Tatsuro Yamashita

Tatsuro Yamashita is a singer-songwriter and producer, born on February 4, 1953. Heavily influenced by American jazz, soul, and big band music, his first album contained rare cover versions of songs by The Beach Boys and other golden age American songs. His major debut came in 1976 with an album recorded in New York and Los Angeles. His popular breakthrough came in 1980 with the release of a song that peaked at #3 on the Oricon singles chart. He is best-known for composing and performing his 1983 song "Christmas Eve." He is also famous as a record collector and the DJ of Japan's most famous oldies radio show.

Maxell used one of Tatsuro Yamashita's songs in a TV ad for audio cassettes that featured him. This track appeared on his album released in 1983 and was notably covered by Pentatonix for their Japanese release album. A version featuring English lyrics was written by a frequent collaborator.

In addition to his musical career, Tatsuro Yamashita hosts Japan's most famous oldies radio show called "Tatsuro Yamashita's Sunday Songbook" (TOKYO FM). This long-running program started in October 1992 as A Saturday Songbook before changing to The Sunday Songbook in April 1994.