Hideaki Tokunaga -- Kagayaki Nagara （輝きながら...）

Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明） was a regular fixture on those tapes of music shows that my family had rented from Nippon Video all those years ago. This song was one of the reasons. The first few words of "Kagayaki Nagara"(While You're Shining), "Sugao ni melody...." can almost be like the ultimate clarion call from Tokunaga; whenever his name comes to mind, those lyrics quickly follow.

Tokunaga's ode was released in July 1987 as his 4th single, and was created by Akira Ohtsu and Kisaburo Suzuki（大津あきら・鈴木キサブロ）. I think the key attraction to him has been those light but penetrating vocals of his. That dreamy and creamy delivery probably struck a lot of girls' hearts like curare-tipped arrows, and it also didn't hurt that he had that sad puppy dog expression whenever he showed up on shows like "The Top Ten".

"Kagayaki Nagara" peaked at No. 4 on Oricon, and became the 13th-ranked song for 1987. It was also a track on his third album, "Birds", released in May of that year. It was also a favourite song for commercials ranging from film to isotonic drinks to natural gas. Not sure how the song actually fit into the last one especially, but hey, if it works...