Biography
Haruo Minami (三波春夫, Minami Haruo; July 19, 1923 – April 14, 2001), born Bunji Kitazume (北詰文司, Kitazume Bunji), was a Japanese enka singer and rōkyoku performer. His song "Tokyo Gorin Ondo" was the theme song of the 1964 Summer Olympics.
In 1939, at the age of 16, Bunji debuted as a performer of rōkyoku, a type of narrative singing, under the name Fumiwaka Nanjo (南條文若, Nanjō Fumiwaka).
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Bunji joined the Imperial Japanese Army in 1944 and was sent to Manchuria. He was captured by the Red Army and spent four years at a prisoner of war camp near Khabarovsk. He returned to Japan in 1949 and resumed his career as a rōkyoku singer.
He adopted his stage name Haruo Minami in 1957 and started performing popular music (only later would his music be classified as enka, a term not in existence at the time of his debut). He attracted attention for performing while dressed in kimono, which was unheard of for male pop singers at the time. Hideo Murata was regarded as his rival as they both came from rōkyoku backgrounds. Among his many hit songs was "Tokyo Gorin Ondo", the theme song of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It sold over one and a half million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.
In 1992, Minami enjoyed a popularity resurgence when he performed the ending music for the Fuji Television series Super Zugan. Previously popular primarily among adults, enka music gained many younger fans due to this song.
On April 14, 2001, Minami died of prostate cancer at a hospital in Tokyo, at the age of 77.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.