Katsuko Kanai
Katsuko Kanai is a Japanese singer, dancer, and actress. Born in occupied China, she worked in ballet during her youth and was a regular cast member on and a member of. She released dozens of singles as a singer, including the popular "Tanin no Kankei". Her accolades include a 1966 Galaxy Award and a 2019 Japan Record Awards Achievement Award.
Biography
Early life
Katsuko Kanai was born on 17 June 1945 in Tianjin, the youngest of five siblings. Her father worked at Toyobo and she was raised in corporate housing. The family was repatriated after World War II ended, and she was raised in Kishiwada, Osaka.Influenced by her sisters, Kanai joined the at age eight and planned to become a professional ballerina. After playing the lead for a 1959 ballet television special commemorating the marriage of Crown Prince Akihito, a producer hired her for the NHK variety show, where she started as a dancer before being promoted to presenter.
Entertainment career and later life
Kanai became a regular cast member on NHK's in 1964, and she won the 1966 Galaxy Award in Television/Individual for her work on the show. In 1966, she made her debut at the, performing "A Lover's Concerto". She was one of the founding members of the dancing unit, and she sang the theme song for their titular Nippon Television series, "Mini Mini Girl". She became the first artist to make four consecutive appearances at Kōhaku Uta Gassen, with her second being a solo performance of "La Bamba" and the last two as part of Les Girls. She starred as Spade in the 1969 drama Flower Action 009-1.In August 1962, Kanai made her record debut with "Hapsberg Serenade/Namida no Hakuchō", the former a cover of the Shepherd Sisters song. In 1966, she and released the album Let's Sing With The Grand Show as part of Uta no Grand Show. By 1969, she had released 23 singles for Nippon Columbia, with her 1965 single "Noche de Tokyo" being a hit.
During her early singing career, Kanai constantly churned new releases regardless of her own wishes, and juggled time between school, work, and dancing, eventually devoting less time to the latter; since then, she has also spoken about her subsequent experiences with struggling with mental health and developing alopecia areata. After spending time at a ballet company in the New York area, she decided to make "Tanin no Kankei" her final song, but it rose to popularity. It was Kanai's most successful song at the time, peaking at #7 on 23 July 1973 Oricon Singles Chart. "Tanin no Kankei" sold 670,000 copies and was Kanai's first single to chart within the top ten. Motohiro Makaino of Nippon Hōsō News Online said that Kanai accelerated the evolution of Masatoshi Sakai's trend of "having veteran female singers who had made their mark in jazz and Latin music sing sexy pop songs".
Kanai won an Excellent Star Award at the 1973 and an Excellence Award at the 1983 Japan Cable Awards. Her song "Ai Samazama" was the theme song of the 1982 TBS drama. She also appeared in productions of musicals such as Annie, Anything Goes, and The Five O'Clock Girl.
Kanai appeared at the, singing "Tanin no Kankei" with Yo Hitoto. She starred as Midori Aihara in the 2016 Japanese remake of Miss Granny. She won an Achievement Award at the 61st Japan Record Awards in 2019.
Personal life
In 1981, Kanai married a dentist whom an in-law introduced her to; their wedding ceremony was in Pakistan, where the husband's cousin worked.Kanai has undergone surgery for Raynaud syndrome and lumbar spinal stenosis. She began taking aerobics and hip-hop dance classes to maintain her strength. She is aquaphobic, which she recalled was because she almost drowned as a child in the company housing pool.