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Go Hiromi (Fukuoka Prefecture 1955)
The Peter Pan of the Japanese pop world, Go Hiromi finally decided
to call it quits - one last farewell concert tour and then a move
to build a new life in a rebuilding New York. Thus ended a remarkable
career in the limelight, a career that spanned four decades and
spawned 62 albums. A talented self-promoter who once seemed set
to create the perfect match with superstar Matsuda Seiko, Go used
the flexibility of his adopted stage name to great effect in rebuilding
his household-name status in the last few years.
Born Haratake Hiromi on October 18, 1955 in Kasuya, Fukuoka Prefecture,
he was scouted by Johnny's Jimusho at age 15 and made his professional
debut under his stage name the following year. His debut year
was a huge success, seeing the release of his debut single Otoko
no ko, Onna no ko (A Boy, a Girl) and an appearance in an NHK
Taiga (Period) Drama. And the reward: the Japan Records Newcomer
Award.
Pretty soon the newcomer was a big star and by the end of the
70s he had played at the Nippon Budokan, won more industry awards,
appeared in eight movies and 20 TV dramas and was named Japan's
Top Idol for five years in a row. Go was obviously an exhibitionist,
even by showbiz standards and had a habit of going barechested
and fondling himself on stage. This of course drove his legions
of female fans wild.
One of those fans had grown up to become the leading lady of Japanese
pop. Driving ambition had propelled Matsuda Seiko to the top of
the idol heap and now she had her sights set on the baby-faced
Hiromi. For several years, the pair dropped hints about their
mutual admiration and the media speculated wildly. But those were
days when stars were not in control of their private lives. Career
came first and Seiko was not prepared to sacrifice hers for the
sake of this surprisingly conservative (given his onstage image)
Kyushu country boy. She went on to marry actor Kanda Masaki and
Go got hitched to Nitani Yurie. They had two children but the
marriage ended in divorce in 1998, a time when Go's career had
been sliding for some time.
The day after his divorce saw a new beginning for Go. The release
of a tell-tale book called Daddy had the media in a frenzy. The
Hiromi-Seiko dream couple still lived in many people's minds and
fans bought the book in droves and combed it looking for the gory
details on why it had never materialized. It was all there and
more and the book was a huge bestseller. It was also the perfect
publicity for a relaunch of his music career.
The 44-year old Go belied his age as he strutted to the Japanese
version of Ricky Martin's huge hit La Vida Loca. A "guerrilla
live" event on the streets of Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district,
the catchy "Acchi-chi achi" refrain, the latin beat and Go's inimitable
stage antics made Goldfinger 99 a mega-hit that stayed in the
Top 10 for more than seven months. Suddenly Go was everywhere,
notably in car commercials chanting his own name. 2000 saw the
dream duet - Go and Matsuda singing the ballad True Love Story
- but Go found love further afield, announcing plans to marry
New York born Oneda Nami in November 2001 (Oneda, 15 years younger
than Go, is the daughter of a wealthy venture capitalist). After
a final album release, promotion tour and series of year-end dinner
shows, the couple will be set to start a new life in the US.
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