Chiaki Watanabe -- Purple Memory（パープル・メモリー）

 

Almost six years ago, I posted an article regarding aidoru Chiaki Watanabe（渡辺千秋）and her debut single "Natsu ni Refresh"（夏にリフレッシュ）from April 1984. It was notable in that the composer was the tough-as-nails folk-rock singer Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）although the song was the typical teenybopper tune with some AOR feeling.

Well, this is her sophomore outing, "Purple Memory" which came out in September that year. I'd probably say that this is a more conventional aidoru tune with an enjoyably jangly melody by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）and arrangement by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）with some of those early 1980s shimmering strings. The lyrics were provided by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）. 

The song was used for a candy commercial by House Foods. I mentioned in the previous Watanabe post that once she had finished her showbiz career, she got married and returned to her native Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1993. Well, since then, she took over the management of the family restaurant in her hometown of Nagato, finally earned her high school diploma through correspondence, and then in April 2021, she was elected as a city council executive.

Chiaki Watanabe -- Natsu ni Refresh（夏にリフレッシュ）

"So, Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi also composed aidoru tunes, eh?"

I translated the comment by the uploader of this video, and like him/her, I was also quite surprised to find out that the tough Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）, who has been behind folk-rock songs such as "Tombo"（とんぼ）, also provided music for the teenybopper singers of the 1980s.

His client here was Chiaki Watanabe（渡辺千秋）whose career was not too short and not too long (1983-1992). In April 1984, she released her debut single "Natsu ni Refresh" (Refresh In Summer) and is an appropriately bouncy aidoru tune composed by Nagabuchi with future AKB48 organizer Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）taking care of the lyrics. "Natsu ni Refresh" is breezy and skip-worthy but Nagabuchi also includes some West Coast AOR sounds in the middle as well...kinda feels like a vacation in California or a commercial for orange juice. However, in actual fact, the song was used for a Nivea skin cream ad.

Watanabe released a total of 3 singles with no albums, although those singles did end up as part of an overall aidoru compilation called the "Aidoru Miracle Bible Series"（アイドル・ミラクルバイブルシリーズ）. She also appeared as an actress and tarento in a number of series before calling it a showbiz career and returning to her native Yamaguchi Prefecture.