(about 15:35)
By the time I first saw her, she had already started the 3rd phase of her young career. She was discovered all the way back in 1984 via a photo spotted by the agent of the Matsutoyas (Yumi and Masataka). Reimy's older sister, MAYUMI (a model and singer/songwriter herself) was holding the picture. For the first couple of years, Reimy had the image of the typical cute aidoru although she covered a number of Yuming's songs. Then, for some years, she went over to Los Angeles to record. Apparently, a couple of her tunes got pretty high up on the dance charts....I have one album from that period in which she took on a pop sound reminiscent of Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.
Then, the Okinawan native returned to Japan and settled into a more laidback J-AOR approach. She had written and composed songs in the past but entering this 3rd phase, she completely took the reins. I was struck by "Dear Tess", a well-crafted ballad which was written and composed as a tribute to a friend of hers who had been killed in an accident (at least that was what I remember hearing from her MTV Japan interview). The song was also included in her 10th album, "Hashiru Soyokaze Tachi e"(走るそよ風たちへ....To The Blowing Gentle Breezes), released in February 1990 along with the single.
Some kind soul has uploaded onto YouTube several of Reimy's music videos including the one for "Dear Tess" which is at approximately the 15:40 mark. I just hope that it stays up for a while at least.
Because Reimy doesn't seem to be too active anymore, I couldn't find a particularly comprehensive site for her but there is a page called "Reimy Data Site", and a Korean/English page here.
If you haven't heard it, I highly recommended 愛にDESPERATE. That's my 麗美といえばこれ！ song. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi, ジョン.
DeleteThanks for the tip. I am listening to it right now, and strangely enough, in a way, Reimy back then sounds a bit like the songwriter Yuming herself. I actually have her compilation of Reimy's early hits somewhere in my collection. Looks like I'll have to take a listen to it again.
As for me, I've been listening to her later stuff after her return from America so for me, "Dear Tess" and "Tower of Vanity" are the ones that have reminded me of her a lot.