初公開!熱唱!水原 弘 Vol.1



Hiroshi Mizuhara (水原 弘 Mizuhara Hiroshi, 1 November 1935 – 5 July 1978) was a Japanese singer. His real name is Masahiro Takawa (高和正弘 Takawa Masahiro). He was born in Tokyo in 1935. His nickname was Omizu (おミズ). He also appeared in films during his life. He died in 1978 at the age of 42. He was signed up to Manase Productions , but was also signed to Watanabe Productions for a time. He was part of a trio with Hiroshi Inoue and Hiroshi Kamayatsu, known as the Three Hiroshis (however, Mizuhara's unique style was completely different from that of the rockabilly idols of the time, so he was later replaced by Hiroshi Moriya). When he was in his second year at Tokyo Metropolitan Akasaka High School , he won the Amateur Jazz Vocalist contest sponsored by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting . After that , he was scouted by Misa Watanabe at a jazz cafe where he was working , and entered the entertainment industry. In 1957 , he joined Danny Iida and Paradise King as the first vocalist, but left the following year. In 1958, he formed the Blue Sox with Hiroshi Mizuhara. Other members included Kayoko Moriyama and Jerry Fujio . In 1959 (Showa 34), he made his record debut with Kuroi Hanabira ( Black Petals ) (lyrics by Nagai Rokusuke , music by Nakamura Hachidai ) from Toshiba Records , the music record division of Tokyo Shibaura Electric (now Toshiba ) . He appeared as a singer in the Toho film Seishun wo Kakero starring Natsuki Yosuke . Kuroi Hanabira was a huge hit at the time, selling 300,000 copies in the first year after its release and 570,000 copies in total. Incidentally, his first manager was Watanabe Misa's younger sister, Manaise Nobuko. He also won the first Japan Record Awards , which were held that same year, with his song Kuroi Hanabira . To this day, Mizuhara is the only new artist to win the award in the year he made his debut. He also made his debut at the 10th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen . He went on to perform at the Kouhaku for three consecutive years, taking the world by storm with her unique sweet low voice. He was also extremely popular among women in their 20s. In February 1967 , thanks to the efforts of Nagara Jun, who was his manager at the time , he released Kimi Koso Waga Inochi (lyrics by Kawauchi Yasunori , music by Inomata Kimiaki ) in a collaboration with Yoshikawa Yoko . The song's singing ability and sales overwhelmed Yoshikawa, making it a huge hit. It was called a miraculous comeback, and at the end of the same year, he won the Best Singing Award at the 9th Japan Record Awards . He also made his fourth return to the 18th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen, his first appearance in six years. Although he continued to perform well after that, his days of heavy drinking continued, and he gradually became more and more ill. In 1970 , Mizuhara appeared in a TV commercial with Yumi Kaoru for Earth Chemical 's aerosol insecticide Hi-Earth. Enamel billboards featuring Mizuhara were made for the product and installed all over the country. Three years after his comeback, Mizuhara returned to a life of debauchery. Pursued by debt collectors for his mounting debts, he was forced to work nonstop at night and day, running clubs and cabarets around the country and doing various other jobs. It was in the midst of this that he was cast in this commercial. In 1973, he made hisn10th appearance at the 24th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen . As in the 22nd Kouhaku in 1971, he was the opening act and sang his signature song Kimi Koso Waga Inochi (his third appearance at Kouhaku). However, the 24th Kouhaku in the same year was to be Mizuhara's last appearance in her life. He was rejected again at the 25th Kouhaku the following year in 1974, and has never been able to return to Kouhaku since. It was also said that by the summer of that year, he had 350 million yen in debt. On January 12, 1977 , he was admitted to the hospital after complaining of poor health during a tour in Kanazawa . His liver had already stopped functioning properly due to his alcoholism , and he was also suffering from jaundice and ascites. He was admitted to the Asahi Life Insurance Hospital in Shinjuku until the end of February, when he was discharged, but stayed at home to recuperate until the end of June of the same year. Although he returned to work in July of the same year, his alcohol-related acute hepatitis had progressed to chronic hepatitis, leading to cirrhosis of the liver , and he frequently collapsed from symptoms such as extreme anemia , and his condition was now extremely serious. Although his doctor warned him that if he continued living like this, he would have less than a year to live, in order to repay his enormous debts, the lenders made the injured Mizuhara travel around the country like a workhorse, sometimes for less than the fees of low-ranking singers. But Mizuhara never gave up drinking. Although his doctor strictly forbade him to drink alcohol, Mizuhara could not bear the stress and secretly drank wine , thinking, This much is enough. In his final years, the side effects of the medicine he was taking caused acne to become more noticeable on his face, and he began to grow a mustache to hide it. In the early hours of June 24th, 1978 , Mizuhara vomited a large amount of blood in the guest room toilet at her hotel, Hotel New Tagawa (now Art Hotel Kokura New Tagawa) in Kokurakita Ward , Kitakyushu City , and was found near death by his manager, Miyama Jun, who had been late having a meal at the hotel. He was rushed to Kenwa General Hospital (now Tobata Kenwa Hospital ) in Tobata Ward , Kitakyushu City , but had already lost a third of his blood. He briefly regained consciousness afterwards, and appeared to be in a state of relief, telling the exhausted Miyama, You idiot, I'm not going to die, but he was already bleeding from various parts of his internal organs and was essentially in a state that could not be helped. Even so, Mizuhara did not give up on singing and was aiming for another miraculous comeback. However, Mizuhara's wish was not granted, and he again fell into a coma and was in a critical condition. 11 days after vomiting blood, on the early morning of July 5th of the same year, he died at the same hospital from a ruptured esophageal varix caused by the worsening of his liver cirrhosis . He was 42 years old. His remaining debts at the time were said to be as much as 90 million yen. In 1999 , he was selected as an honored singer at the Popular Music Hall of Fame ( run by the Koga Masao Music Culture Promotion Foundation). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.