Commenter Daemonskald and I had a small talk about a few days ago and he gave me some recommendations about some singers from the 1970s and 1980s.
One of those singers is Tamae Sawada（沢田玉恵）. Never heard of her? Don't feel bad...I didn't know about her either until I got word from Daemonskald, and it's not too surprising since from what I read on her J-Wiki article, she seemed to have forces pulling against her from going too deeply into the geinokai.
The shortest part of that was her singing career. Sawada only released two singles (no albums), both of them in 1986 with her debut being the somewhat cryptic "Hana no Sei: Watashi no ON-AIR" (Flower Spirit: My ON-AIR) from April. Her voice isn't too bad and according to J-Wiki, some of those fans of 80s Japanese music have always liked her mid-low tones. Those fans and I can only imagine what could have happened if she had been able to continue her singing.
Plus, there is the song itself by veterans Takashi Matsumoto and Kyohei Tsutsumi（松本隆・筒美京平）. I especially like the intro with that mild disco beat and those strings. There was no mention whether Sawada had ever been marketed as an 80s aidoru. "Hana no Sei" and seeing Sawada herself above has me thinking her as an aidoru but at the same time, the arrangement by Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）is pretty darn slick for the run-of-the-mill teenybopper singer.
"Hana no Sei" also became the commercial song for a Shiseido toothpaste (good golly, Shiseido actually made toothpaste?!).
The J-Wiki article for Sawada doesn't have much in the way of sourcing but supposedly after the forced pullout from singing and acting by her family, she has gone in and out of show business over the years in various capacities with her even appearing in a 2003 movie titled "Up Down Sky". Not sure if she is still working in the geinokai but I could envisage her as a local middle-aged tarento popping up on TV or radio in her native Aichi Prefecture.
I don't know why but for some reason, I get the feeling that the lady herself may read this article someday. If so, perhaps she can confirm some of the information I've got up here.
