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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Monday, July 27, 2020

Miyuki Ogawa -- Shine My Heart



I can't come up with the names right at this moment, but I think there were female singers (aidoru or pop) in the 1980s who had voices that seemed to be suited for rocking but were held back because of the genre they were singing in at that point. That was my impression on hearing Miyuki Ogawa(小川美由希)for the first time.

Ogawa had a brief career in the geinokai between 1986 and 1989. Born in Tokyo, she first got that desire to become a singer when she listened to her first ABBA record as an elementary school student, according to an interview she gave in the Japanese variant of "Car & Driver" magazine in 1989. Ogawa actually debuted under a stage name Shima Kitahara(北原志真)in 1986 but then the following year in August 1987, she released her 2nd single "Shine My Heart", under her new stage name of Miyuki Ogawa (her real name is Makiko Sato/佐藤真紀子).

"Shine My Heart" was written by Ogawa and composed by singer-songwriter Goji Tsuno(つのごうじ) and has a tropical summery beat. When I first came upon her name and saw the cover for her debut album "mew club" which was released on the same day as "Shine My Heart", I had assumed that she was one of the countless aidoru that came through the door of show business but listening to the arrangement by Tsuno, I thought that there was more polish on this particular song which also starts off the album. As I said off the top of the article, there is something about that voice of hers which was fine enough but also seemed a tad tentative in the delivery. Ah, now I remember...maybe that was also the case for the late Minako Honda(本田美奈子), although she did get her opportunity to do some rock tunes later on.

Ogawa provided a total of 4 singles and 3 full albums with her final album "Funny Baby Lady" coming out in May 1989. She's not doing anything in show business currently according to J-Wiki.

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