Kyoko Koizumi/Madoka Mori -- Watashi no 16-sai (私の１６才）

The things you learn when you're researching for a blog. My first entry on Kyon-Kyon was "Gakuen Tengoku"（学園天国）, which was a cover of an old Finger Five tune from the early 70s. Well, I found out that her debut tune in 1982 was itself a cover of a song under a different title back in 1979.

But first, Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）. Born in 1966 in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, she auditioned for talent show "A Star is Born" in 1981 where she performed "Kare wa Hatsukoi"（彼は初恋....He is My First Love）, an aidoru tune by Mako Ishino（石野真子）, and later signed a contract with Burning Productions, the same talent agency that Ishino was associated with, and Victor Entertainment.

"Watashi no 16-sai"(My 16) was a somewhat disco-y launch song for the 16-year-old Koizumi. It got as high as No. 22 on the Oricon weeklies and sold a modest 100,000 records after its release in March 1982. Some months later, it was included in Kyon-Kyon's debut album, "My Fantasy". Listening to this song reminded me of listening to a lot of debut songs by aidoru during this period...they all had that chipper melody of strings and synths with the new kids on the block sounding fairly similar with a hint of the vocal characteristic that would distinguish them from each other later on. Basically, they were embryonic singers. In Koizumi's case, it was a nasal yet mellow quality in her voice. The song, by the way, was written by Noriko Maki（真樹のり子） and composed by Eiji Takino（たきのえいじ）.

Nowadays, Koizumi is known as a veteran dramatic actress in movies and television. So, it must be somewhat of a surprise to see this cute girl in a puffy pink dress with the Seiko-chan cut. Bon appetit!

http://nicoviewer.net/sm8421079

The other big surprise is that Koizumi's debut was actually a cover of another song by Madoka Mori（森まどか）in 1979. Titled "Ne, Ne, Ne"（ねえ,ねえ,ねえ....Say, Say, Say） except for the title, it is the same song. This was Mori's 2nd of only 3 singles that she has ever released, with her latest one being made in 2007.