Pink Sapphire -- P.S. I Love You

In terms of Japanese all-girl bands during my time in Gunma, I have to admit that my allegiances were slightly torn between Princess Princess and Pink Sapphire. When I first touched down, the former was the one that was all the rage all over the country, including the two schools that I was teaching at. Heck, "Diamonds" quickly became the go-to song to be played at the school sports festivals.

But then, out of nowhere, I just saw this video for another female rock band with this really hot lead singer (aw, hell, they were all hot). And they were Pink Sapphire, a band that had its heyday in the early to mid-90s. That singer was Ayako (Aya) Tsukada（塚田彩湖）, and when they debuted, she was joined by bassist Miki Ishida（石田美紀）, guitarist Takako (Taka) Suzuki（鈴木孝子） and drummer Harumi Kikuno（菊野晴泉）. The name for the band came about from Harumi's favourite colour and the decision to go with a birthstone as the second name. Sapphire sounded the coolest, so they went with that (apparently, diamond came in 2nd). Pink Sapphire had its genesis from the Band Boom of the late 80s, and had its very first appearance on the representative TV show of the musical trend, "Ikasu Band Tengoku" （イカすバンド天国）back in May 1989 although Aya and Taka were not involved at that time.

The video I saw was the one for their debut, "P.S. I Love You", released in July 1990. I think as much as "Diamonds" by Princess Princess was one of the theme songs for my 2 years in Japan at that time, this song could also be included. Written by bassist Ishida and composed by Takashi Oji（小路隆）, the song was also made the theme song for one of those Fuji-TV Monday-at-9 trendy dramas, "Kimochi Ii Koi Shitai!"（キモチいい恋をしたい！） Aya's vocals seemed to be soaring above the layer of electric guitar ripping like a hang glider on steroids, and it certainly sounded like everyone was having a grand ol' time recording it.

"P.S. I Love You" peaked at No. 2 and was the most successful of their 8 singles. They also released 8 albums until their breakup in 1995. However, just a few months ago, Aya and Taka got on the stage of a Tokyo dining bar for the first time in 20 years to perform the hit that launched Pink Sapphire. Since the get-together was a very hastily planned event, Miki and Harumi couldn't actually perform with their old bandmates, but they were there at the bar as well, and apparently the members and fans greatly enjoyed each other's company.

Pink Sapphire