Fujiyama Ichiro

Ichiro Fujiyama (藤山 一郎 Fujiyama Ichiro, April 8, 1911 – August 21, 1993), born Takeo Masunaga (増永 丈夫 Masunaga Takeo), was a popular Japanese singer and composer, known for his contribution to Japanese popular music called ryūkōka by his Western classical music skills. He was born in Chūō, Tokyo, and graduated from the Tokyo Music School. As ryūkōka singer "Ichiro Fujiyama", he signed with Nippon Columbia, though singing ryūkōka was a taboo for his school. Although Fujiyama immediately became a big star of Japan, his school was very angry and he was once forced to suspend his musical career. Although he was regarded as a tenor singer in Japanese popular music, he was originally a classical baritone singer. He also acted in various films, and was a close friend of Minoru Matsuya (1910–1995). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.