[Merry & sunny]
No.136 "Image Change" by Hitomi Tōyama
Hi. Today's song is "Image Change" (makeover) by "Hitomi 'Penny' Tōyama" (or Toh-yama).
It is a song like seeing a blue sky, and watching white clouds on a sunny spring day.
If you like, please listen.
Some links to the music shops offering song samples are located on the bottom of this page.
Few contents have been put away in a " ▼Memo " tab in each section, so please click it to read.
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Thank you.
1.Song data
| Title | Image Change |
|---|---|
| Artist | Hitomi Tōyama |
| Album Title | Just Call Me Penny |
| Catalog Number | CORR-10081 |
| Track No. | 3 |
| Duration | 4:11 |
| Released | 1981 |
| Publisher | Colombia |
| Lyricist | Hikaru Kurasiki |
| Composer | Yoshihiro Yonekura |
| Arranger | Yoshihiro Yonekura, Mitsuhiro Sonoyama |
- About the creators
Hikaru KurasikiLyricist
"Hikaru Kurashiki" is a pen name of a music producer, "Hikaru Kanematsu" when he work as a lyricist.
He has been active since 1967, and became an independent music producer since 1978.
Independent music producer
"Hikaru Kanematsu", sometime called "flash", is one of the pioneering music producer, who does not belong to the record companies, but works as a freelancer.
Since the late '60s, he has been producing hundreds of songs for dozens of artists.
His involvements for the musicians like "Kai band", "Kiyoshi Hasegawa", "Rie Ida & 42nd street", "A.S.A.P", and "Hitomi Tōyama" are the notable examples.
Especially for "Hitomi Tōyama", he has participated in all the albums she released until 1993.
Video clip
Finally here is a video clip of a super singer "Kiyoshi Hasegawa"'s song "Wakare no samba" (A samba for a separation), which is his debut song, and was originally released in 1969.
For this song, "Hikaru Kanematsu" involved as a member of a production staff, in the very beginning of his music career.
Amazing
At the point of filming in 2012, "Kiyoshi Hasegawa" was 63 years old. And perhaps you notice, "Hasegawa" has been a visually impaired person since 2 years old.
Therefore, his beautiful singing, accompanied by his own excellent guitar play, is a real surprise.
If you like, please listen.
* "Wakare no samba" by "Kiyoshi Hasegawa"
Yoshihiro YonekuraComposer
"Yoshihiro Yonekura" is a composer, and guitarist active since the '70s.
There aren't much information about him, but his name is first appearing as a guitarist to a very stylish & soulful Adult contemporary music band, "Rie Ida & 42nd street" of the late '70s as far as we know.
42nd street
"Rie Ida & 42nd street" debuted in 1977 with a very stylish urban pop & soul album "Street Talk".
Then they released 2 more albums by 1980. But stopped its activity afterwards.
And in this band, "Yonekura" took an important role as a main composer.
As a composer
After the band activity came to an end, each members had moved to a new band, and continued their career.
In "Yonekura"s case, he started as a independent composer, and offered many good melodies to the various artists, but particularly a lot for "Hitomi 'penny' Tōyama".
Mitsuhiro SonoyamaArranger
"Mitsuhiro Sonoyama" is a saxophonist, percussionist, arranger, music producer, and used to be a band-master of "Far East Club Band" which is a backing band to a popular singer "Kazumasa Oda".
Saxophonist
"Mitsuhiro Sonoyama" started his professional career in the early '70s' as a saxophonist, or a studio musician.
Since then, he has been playing with numerous number of artists, as a backing musician , or a producer.
Far East Club Band
Generally, he is known to the public as a former saxophonist, or band master of "Far East Club Band", which is a backing group to "Kazumasa Oda".
"Sonoyama" was a original member to this band, and playing until 2012, due to the increase of his solo activity,
Since then, he is frequently holding smalled scaled live stage in various venues. And recently, he also joined a live by "Hitomi Tōyama".
And in early 2019, he released a new album "Kin-gin no sakana-tachi" (Gold-silver fishes), first time in 7 years.
On the other hand, he has participated as a producer, in recent 2 albums of "Miyako Chaki" (former Pink Pickles), namely "Two Doors Away"(2012), and "Try again"(2018).
(Ref: Wikipedia, Mitsuhiro Sonoyama)
(Ref: sonymusic.co.jp, FarEastClubBand)
Video clip
Finally here is a short video of greeting from Mitsuhiro Sonoyama, and introducing little about his new album "Kin-gin no sakana-tachi" (Gold-silver fishes) released in this March.
Actually, his solo albums are stylish, and slightly active instrumental album featuring his tasteful saxophone play.
It will be a good choice in case you are a fan of smooth Jazz.
