Well, I've got a couple of surprises concerning singer-actress Lily （りりィ）coming up, but let's first get onto her most successful song, shall we? I came across "Watashi ga Naiteimasu" (I'm Crying) through one of the albums from the "Good Times Diva" series that I have, and as soon as I checked YouTube out for the song, I remembered the husky vocals and the slightly jazz-inflected folk.
Lily was born Saeko Kamata（鎌田 小恵子....I'm hoping I'm pronouncing the family name correctly）in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1952 but moved to Tokyo when she was in Grade 3 of elementary school. Her career in show business started as a child model and then metamorphosed into that of a singer in 1972. A couple of years later, she would come out with "Watashi ga Naiteimasu", a song that she wrote and composed herself for release in March 1974 as her 4th single which became her biggest hit, peaking at No. 3 on Oricon and selling close to a million records.
She took a break from the industry in 1983 during which she got married a 2nd time and had a son. Lily released a few singles during that time, but it wasn't until the late 90s that she made a full-fledged comeback. Although her final single was in 1995, she has continued to work in the geinokai as an actress where surprise No. 1 comes in. Apparently among her roles recently was one in which she played the mother of crusading banker Naoki Hanzawa（半沢直樹）in the popular drama of the same name in 2013.
And as for surprise No. 2....her son grew up to become the lead vocal, JUON, of alt-rock band Fuzzy Control. And he also ended up marrying a woman who is the lead vocal of her own group, Miwa Yoshida（吉田美和）of Dreams Come True.
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