Ichiro Araki

Ichiro Araki (荒木 一郎; born January 8, 1944, in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, and novelist. He began his career as a child actor in the Bungakuza-produced radio drama 『二十四の瞳』 and joined the cast of NHK's 『バス通り裏』 in 1960. As a teenager, while still acting, he played drums in bands and started writing his own songs. He went on to build a body of work that spans melodic pop, folk-leaning material, and more traditional expressive styles. His singing paired straightforward delivery with the emotional phrasing associated with classic Japanese popular song, and his career emerged from the Showa-era scene that helped shape modern Japanese vocal music. Araki made his recording debut in 1966 with 『空に星があるように』. The song became a hit, sold about 600,000 copies, and won the New Artist Award at the 8th Japan Record Awards. His first album, 『ある若者の歌』, received an Arts Festival encouragement prize from the Ministry of Education. In 1967, he appeared in the 18th NHK紅白歌合戦 with 『いとしのマックス 〜マックス・ア・ゴー・ゴー〜』. In 1971 he released the album 『荒木一郎の世界』. He remained associated with Victor Entertainment and continued working across music and acting as a multi-instrumentalist on guitar, keyboards, and drums. In anime, he performed both "MIDNIGHT BLUES" and "Hateshinaki Yami no Kanata ni" for "Ashita no Joe".