duo consisting of Koichi Domoto and Tsuyoshi Domoto under the talent agency Johnny & Associates. KinKi Kids was formed in 1993 and officially debuted on July 21, 1997. With more than 30 million physical copies sold, they are one of ...
Arashi
is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999 ...
on their TV shows.
On January 25, 2006, Sony released Kondō's
tribute album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...
''Matchy Tribute'', in which Hitomi Takahashi covered the song "Midnight Shuffle". He also released his
greatest hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
album ''Matchy Best'' on February 6, 2006. The album ''Matchy Best'' debuted at number fifteen on the Oricon album charts. On May 9, 2007, he released his first
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
work, ''Kondō Masahiko '07 Valentine's Day in Budokan'', which was shot at his live concert at the
Nippon Budokan
The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...
on February 14, 2007. The DVD debuted at number one on the Oricon weekly music DVD charts.
In December 2007, it was announced that Kondō collaborated with
Johnny's Jr.
is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as .
History 1962–1989
In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rent ...
, the five-member of rock band Question?, forming the temporary group "Matchy with Question?" and singing the song "Mezamero! Yasei". The song "Mezamero! Yasei" was used for the ending theme of
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
series '' Naruto: Shippuden'' and was released as a CD single on January 23, 2008. The single debuted at number five on the Oricon charts and with the first week sales of around 40,000 copies.
Kondō released the single "Banka (Otokotachi no Banka)" on December 23, 2008, and the single "Motto" on December 13, 2009. On February 22, 2010, he released the single "Zanbara". The first track, "Kokoro Zanbara", and the second track, "Koi Zanbara", were composed by Hal and Tsukasa respectively. The lyrics of both songs were written by
Kōhan Kawauchi
(February 26, 1920 – April 6, 2008), also known as Yasunori Kawauchi, was a Japanese screenwriter who created various tokusatsu series, including the first, ''Moonlight Mask'', in 1958. He was originally from Hakodate, Hokkaido.
His series ''W ...
. Kawauchi sent the lyrics of the song to Johnny & Associates in 1989 but it had never been released until Kawauchi's death in 2008. The reason given was that the song seemed to be too sad for Kondo whose mother died in 1986.
On April 10, 2010, Kondō started his first nationwide concert tour in Japan 21 years after his 1989 nationwide tour.
In November 2020,
Johnny & Associates
is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as .
History 1962–1989
In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ...
announced that Kondō's activities were suspended indefinitely after he admitted he had an extra-marital affair.
Personal life
In the late 1980s, Kondō was in a relationship with singer
Akina Nakamori
is a Japanese Singing, singer and Actor, actress. She is one of the most popular and best-selling artists in Japan. Akina achieved national recognition after winning the 1981 season of the talent show ''Star Tanjō!''. Her debut single "Slow M ...
and the two were engaged, but he ended their relationship. Shortly after media reported rumors that he and
Seiko Matsuda
, known professionally as , is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter, known for being one of the most popular Japanese idols of the 1980s. Since then, she is still actively releasing new singles and albums, doing annual summer concert tours, win ...
were romantically involved, in 1989, Nakamori broke into his apartment and attempted suicide.
Kondō married Atsuko Wada, a non-celebrity woman, in 1994, with a son born in .
In November 2020, ''
Shukan Bunshun
A week is a unit of time equal to seven days. It is the standard time period used for short cycles of days in most parts of the world. The days are often used to indicate common work days and rest days, as well as days of worship. Weeks are oft ...
'' reported allegations that Kondō was having an extramarital affair with a 31-year-old woman since 2015, which he confirmed. He was suspended by his agency indefinitely to atone for the affair.
Love Forever
"Love Forever" is Miliyah Kato's 15th single, released on May 13, 2009. It is a collaboration between fellow R&B/J-Pop singer Shota Shimizu, with whom Kato has previously collaborated with on the song "I'm Your Angel" from the album ''Tribute to ...
'' (1983)
Television
* ''
Kinpachi-sensei
is a Japanese television drama that aired from 1979 to 2011. The official English title is Mr. Kinpachi in Class 3B. ''Kinpachi-sensei'' tells the story of a third-year junior high school class in Japan; its teacher is Kinpachi Sakamoto, played ...
Hisaya Morishige
was a Japanese actor and comedian. Born in Hirakata, Osaka, he graduated from Kitano Middle School (now Kitano High School), and attended Waseda University. He began his career as a stage actor, then became an announcer for NHK, working in Man ...
Awards and nominations
Japan Record Awards
The
Japan Record Award
is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST a ...
s is a major music awards show held annually in Japan by the
Japan Composer's Association The Japan Composer's Association, or JACOMPA (日本作曲家協会 in Japanese) is an organization of Japanese composers, established in 1959. Among its members are some of Japan's most renowned composers of contemporary classical music.
Presiden ...
.
, -
, 2010
, Masahiko Kondō
, Best Singer Award
,
Racing record
All-Japan GT Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Notes
:1.Kondō did not met the requirement for minimum distance driven and was ineligible for championship points.