Naoko Kawai

Biography

Naoko Kawai (河合奈保子) (born 24 July 1963) is a Japanese former pop idol, singer-songwriter, and composer who was active in the 1980s. Kawai was from the same generation as Seiko Matsuda, Yoshimi Iwasaki, Junko Mihara and Yoshie Kashiwabara, who all debuted in 1980. After her marriage in 1996, she changed her maiden surname to Naoko Kanehara (金原奈保子) and completely suspended music activities. Since then, Kawai has resided in Australia.

Early life

Naoko was born in Sumiyoshi-ku in Osaka. She is the eldest daughter of her family and has a sister who is three years younger. In elementary school, she started to play the piano, and in high school was part of the folk-song club as part of her after-school activities. In 1979, Naoko applied to compete in the "Hideki Younger Brother/Sister Recruitment Audition" contest held by talent agency Geiei, named after the singer Hideki Saijo. In the audition application tape, she sang Anri's 'Olivia wo Kikinagara'. She won the final tournament held at Nakano Sunplaza with a performance of Mako Ishino's 'Haru La! La! La!'.

1980-1984

In June 1980, she debuted with the single "Ooki na Mori no Chiisana Ouchi" under Nippon Columbia. Her nickname during the debut was "the little Hideki's sister". Two months later in August 1980, her second single "Young Boy" became one of her first career hits. The single not only debuted at number 13 on the Oricon Weekly charts and remained in Yearly Charts at number 80, but also won multiple awards: New Artist Award at the 22nd Japan Record Awards, Judge's Encouragement Award at the 7th ABC Kayo Shinnin Grand Prix, Newcomer Award at the 7th Yokohama Music Festival, Excellent Newcomer Award at the 8th FNS Music Festival and 6th Zen Nihon Kayō ongakusai, Enthusiastic Performance Award at the 10th Ginza Music Festival, and Silver Award at the Shinjuku Music Festival. In October 1980, she released her first original album Love, which included 2 singles with its b-side tracks and 6 newly written songs. The album debuted at number 7 on the Oricon Weekly charts. In December, she released her third single, "Aishitemasu". The single debuted at number 14 on the Oricon Weekly chart and stayed at number 83 in the 1981 yearly Oricon Charts. In the same month, her first live album Live was released, which includes recordings from her first concert held in October at Mielparque Tokyo.
In January 1981, Naoko launched a concert tour, the "1981 Shin Haru Tour", which lasted the whole month. In March 1981, she released her fourth single 17-sai ("Seventeen"). The single debuted at number 11 on the Oricon Weekly charts and stayed at number 75 in the 1981 yearly Oricon Charts. The same month, she launched her second concert tour, the "1981 Spring Tour", which ran until May. In May 1981, she released her second album Twilight Dream, fully arranged by Motoki Funayama. It includes 2 previously released singles with its b-side tracks and 6 newly written tracks. The album debuted at number 2 on the Oricon Weekly charts. Her fifth single, "Smile For Me", was released in June 1981, and became one of the most recognizable songs of her career. The single debuted at number 4 and stayed at number 59 in the 1981 yearly Oricon Charts. She received the Golden Dove Award at the 7th Nippon Television Music Festival and the Golden Idol prize at the 23rd Japan Record Awards. In July 1981, she launched her third concert tour "Kawai Naoko: Natsu" which ran until August. In August 1981, she released her third original album, Diary, which debuted at number 3 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. Soon after finishing the summer tour, Naoko launched her fourth "Kawai Naoko Concert" in September, which lasted the whole month. During the same month, she released her sixth single, "Moonlight Kiss", which debuted at number 11 on the Oricon Weekly charts and remained at number 95 on the 1981 yearly charts. It received a Golden Award at the 7th Zen Nihon Kayō ongakusai. In November 1981, the recording label released her first compilation album Angel, which debuted at number 6 on the Oricon Weekly charts. In December 1981, she released her seventh single "Love Letter," which debuted at number 11 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and remained at number 61 on the 1982 yearly charts. In the same month, she made an appearance on the new-year television program Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the first time.

1985-1990

One of her representative singles is 'Half Moon Serenade'.
Her 1985 single 'Debut/Manhattan Joke' reached first place in the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart.
In 1987, Kawai took part in the pop-music contest "Intertalent 87" held in Prague, Czechoslovakia and won the "Prize of the Deputy Prime Minister 87" Supraphon Award and prize for 3rd place in the contest. The special single "Looking For Love" bundled Izayoi Monogatari has been released in the country under recording label Suprahon. "Looking For Love" was composed by Czech composer Karel Svoboda.
She also notably appeared on two Jackie Chan songs in his 1988 studio album, 'Jackie Chan'.

Personal life

In 1996, she married hair and makeup artist Takayasu Kanehara after a 100-day courtship. She has an only-child her daughter Kaho, who debuted in 2013 as a singer, however soon after suspended activities in order to focus on school.