Mayumi Ito -- Dakishimete（抱きしめて）

 

With a name like Mayumi Ito（伊東真由美）, I would have thought that she had already a lot of representation on KKP by this point. However, I only found out that she has one songwriting credit through this blog, and that was for her lyrics for Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）"Dear Friend" from 1990. She may have provided other singers with other songs, but I don't know at this stage.

I could find just one little blurb on a webpage that has some description of who Mayumi Ito is. During her high school days, she once fronted a band called Shirayuki Hime Band（白雪姫バンド...The Snow White Band） which soon broke up after their debut. Once Ito graduated from high school, she then went up to Tokyo from her birthplace (unknown) to study music before debuting with a single in 1988 which became the theme song for a TBS drama. She even appeared as an actress in a number of dramas and commercials.

However in 1992, Ito came out with an album titled "Bijin Koe"（美人声...Voice of a Beautiful Woman）and I could find one track called "Dakishimete" (Hold Me). Written by Ito and composed by the late Chika Ueda（上田知華）, it's an atmospheric pop ballad which can induce thoughts of stopping by and smelling the roses. Considering Ito's languid vocals, I could even imagine Nakamori, Ito's client for "Dear Friend", covering this song during this time period.