Biography
As a schoolgirl, she won an audition for Takeshi Terauchi in Kannai, Yokohama, but was advised that she finish secondary school before starting a musical career.
As a freshman at Senzoku Gakuen Junior College, she won a special prize at the Yamaha Popular Song Contest. Overall, she participated in the contest four times, two years in a row in spring and summer.
At the age of 21, in November 1977, she debuted with the single "Mayoimichi" (迷い道; "Wandering Road") that made her famous virtually overnight and would sell 800,000 copies. She continued with the hits "Kamome ga Tonda Hi" (かもめが翔んだ日; "The Day the Seagull Flew Away") and "Blue" (ブルー).
 "Kamome ga Tonda Hi" on YouTube |
"Kamome ga Tonda Hi" earned her the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist in 1978.[citation needed] Another of her most famous songs is "Kuchibiru yo, Atsuku Kimi o Katare" (唇よ、熱く君を語れ) from 1980.