If you like, please listen.
* "Greetings" by "Mitsuhiro Sonoyama"
Cover art today
- Sound impressions
Merry & sunny
This is a joyful, and high-spirited nice pop song in a moderated 16th note rhythm.
Clear & bright
The drums, electric guitars, and keyboard begin an introduction, and the bass, synthesizer, and horn section join soon.
In the main melody, a music arrangement becomes more soulful. And a beautiful female chorus adds a good taste.
"Hitomi Tōyama"s clear & bright vocal is particularly charming.
- Reference
- About the artist
Hitomi TōyamaJust Call Me Penny
"Hitomi 'Penny' Tōyama" is a pop & soul singer active since 1981.
She debuted in 1981 with a single "Door-goshi no good song, (So Many Times)" (A good song coming through the door). Since then, 19 singles, and 21 original plus 2 best albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Hitomi Tōyama)
An American
"Hitomi Tōyama" was born in Okinawa, Japan. But she was grown in an English spoken environment mostly.
And, she went to a middle school and high school in the United States.
Then, she speaks perfect English, but could not speak Japanese well, at least when she was young (around 18-20), according to an interview.
So, she is actually an American, as she is conscious of.
Debut
In the late '70s', "Hitomi Tōyama" came over to Japan to see her elder sister who was working there as a singer.
Her elder sister, whose name is "Myrah Kay", or "Keiko Tōyama" who is also a singer now, was a law student learning in Japan at that time.
But, she was already occasionally singing at the live stages as a semi-professional singer.
"Myrah" suggested "Hitomi" to start singing if she likes it. And provided some opportunities for "Hitomi" to sing in public.
"Hitomi" began her music career as a backing chorus to a soul & disco band.
And 2 years later, she debuted as a solo singer in May 1981, with the first single, "Door-goshi no good song, (So Many Times)".
Sexy robot ?
After the first single became on sale, she soon released her first album "Just Call Me Penny" in May 1981, which we are introducing today.
This was actually a pop & soulful very good album, but possibly a bit maniac for the listener of that time.
So, her 1st album quickly attracted a lot of core music fans, but it could not catch satisfactory amount of fans from the mass market.
Then, until the 3rd album of August 1982, the record company and "Tōyama" explored the approach, but there weren't a plausible answer.
Therefore, they returned to the original direction, and released a funky &, urban pop album "Next Door", and this time, it worked very well.
Then, she launched her signature album "Sexy robot ?" as the fifth release in 1983.
As seen above, "Hitomi Tōyama" established her name as a Pop-funk singer through the success of these 2 albums.
Thereafter, she continued to release album at a robust pace until 1993.
"Conversation"
From 1991 to 1992, "Tōyama" collaborated with a Japanese 2 piece pop-funk band "Unisonair", and released 3 unique cover album, title "Re-Make Love" I to III.
And the name of this session, or unit was "Conversation".
"Unisonair" was actually a pretty good group teamed up by 2 fine musicians, namely "Ken-ichi Shōno" and "Geoffrey Gems".
Some CDs have been reissued, and they are still partly available.
If you like, please try.
Wild flowers
In 1993, "Hitomi Tōyama" launched "Lovers in New York" as her 16th studio album.
And by releasing this, she ended her contract with a record company Colombia.
After the 1993, "Tōyama" formed a chorus unit "Wild flowers", with 3 other female vocalists, namely "Shunkay" (Sincere), "Taeko Rei", & "Sachiko Hamada".
The group lasted until around 2000, and was performing stages.
Recent
From around the 2000, "Tōyama" restarted solo activities. And in the 2004, she released a new album.
Since then, she is constantly holding live concerts, or she celebrated 35 years anniversary in 2016.
In fact, she is a long popular singer.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Hitomi Tōyama)
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Hitomi Tōyama)
(Ref: barks.jp,
Interview, Hitomi Tōyama, 21 FEB 2019)🇯🇵
(Ref: altstarr.net, Myrah Kay profile)🇯🇵
Video clip
Finally, this is a video digest of Hitomi Tōyama's best album, "Light & mellow, Hitomi Tōyama" of 2015.
The top track is the today's song "Image Change".
And all other songs are smartly selected nice tunes too.
If you like, please listen.
* "Light Mellow digest" by "Hitomi Tōyama"
- Samples from on-line music stores
About the samples
Please go to the page below, and just play or click track No.3.
Trial button is on the left side of the song title.
AD :
Free listening samples
Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
Apple Music(jp)
3
8. Japanese Letters
| Song Title | Image Change |
|---|---|
| Artist | 当山ひとみ (Hitomi Tōyama) |
| Album Title | Just Call Me Penny |
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