Sally Mae/Mina Aoe -- Gincho Nagarebana（銀蝶流れ花）

 

Over the Holidays, podcaster and friend Rocket Brown let me know about a singer from the late 60s and early 70s who went by the name Sally Mae（サリー・メイ）. I then found a video that has been labeled "Sally Mae" on YouTuber SUKEBAN刄ZVEKO's channel which had this blonde lady in what seems to be a yakuza movie executing justice on a doomed ruffian. I'm pretty sure that this is indeed the same Sally Mae whose picture I saw on the single cover of the song that Rocket had sent me since the lady was also mostly a movie actress.

Looking at the name, single cover and the movie clip, I had assumed that Sally Mae was an American or European who was a perfectly fluent Japanese speaker, but apparently according to one Japanese blogger, she was 100% Japanese and her J-Wiki file states that she was born in Kyoto as Sachiko or Yukiko Kako（加古幸子）in 1948 with no English name added. The blogger also mentions that her hair was something that had been bleached out.

Well, whatever the case may be, the music part of her career began in 1963 when she was a member of the Group Sounds band Sharp Hawks（シャープ・ホークス）although she had left before they made their major debut. Then in 1969, Sally Mae made her own solo debut with an enka tune (with some bluesy Mood Kayo elements) titled "Gincho Nagarebana" (Silver Butterfly [or Ginza Butterfly] Flowers). Written by Kohan Kawauchi（川内康範）and composed by Reiji Hana（花礼二）, Sally Mae channels her inner Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）in her delivery of the lyrics about living alone and lonely (possibly as a hostess) in the cruel world of Tokyo. 

Sally Mae released a total of five singles and a 1970 album. Along with her singing and acting roles, she was also a model and a television program assistant before retiring in 1975. She had been married to a pitcher for the Hiroshima Carp but subsequently divorced. Unfortunately, she would pass away sometime in the late 1980s although the year has yet to be specified.

The late husky-voiced Mina Aoe（青江三奈）recorded a cover version of "Gincho Nagarebana" for her 1970 album "Mugi to Heitai ~ Aoe Mina Otokogokoro wo Utau"（麦と兵隊　青江三奈 男ごころを唄う...Wheat and Soldiers: Mina Aoe Sings of a Man's Heart）. Many thanks to Rocket Brown.