Chiemi Hori -- Sayonara no Monogatari（さよならの物語）

 

I was just going to keep it at three articles tonight as I usually do on a Thursday but earlier today, I got to see a former 80s aidoru on the NHK health program.

Not too long ago, someone had asked me how Chiemi Hori（堀ちえみ）was doing, and I knew what that person was asking about since in early 2019, the singer had been diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer, which necessitated the removal of 60% of her tongue with replacement using some tissue from her leg. When I first heard the news of Hori's diagnosis, I felt so sorry for her since I'd heard that she had gone through quite a lot of stuff during her life (not sure how much of it was true or not), and during the interview on NHK, she admitted that at the time she found out about the cancer, she felt that that was it for her but she could leave this mortal coil without any regrets. However, one of her daughters tearfully implored her to not leave and not to give up which changed her mother's mind.

As you can hear from the video above, Hori's ability to speak has been affected since the operation but she has improved after a lot of therapy, and on the show today, she certainly seemed like someone who was in a very happy state of mind although she got a bit weepy when talking about her daughter. The important thing though is that she is back on the horse again and there was even some coverage of her cleaning her home while practicing her speech exercises. In fact, she's even taken on voice training again in the hopes to start singing once more. I wish that she will continue to go upward and forward.

Perhaps then it might be a bit awkward to introduce one of her singles that is titled "Sayonara Monogatari" (Goodbye Story), but this was the biggest selling song in her aidoru career. Plus, Yuuho Iwasato's（岩里祐穂）lyrics actually talk of a bittersweet ending to a romance with a guy who was a little too slick for a lass. Mio Iwasato's（岩里未央）music is pretty refined but still retains that aidoru bounce in the melody through Shiro Sagisu's（鷺巣詩郎）arrangement. 

Hori's 5th single was released in January 1983 and broke through the Top 10 for the first time in her career, going to No. 8, selling around 187,000 records. The single also ranked in at No. 67 on the Oricon yearly chart. Happily, there is no goodbye story anywhere near Hori right now.