Yukihiro Takahashi Wiki, Biography
Yukihiro Takahashi, the influential musician, drummer, vocalist, and fashion designer, passed away at the age of 70, on January 11, 2023. The Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2020 and made regular hospital visits during his rehabilitation after surgery.
According to Takahashi’s management, the musician had been recuperating at his home in Karzuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, since November 2022. However, he contracted pneumonia in early January, causing his condition to further deteriorate, according to the Japanese publication. Sponichi.
Takahashi died as a result of aspiration pneumonia, which was caused by his brain condition.
Tributes pour in for Yukihiro Takahashi as drummer dies at age 70
Yukihiro Takahashi was born in Tokyo in 1952. He started his career as a musician while he was still in high school. The artist was inspired by his older brother, Nobuyuki, and learned to play the drums alongside college musicians while he was still in high school.
At the age of 16, he began working professionally as a studio musician, and in the 1970s, after performing with the Sadistic Mika Band, he began to gain wide recognition in Japan. After the group disbanded, Yukihiro Takahashi released his 1977 solo album Saravah!, which was produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
In 1978, Yukihiro Takahashi and Sakamoto were hired by Haruomi Hosono to record his album, Paraiso, which was credited to Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band. The three artists also officially formed the Orquesta Mágica Amarilla that same year.
Given his popularity and range of work, Twitter was awash with tributes as soon as news of Takahashi’s passing broke.
Takahashi worked on 23 solo albums.
Yellow Magic Orchestra rose to fame with their album Yellow Magic Orchestra, a well-known example of the synthpop genre incorporating computer technology, synthesizers, and video game sounds.
The album’s prominence is demonstrated by the fact that it entered the Billboard 200 and Billboard R&B Albums charts.
In 2020, Yukihiro Takahashi told Dublab:
“I never imagined that the music of the 70s in Japan and urban pop, which I have very little connection to, would become popular in the US. I also feel that it is a bit strange that my music and the music of [others] like] Akiko Yano and Haruomi Hosono is categorized as city pop.”
He further added, noting:
“In the ’70s, Japanese musicians were being influenced by fusion and pop from the West. Japanese musicians are generally very technical, and although they try to imitate western music, it always ends up sounding very Japanese, including the vocals. People in the West who now listen to those records probably find a kitsch appeal in them.”
Yukihiro Takahashi released 7 albums with the Yellow Music Orchestra and 23 original albums as a solo artist. His most recent work was Life Anew from 2013.
In addition to his solo career, Takahashi has also played in The Beatniks with Keiichi Suzuki, Sketch Show with Hosono, and Pupa with Tomoyo Harada and Hiroshi Takano, among others.