Hideaki Tokunaga

Before he hit it big, Japanese singer-songwriter Hideaki Tokunaga appeared on the long-running TV talent show Star Tanjō!. ∙ In 1987, his third album, Birds, became his first to top the Japanese charts. ∙ Fueled by the success of the anime series Dragon Quest, Tokunaga’s 1990 single “Yume Wo Shinjite”—the show’s ending theme—shot to No. 3 on the Japanese singles charts. ∙ The Vocalist album series, which began in 2006 and focuses on covers of songs from female Japanese artists, has been a multi-Platinum triumph and currently spans six volumes. ∙ When Vocalist 4 debuted at No. 1 in 2010, he became the first male Japanese artist to top the Japanese album charts in four separate decades. ∙ Thanks to Cantonese-language covers of his work by Chinese stars Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung, and Shirley Kwan, Tokunaga has a sizable following in Hong Kong. ∙ He has won five Japan Gold Disc Awards and three Japan Record Awards, the most recent for songwriting on his 2017 album, Baton.