Itsuki Hiroshi(五木ひろし)

Itsuki Hiroshi(五木ひろし)'s father was a mine engineer and as a result, his family moved frequently, chasing lodes. His desire to sing started when he was in elementary school. They eventually settled down after his father started a company dealing with stones used in construction. Some time later, he became a live-in student with the composer Uehara Gento(上原げんと).

In 1964, he won the fifteenth national Columbia singing contest and made a debut the following year with the song "From New Shinjuku/End of Shinano Road(新宿駅から/信濃路の果て Shinjuku-eki kara/ Shinano-ji no hate)" using the stage name "Matsuyama Masaru(松山まさる)." None of his six singles released with the company sold, and he switched companies to Nippon Grammophone Co., Ltd.(日本グラモフォン) in 1967.

He changed his stage name to Ichijō Eiichi(一条英一) and released the single "The Rain which Makes Me Cry(俺を泣かせる夜の雨 Orewo Nakaseru Yoruno Ame)." Once again, none of his three singles sold, and he was let go from the company.

In 1969, he was singing in Ginza when Endō Minoru(遠藤実) scouted him. He signed a contract with Minorufon(ミノルフォン), switched his staged name yet again to Mitani Ken(三谷謙) and released the singles "The Rainy Yokohama(雨のヨコハマ Ameno Yokohama)" and "Tokyo Nagasaki Sapporo(東京 長崎 札幌)." Unfortunately, neither singles sold well.

In 1970, taking the suggestion of the producer at Fukui Broadcasting Corporation, he entered the All Japan Singing Championship(全日本歌謡選手権 Zen Nihon Kayō Senshuken) to take one final shot at jump starting his singing career. He survived and won through the ten week competition. Afterwards, he became students under two judges for the competition, lyricist Yamaguchi Yōko(山口洋子) and composer Hirao Masa'aki(平尾 昌晃).

He signed a contract with Noguchi Promotion(野口プロモーション), which was actually a kick boxing gym and became its first artist. He also changed his stage name to Itsuki Hiroshi(五木ひろし). To come up with this name, he borrowed the name Itsuki from lyricist Itsuki Hiroyuki(五木 寛之), partly because he wanted to pick up good luck(いいツキをひろおう i'i tsukiwo hiro'ō).

His debut song with the company was "Yokohama Twilight(よこはま・たそがれ Yokohama Tasogare)," released in 1971. He held the mike with his left hand while making a fist with his right hand shaking his waist to the song's rhythm. He gained the idea to do this from a boxer at Noguchi Boxing Gym, Sawamura Tadashi(沢村忠). This action became synonymous with Itsuki Hiroshi(五木ひろし) and was copied many times. This song eventually reached the top spot on the Oricon Single's Chart, staying in the chart for 46 weeks, and eventually selling over 650,000 copies.

With this song, he made his debut appearance on the Kōhaku Utagassen and has appeared each year since then. He has sung in the tori(トリ) spot thirteen times and the torimae(トリ前) spot eight times (as of 2014).

This blog post translates information from the Wikipedia article 五木ひろし which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.