Eri Ohno -- Destiny Love

When I made the surprise discovery of a Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）song as a "Lupin the 3rd" theme a number of weeks ago on YouTube, I tracked the song down with the urgency of Inspector Zenigata going after the snickering thief. There was a CD on the market with the title of "LUPIN THE THIRD TV Special Best Opening & Ending Theme Collection" which had that Kurahashi song, but I wasn't quite sure whether to plunk down the money or not.

Then I tried out this other ballad on YouTube which was associated with "Mihatenu Yume wo Oikakete"（果てぬ夢を追いかけて）. Titled "Destiny Love" and sung by jazz singer Eri Ohno（大野えり）, the ballad could certainly earn the prize of epic torch song. I have yet to see "Lupin Ansatsu Shirei"（ルパン暗殺指令...The Assassination Order for Lupin） which was first broadcast on NTV in July 1993 and has "Destiny Love" as its theme, but I could imagine Lupin and Fujiko-chan taking that nighttime romantic hot-air balloon ride over The City of Lights while the song was playing. The rich orchestral arrangement and Ohno's vocals were the final trigger for me to get the Lupin theme song collection. Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）and lyricist Mami Takubo（田久保真見）were behind the making of the song.

Eri Ohno was born in Nagoya  in 1955 and raised in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. Entering Kyoto's Doshisha University in 1973 where she got her first taste of jazz vocalizing, she debuted in 1979 with the album, "Touch My Mind".

Here's Ohno in her element singing "April In Paris".