Momoe Yamaguchi -

Momoe Yamaguchi (山口百恵) is a Japanese former singer who released twenty-two albums between 1973 and 1980 on CBS/Sony. She landed twenty-six Top 5 hits, including the Oricon chart-toppers “Winter Colors,” “Yokosuka Story,” “Swaying in Pearl Color,” and “Dream Guide.” As an actress, she appeared in fifteen films. At age twenty-one, she married co-star Tomokazu Miura and disappeared from public view.

Background

Momoe Yamaguchi was born on Jan. 17, 1959, in Shibuya, Tokyo. She spent her early childhood in Yokohama and grew up in Yokosuka, where she attended Tsurukubo Elementary School and Iriyamazu Junior High School. Yamaguchi saw fellow 1959-born singer Masako Mori on Nippon Television’s Star Tanjō! in 1972 and applied to the program. She cleared the preliminary round with Yumi Makiha’s “Kaiten Mokuba,” then studied voice for three months with jazz pianist Minoru Matsutani at Tokyo Music Academy.

Yamaguchi sang “Kaiten Mokuba” again at the December 1972 decision tournament, where she placed second and attracted bids from roughly 20 talent agencies and record companies. Horipro signed Yamaguchi. CBS/Sony producer Masatoshi Sakai noticed her application photograph ahead of the televised preliminary and later pressed his label to sign her for a spring 1973 debut. Yamaguchi made her screen debut in Shochiku’s April 1973 film Toshigoro. CBS/Sony issued her debut single, “Toshigoro,” on May 21, 1973, with lyrics by Kazuya Senke and music by Shunichi Tokura. CBS/Sony next prepared her first LP around the single under the title Toshigoro.

Discography:

としごろ (Toshigoro) (1973)
青い果実／禁じられた遊び (1973)
15歳のテーマ百恵の季節 (1974)
15歳のテーマひと夏の経験 (15 Sai no Theme: Hito Natsu no Keiken) (1974)
15才 (1974)
16才のテーマ (1975)
ささやかな欲望 (1975)
17才のテーマ (1976)
横須賀ストーリー (1976)
パールカラーにゆれて (Pearl Color ni Yurete) (1976)
百恵白書 (Momoe Hakusho) (1977)
Golden Flight (1977)
花ざかり (Hana Zakari) (1977)
Cosmos / 宇宙 (1978)
ドラマチック (1978)
二十才の記念碑曼珠沙華 (1978)
A Face in the Vision (1979)
L.A. Blue (1979)
春告鳥 (1980)
Möbius’s Game (1980)
不死鳥伝説 (1980)
This Is My Trial (1980)

Sources

Yamaguchi’s own account via the Hoso Bunka Foundation: Shōichi Ōta cites Aoi Toki, pp. 116–117, for Yamaguchi seeing Masako Mori on Star Tanjō! and deciding that she might also qualify for the program. This is the strongest source I found for the audition impulse. (公益財団法人放送文化基金（HBF）)
Minoru Matsutani / Tokyo Music Academy: Yukitaka Tsutsui records Yamaguchi arriving at Tokyo Music Academy once she cleared the preliminary round, taking three months of individual instruction, using Yumi Makiha’s “Kaiten Mokuba” as her lesson piece, and completing the course in December. This provides a concrete pre-debut music-training detail that most biographies omit. (婦人公論.jp)
Ryūsuke Nakagawa’s 2026 Yamaguchi series: Nakagawa reconstructs the Star Tanjō! selection process, identifies her second-place finish, notes interest from more than ten companies, and traces Horipro president Takeo Hori’s pursuit of her. A separate section identifies CBS/Sony producer Masatoshi Sakai as an unusually early observer: he noticed her application photograph among the program entries, then pushed CBS/Sony to sign her once Horipro secured management. (日刊ゲンダイDIGITAL)
Audio-Technica’s biographical chronology: confirms Tokyo birth, childhood in Yokohama, upbringing in Yokosuka, approximately 20 bids at the December 1972 tournament, Horipro representation, the April 1973 film appearance, and the May CBS/Sony record debut. (Audio-Technica)
Shochiku: lists Toshigoro as an April 14, 1973 release and explicitly identifies the picture as Yamaguchi’s film debut. (松竹シネマPLUS公式サイト)
Sony Music: identifies “Toshigoro” as Yamaguchi’s debut song and gives the May 21, 1973 release date. Sony also credits Kazuya Senke with lyrics and Shunichi Tokura with composition. (Sony Music Japan)
Schooling: Yokosuka local-history material connects Yamaguchi with Tsurukubo Elementary School, while biographical reference material gives Tsurukubo Elementary and Iriyamazu Junior High School. Yokosuka municipal records independently confirm the two schools and place Tsurukubo within the Iriyamazu school district. (はまれぽ.com)