Biography
Kozo Murashita (February 28, 1953 - June 24, 1999) was a Japanese folk and pop singer and singer-songwriter.
He had many hit songs with love themes, such as "初恋", "踊り子", "ゆうこ","and "陽だまり".
He was born in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture in 1953.
His family ran a movie theater, so he was fascinated by the guitar through the influence of movies. He was fascinated by the Ventures. He asked his father to buy an electric guitar and got well versed in Vertures' songs.
After graduated from high school, he left Kyushu and moved to Hiroshima, where he worked as a piano tuner while recording his own songs.
In 1979, he was selected as the best artist at the CBS Sony Audition.
He debuted as a singer from Sony with the single "月あかり" in 1980.
Since then he released one album a year till 1994.
In 1982 he released the single "ゆうこ" and it became his first hit.
In 1983 the single "初恋" reached No.3 on the Oricon chart and became his biggest hit.
He suffered from hepatitis later that year and was forced to move from Hiroshima to Tokyo.
In 1987 "陽だまり" was adoped as the theme song of the popular anime "めぞん一刻".
He had been steadily touring every year, starting with the Tanabata concert.
He also demonstrated his talent as a writer, providing songs to other artists (such as "りんごでもいっしょに" to Nae Yuuki) .
On June 20th, 1999, he collapsed during a rehearsal for his Tanabata concert, and died at 11:27 a.m. on Thursday, June 24th, from a hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage.
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