) in Nagoya where the famous singer asked for a volunteer from an audience to sing the song "Mourning at the Lake(湖愁 Koshū.)" Funaki's classmate who was sitting next to him grabbed and raised Funaki's arm, surprising him. Funaki was selected from the audience. A reporter from Weekly Myojo(週刊明星 Shūkan Myōjō), an entertainment weekly magazine was there and was impressed enough with Funaki that the reporter tracked Funaki down.
As a result, Funaki moved to Tokyo where he started taking singing lessons from the famous composer Endō minoru(遠藤実). Funaki made his professional debut in June of 1963 with Nippon Columbia with the single "Third Grade of High School(高校三年生 Kōkō San'nensei)" even though he had graduated two months ago. The song became a hit, selling one million copies. As a result, he won the newcomer's award at the fifth Japan Record Awards.
He remained popular until the start of 1970s when people stopped watching movies based on lyrics from popular songs. Funaki went from a national star to a local star, and unable to bear the change, he tried to commit suicide in 1970, 1971, and 1972. In 1973, he was forced to take a leave from work.
Thirty years after his debut, he appeared in a preview performance, and he used that performance as a stepping stone to reviving his career, with a majority of his fan base consisting of women who had grown up listening to his songs.
He has appeared in the Kōhaku Utagassen from 1963 to 1971 and also in 1992.
This blog post translates information from the Wikipedia article 舟木一夫 which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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