CANDEE -- Heaven's Where We Are

Met up with some of the guys earlier tonight for some Mexican nearby. The restaurant has been receiving some good buzz as of late but I think considering how its reputation has widened only recently, the staff probably was still trying to gain their bearings on handling a Friday night crowd. The Mango Mojito and the nachos were fine but the main dishes were not as great.

Anyways I would like to start with this precious tune by CANDEE, aka Nozomi Takao（高尾のぞみ）. The singer hailed from Yokohama and made her debut with her sole album "Candee" in 1988. One of the tracks is "Heaven's Where We Are", which, according to kaz-shin from "Music Avenue", doesn't list CANDEE's partner in this duet in the album but he guesses it is probably her brother, singer Naoki Takao（高尾直樹）.

kaz-shin was raving about this particular track, and I have to say that "Heaven's Where We Are" is one polished tune that sounds as if it had been recorded as a soulful American AOR/R&B tune, ready for radio. I love the voices of the Takao siblings if it is indeed Naoki in there behind the mike with his sister. Jessie was behind the lyrics while Yuukou Kusunoki（楠木勇有行）composed the tune.

Afterwards, CANDEE also provided backup vocals for acts such as Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and Sing Like Talking. She married singer-songwriter Kenji Hayashida（林田健司）, who also has representation on the blog through songs such as "Aoi Inazuma" (青いイナズマ) for SMAP, but not long after, CANDEE would pass away in 1998 due to acute hepatitis. So the title for this particular song has some especially poignant meaning.