Seiko Matsuda, the most super of all super idols, and is still going strong in the entertainment business even though she is now in her 40’s. Of course many American and European rock bands carry on into their 40, 50, and even 60’s, but given that many idols "retire" while still in their 20’s, and that most idols only maintain their popularity two or three years, Seiko's staying power is truly remarkable. Seiko Matsuda was born Noriko Kamachi in Fukuoka prefecture in 1962. She won a regional Sony sponsor talent search when she was 16 years old, beating 4,500 competitors, but her father would not allow her to participate in the finals. However she continued to work with Sony, and took singing lessons. At 17 she signed with the Sun Music talent agency and became Seiko Matsuda. Sony spent a huge amount of money on her 1980 debut single “Aoi Sangosho” , which was featured in a TV commercial, and went on to sell over a quarter of a million copies. Part of Seiko’s charm was her subdued, cute, innocent, girl next door look. As time went on many believed that her girlish charm was in part an act meant to seduce, and the term “burikko” was coined describe women acting naïve or childish in order to gain favor, and the term was most often associated with Seiko. Many biographies compare Seiko to Madonna, however the main points they have in common are huge ambitions and uncanny abilities to keep their names in the news. Seiko certainly has succeeded in a very big way in ...
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Seiko Matsuda, the most super of all super idols, and is still going strong in the entertainment business even though she is now in her 40’s. Of course many American and European rock bands carry on into their 40, 50, and even 60’s, but given that many idols "retire" while still in their 20’s, and that most idols only maintain their popularity two or three years, Seiko's staying power is truly remarkable. Seiko Matsuda was born Noriko Kamachi in Fukuoka prefecture in 1962. She won a regional Sony sponsor talent search when she was 16 years old, beating 4,500 competitors, but her father would not allow her to participate in the finals. However she continued to work with Sony, and took singing lessons. At 17 she signed with the Sun Music talent agency and became Seiko Matsuda. Sony spent a huge amount of money on her 1980 debut single “Aoi Sangosho” , which was featured in a TV commercial, and went on to sell over a quarter of a million copies. Part of Seiko’s charm was her subdued, cute, innocent, girl next door look. As time went on many believed that her girlish charm was in part an act meant to seduce, and the term “burikko” was coined describe women acting naïve or childish in order to gain favor, and the term was most often associated with Seiko. Many biographies compare Seiko to Madonna, however the main points they have in common are huge ambitions and uncanny abilities to keep their names in the news. Seiko certainly has succeeded in a very big way in her career. Her third single “Kaze wa Akiiro” was the first of 24 #1 singles. She was selling huge amounts of records, and cranking them out, releasing two albums per year through 1985 (not counting compilations, many of which were called “Bibles” rather than “best-ofs”). Eventually she tallied 16 #1 albums. She also maintained a very high profile love affair with male idol Hiromi Go, and the two were called things like “couple of the century”. While wedding rumors often swirled, Hiromi Go wanted her to quit show business if they married, and she refused. Instead she married actor Masaki Kanda in June 1985, at a 200 million yen affair at the New Otani Hotel that was broadcast live on every TV station in Japan. In October 1986 she gave birth to daughter Sayaka. However rumors often flew of Seiko having love affairs, dozens of them, and gossip magazines made reports regularly on the topic. Another of Japan’s biggest idol stars,
Akina Nakamori, attempted suicide after Seiko had allegedly had an affair with her boyfriend pop singer Masahiko Kondo. Controversy was frequently about Seiko. She also scandalized the music business by quitting her management company and starting her own, and then again we she decided to make her American debut. Her US album
Seiko moved her more to dance pop style, and she adapted a sexier look, ala Madonna, for her overseas efforts. Sony stacked the deck some by arranging for her to do a duet with Donnie Wahlberg, of the then red hot New Kids on the Block. The single “The Right Combination” went to #54 in Billboard in July 1990, but the album sold only moderately well, and poorly considering how much money was spent on it. However, as usual Seiko was undaunted, even though clearly she had now fallen from her position as pop queen. In 1995 she signed to Mercury Records, and in 1996 made another go at the American market with
Was It the Future, much of which is written and produced by American musician Robbie Neville. She has also worked with other name producers such as Phil Ramone, David Foster and Richard Carpenter, none of which managed to launch her overseas. In 1997 she divorced Kanda, and was briefly married to a dentist. In March 1998 she was again the center of media frenzy when a backing dancer named Alan Reed sued her, accusing her of sexual harassing him by demanding sex while his employer. This looked like extortion, esp. after a love affair with an out of work actor years before, had given the infamous Jeff a short but lucrative run dishing dirt on ,and fabricating, aspects of their relationship to the media. However Seiko prevailed in court, and turned the tide of public opinion. Even some of her harshest critics, now saluted her as a survivor- as a woman that took chances, did things her way, raised a child and had an international career, and never gave in to outside pressures. These days Seiko is trying her hand at acting, and has landed a number of minor, mostly very minor, roles in films in Japan and abroad. She has reunited with Sony, and still sells records in respectable numbers. She also remains a popular pitchwoman for TV ads. Her daughter Sayaka made her singing debut with Sony in 2002.
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