Biography
Minoru Obata ( 小畑実 ) (April 30, 1923 - April 24, 1979) was a singer from Pyongyang, Korea. His real name was Kang Yong-cheol (강영철).
In 1937, inspired by Korean tenor Nagata Monjiro, he traveled to Japan at the age of 16 and enrolled in the Japan Music School. He studied vocal music despite the difficulties of studying, and graduated in 1941, after which he became a student of Eguchi Yasi. It is said that around this time, he was looked after by his landlord, Obata Iku, who was from Odate, Akita Prefecture, and that is why he took the surname Obata and claimed to be from Akita. Iku's son, Obata Tatsuo, was killed in the so-called Communist Party lynching incident.
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He debuted with "Genghis Khan" from Polydor in February 1941, concealing his Korean origins and listing his birthplace as Akita Prefecture. He later moved to Victor, and in 1942 his duet with Fujiwara Ryoko, "Fujoshizu no Uta (Yushima no Shiraume)," became his breakthrough work. In 1943, he released "Kantaro Tsukiyo Uta," a duet with Fujiwara Ryoko, which became a hit, and he attracted attention as an up-and-coming singer.
After the war, he started to get active. He moved from Teichiku to King to Columbia to his old company Victor, but with his sweet crooning style, he had many hits after the Pacific War, such as "Koban Same no Uta," "Rose wo Meshimase," "America-Touring White Ship," "Nagasaki no Zabon Uri," "Kogen no Eki yo Sayonara," "Yama no Hate ni Tsuki ga Rakukoro," "Aoi Nagare ni," "London no Machikasa de," and "Hana no Sandogasa." In particular, "Hoshikage no Komichi" is a masterpiece that makes use of Obata's distinctive singing voice, in addition to the romantic melody based on French chanson and the innovative use of the English lyrics "I love you."
In the "Heibon" popularity poll, he continued to rank first among both men and women along with Misora Hibari, but in 1957 he fell from the top spot with the rise of Kasuga Hachiro and Mihashi Michiya, and took this opportunity to retire, his final appearance being in the 8th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen that same year.
He moved into the business world for a time, managing a hotel in Las Vegas, and also served as an executive at a spinning company with ties to the Korean community in Japan, while also managing a restaurant in Roppongi.
In 1969, taking advantage of the nostalgic music boom at the time, he made a comeback with "Kantaro Will Come Back", and often traveled to Korea where he performed under his real name.
In the 1970s, wanting to have another hit, he began traveling to the countryside by car, standing on a mandarin orange crate, singing new songs without a microphone and selling records by hand. It caused quite a stir that a former great singer with an unshakable reputation would half-throw it away and campaign like a freshly emerged newcomer, but his efforts were worth it as his songs "Hoshi no Nai Nagisa" and "Yu no Machi Shigure" became hits. He also worked energetically on stage, visiting prisons and mentoring the next generation of singers.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.