Mayo Nagata -- Through the Night

 

Whenever I have leafed through my old "Myojo"（明星）magazines, I usually notice this one-page poster heralding a single or an album by a singer named Mayo Nagata（永田真代）called "Sexism" with the singer looking quite devilish.

It turns out that "Sexism" was Nagata's third and final album to date released in October 1991. However, her debut album in March 1990 was "Pathos" and from it, I have "Through the Night", a slightly smoky R&B strut delivered in a similarly sultry and smoky manner by the singer herself. The background chorus is echoed out by someone that sounds really familiar, and it turns out that it is singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）who along with Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）also created the music while Eiko Kyo（許瑛子）provided the lyrics. This was about a year before Nakanishi himself would debut behind the microphone himself and then in 1992, he would have his first big hit with "Woman".

As for Nagata, she released a total of 5 singles and those 3 albums up to 1993. Since then, the Kagoshima Prefecture-born singer has also done some radio and is apparently active mostly in the Fukuoka area under her stage name of MAYO.