Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一, Sakamoto Ryūichi, born January 17, 1952) is an Academy Award-, Grammy-, and Golden Globe-winning Japanese musician, composer, record producer and actor, based in New York and Tokyo. He played keyboards in the influential Japanese electropop band Yellow Magic Orchestra. His 1999 musical composition "Energy Flow" is the first number-one instrumental single in the Japan's Oricon charts history. He was ranked at number 59 in ... more

Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一, Sakamoto Ryūichi, born January 17, 1952) is an Academy Award-, Grammy-, and Golden Globe-winning Japanese musician, composer, record producer and actor, based in New York and Tokyo. He played keyboards in the influential Japanese electropop band Yellow Magic Orchestra. His 1999 musical composition "Energy Flow" is the first number-one instrumental single in the Japan's Oricon charts history. He was ranked at number 59 in a list of the top 100 most influential musicians compiled by HMV Japan. Sakamoto attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he earned a B.A. in music composition and an M.A. with special emphasis on both electronic and ethnic music. After working as a session musician, he formed the internationally successful synthpop trio Yellow Magic Orchestra, with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi. Sakamoto released his first solo album, The Thousand Knives of Ryūichi Sakamoto, in 1978. The album includes the songs "Thousand... less