Eiko Hiraiwa -- Kazoku no Eien（家族の永遠）

I've had this in the backlog for a while so it sounds like I'm hearing this song for the first time. And indeed, this is the first time for me to hear the works of Hiroshima singer-songwriter Eiko Hiraiwa（平岩英子）.  After graduating from Kunitachi College of Music, she became an instructor at Rythmique, a music school for children, and then received some very nice notices for a demo tape that she'd left at Sony Music during an audition session.

Her debut single "Watashi ga Watashi de aru Toki"（私が私である時...When I am Myself）was released in 1995, and in the same year, her first album came out, "Deep Breath". On it is the track "Kazoku no Eien" (Eternity of the Family), a song that begins with a rich and echoing piano. I guess that I'm also a sucker for those resonant pop ballads with a feeling of old-fashioned flavour, thanks to some warm cello. Listening to this one, I get hints of Chika Ueda（上田知華）and Karyobin, and later on, a tinny horn along with some gospel blues piano come in to provide that grand finale.

Thus far, Hiraiwa has released seven singles and five albums up to 2000. She has also provided songs for singer-actresses Ryoko Hirosue（広末涼子）and Yukie Nakama（仲間由紀恵）.