Kantaro Yamamoto -- Silver Sweet Heart（シルバー･スイート･ハート）

 

Kantaro Yamamoto（山本寛太郎）is a singer-songwriter who was active from the late 1970s into the early 1980s, hailing from Shizuoka Prefecture. He already has one entry in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" but only as a composer for THE GOOD-BYE's 1983 hit "Kimagure One-Way Boy"（気まぐれOne Way Boy）. 

However, as mentioned above, he also did his share of singing and up to 1982, he released 7 singles and 1 album. Yamamoto's 3rd single was the comfy "Silver Sweet Heart" released in 1979. Written and composed by the singer with Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）arranging the song, I had wondered whether this would actually come under the City Pop banner although I certainly labeled it as New Music. It's also got some classy bossa nova, and then I figured if I could do the same thing for similarly Latin-tinged songs such as Junko Yagami's（八神純子）"Omoide no Screen" (思い出のスクリーン）and Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子）"Douzo Kono Mama" (どうぞこのまま）, well, I can also give the City Pop tag to the caipirinha-friendly "Silver Sweet Heart". By the way, I have to point out that Yamamoto has got quite the handsome visage along the lines of Akira Fuse（布施明）. Yamamoto's voice isn't a boomer though...more of a soothing croon.

Yamamoto seemed to be dormant for several years away from the music industry but then started up a band called OPCELL with two other people in 1995. I'll have to talk about that band shortly.