Keiko Funami -- Natsu, Dakishimete（夏、抱きしめて）

 

It was many a time that I walked down Ginza on a Sunday when the main street was closed to provide the hokoten. Summer was nice and sunny of course, but all that heat was reflected at full power from the concrete. Luckily, there were plenty of stores and cafés on either side to provide cold drinks in addition to the vending machines.

I had never heard of the singer-songwriter Keiko Funami（船見啓子）before but she did have a brief time in the spotlight by coming up with two singles and one mini-album in 1992 under the NEC Avenue label. Her debut single from July of that year was "Natsu, Dakishimete" (Hold Me, Summer) which was appropriately warm, happy and sunny. She came up with the lyrics while Youki Asano（浅野穣） composed the music. Most of it is in the pop vein except when the saxophone solo floods in with a City Pop feeling.

There's not much information on Funami but she does have a short J-Wiki article. She hails from Niigata Prefecture and after attending Tokyo Metropolitan University, she worked as both a nurse and a model before being selected as a campaign girl for both Mitsubishi Motors and Kanebo Cosmetics in 1992. For a while, she even performed as Strawberry Submarine under an indies label.