Nana Kinomi -- Ice Cream Joe（アイスクリーム・ジョー）

Despite Nana Kinomi's（木の実ナナ）long career as an actress, I've known her basically for two things: 1) her part in the classic Mood Kayo duet with Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）, "Izakaya"（居酒屋）and 2) her role as a cop in the 1980s police comedy-drama "Abunai Deka"（あぶない刑事）. It's from the latter that I got to know her famous look with the big brown hair and the bright-as-the-sun smile. There was always something very Carol Channing about her face.

I did find out from her J-Wiki profile that she was born in Sumida Ward and made her first foray into show business in the early 1960s when she accompanied her friend to a Shinjuku jazz kissaten who was there for an audition. When the friend got way too nervous to perform, the exasperated host of the audition then pointed to Kinomi and demanded that she sing. Just like in a Hollywood script, Kinomi won.

She made her debut in movies and records in 1962, and I found this particular song on YouTube, "Ice Cream Joe" which was the B-side to her 1964 single "Teenage Cleopatra"（ティーンエイジ・クレオパトラ）. Now, the A-side was a cover for a tune that had been created by Beverly Ross for singer Tracey Dey in 1963. I couldn't find out whether "Ice Cream Joe" was a cover unfortunately, although the song has that same sort of 1960s novelty pop bounce. But I gotta say that Kinomi had quite the expressive vocals, so I'm sure that the host in Shinjuku must have been quite proud of his sudden choice.

Ah, I did forget. Kinomi has also been a well-known face in commercials.