That alias came about due to Queen of New Music Matsutoya's reluctance to the world of old-fashioned kayo kyoku. She initially had had no intention of helping out a rival in that world. But Matsumoto gradually broke down her resistance, and Yuming acquiesced under the condition that she use an alias. Of course, when reading a Japanese name, the last name comes first so she was known as Kureta Karuho...a bit of a pun on Greta Garbo. And thus Seiko-chan was the first singer to be given a Kureta hit tune (...or so I had thought).
And the collaboration hit it out of the park. "Akai Sweet Pea" is one of Seiko's most beloved songs. It was at the No. 1 spot for 2 weeks in February and became the 12th-ranking song of 1982. And even more notable, it hung around the top 20 for 17 straight months. I can only presume that Yuming was either supremely proud of her achievement or was smacking her head repeatedly for 17 straight months for contributing to an aidoru's success. I certainly hope it was the former since the song is also one of my favourites.
"Akai Sweet Pea" originally came out on the album, "Pineapple", but has always come out on every Best Hits package that Seiko has released.
I did not know about this information and Yumi Matsutoya's involvement. Thanks for enhancing my experience with this lovely song.
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure. Didn't know about her involvement myself until a few years ago.
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