Tendō Yoshimi(天童よしみ)

Tendō Yoshimi(天童よしみ)'s father loved to sing and as a result, she entered her first singing competition when she was seven years old. After that, she entered and won many singing contests.

After entering the Nissin Kid's Singing Competition(日清ちびっこのどじまん Nisshin Chibikko Nodo Jiman) shown on Fuji Television, she was invited to Nippon Columbia and also sang the theme song to Fuji Television's anime "The Funny Judo Champion(いなかっぺ大将 Inakappe Taishō)."

In 1972, she became the seventh champion of the "All Japan Kayō Songs Singing Competition(全日本歌謡選手権 Zen Nihon Kayō Senshuken)."

However, her songs did not sell for the next ten years, leading her to contemplate retirement, but her parents encouraged her to continue.

In 1985, her single "Humanity at Dōtonbori(道頓堀人情 Tonbori Ninjō)" eventually ended up selling well and became a hit.

In 1993, she appeared on her first Kōhaku Utagassen then returned in 1997 and has appeared on the annual show since then (as of 2014).

She has sung in the tori position(トリ) six times and the torimae position(トリ前) five times (as of 2014).

Her single "Chin Island Story(珍島物語 Chindo Monogatari)" has sold over 1,300,000 copies.

When she was young, she often competed against Kawanuma Emiko(上沼 恵美子). In those contests, Tendō Yoshimi(天童よしみ) won and Kawanuma Emiko(上沼 恵美子) was the runner up.

This blog post translates information from the Wikipedia article 天童よしみ which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.