63-year-old singer Kazuko Matsumura will make her first appearance on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko no Heya" (TV Asahi), which will be broadcast on July 1st at 1pm. She made her debut in 1980 at the age of 18, with long hair and a Tsugaru shamisen, singing "Kaete Koiyo." Even now, 45 years later, she is said to still be singing the song in the original key.
Born in Hokkaido, she grew up in a family of entertainers, with her mother a folk singer and her father running an entertainment agency, but she says she was shy as a child and never thought about becoming a singer. When she was 11 years old, she fell in love at first sight with Goro Noguchi and decided to pursue a career as a singer. After working her way up at her father's agency, she made her debut. The day after her debut, she performed with Goro Noguchi on a TV recording.
In 2000, she married her husband, who had been playing trumpet in her backing band since her debut. Her husband died 11 years ago from liver disease. She revealed that she had mixed feelings about turning older than her husband on her birthday in March this year. She began to lose weight rapidly after her husband passed away, and was encouraged by those around her to get checked at the hospital. As a result, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and says that she still takes insulin injections to perform on stage.
