Ann Lewis/Teresa Teng -- Goodbye, My Love

Ann Linda Lewis（アン・ルイス）was born to an American father and a Japanese mother in 1956 in Hyogo Prefecture before her family moved to Yokohama. She was a child actor and eventually she started living on her own in Roppongi, Tokyo at the age of 18. By that time, she had already started modeling and singing. But my first memories of Ann Lewis were far from the cute young lady you see in the video. I first saw and heard her when she had already become a hard rock goddess on the level of a Lee Aaron or the Wilson Sisters of Heart. One of our old karaoke members at Kuri made it a weekly custom to sing a Lewis rock song.

Nope, I was surprised when I learned that she had once been an aidoru who sang this cute if slightly corny little number called "Goodbye, My Love". Released in April 1974, the song was written by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃） (who had composed and sung "Canada kara no Tegami"). Once in a while, another one of our group would also sing this one although I wouldn't find out who the original singer was for quite some years. The song went as high as No. 14 on Oricon, and her 6th single would become her first big hit.

The late Teresa Teng (テレサ・テン) also did her own winning cover of the song although I'm not sure if it ever came out as a single in Japan. Apparently, it's on one of her BEST compilations.