Monta and Brothers -- Desire

 

That was quite the wallop. I was watching "Uta Con"（うたコン）an hour ago and right after the opening act of Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, the hosts solemnly reported that vocalist and songwriter Yoshinori Monta（もんたよしのり）of Monta and Brothers（もんた&ブラザーズ）had passed away a few days ago on the 18th. He succumbed to an aortic dissection at the age of 72. The stunning thing was that he had appeared on "Uta Con" less than a month ago for what I believe was the first time. I'm also posting this only some hours after writing on the tragic loss of vocalist Atsushi Sakurai（櫻井敦司）of the band BUCK-TICK.

For most people, Monta will be known for his band having the No. 1 hit of 1980, "Dancing All Night". However, what I have here tonight is his 4th single "Desire" which was released in October 1981. A City Pop tune with a bit of rock in there, it was written by Kazunori Sonobe（園部和範）who also goes by the name Rio Rinozuka（里乃塚玲央）. Monta came up with the urgent melody for the song about being thrown into the maelstrom of that titular emotion as it applies to that crazy thing called love. Of course, it wouldn't be a Monta and Brothers song without that distinctive raspy voice by Monta himself.

"Desire" peaked at No. 7 on Oricon. I have seen a lot of tributes from YouTube commenters toward Monta. My condolences go to his family, friends and fans. It's been a pretty poignant couple of weeks.