Naomi Chiaki – Asa Ga Kurumaeni
Columbia – SAS-1357 Japan Released 1969
Track A : 朝がくるまえに Asa Ga Kurumaeni
I absolutely love this track from Naomi Chiaki. I feel it is perhaps over looked in the Japan Sevens collector circles and it needs to be shared.
Born on September 17, 1947, Naomi Chiaki (real name Segawa Mieko) was born in Kanagawa, raised in Itabashi, in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. Born as the youngest of the three sisters, and heavily influenced by her mother who loved to perform, she learned tap dancing at the age of four, and at the age of five, she took the stage for the first time in the Nikgeki Music Hall, a beautiful former Japanese theatre, built in 1933, and which had avoided damage throughout air raids and war. It is documented that she sang at US military camps, jazz cafes and supported then popular singers on concert tours, when was she very young.
Chiaki moved schools numerous times, graduating and shifting through different cities around the Tokyo regions, but it’s difficult to find what musical path was leading her or the journey she was following during her teens. In the late sixties she succeeded an audition to become a pupil for composer Jun Suzuki and in 1969 she had signed to Columbia and released her first single, this featured release, “Asa Ga Kurumaeni”.
It translates as “Before The Morning Comes”, and it’s such a beautiful track. You can hear her jazz styling in her very polished voice. It’s a very theatrical song in that it feels like it should be part of spy thriller that was so popular in the sixties. Jun Suzuki is composing, and you can tell he was a master with mixing a good sixties back beat, with atmospheric strings, driving bass and distant piano chops. This Chiaki song is just devine! This track has the perfect vibe, and it’s one that really grew on me, to the point where I got a bit obsessed with it. It is a much loved 7″ that I pack for only the cool bars.
The flip to this single is called “Yoru Wa Darenimo Agenaide” and has a familiar arrangement, but isn’t as spectacular. But I will say it also is growing on me, so I am happily giving it more rotations. “Asa Ga Kurumaeni” also appears on her debut LP “Yottsu no Onegai; Anata ni Yobikakeru Chiaki Naomi”, which kinda translates to “Naomi Chiaki Is Calling Out To You With Four Wishes”, and was released the following year in 1970. I don’t own that LP, but I have has a listen and I like it. It feels like a conceptual love story record, with Chaki narration between some tracks. Again familiar themes and top class Jun Suzuki arrangements, and I will put it on my list of records to look out for if I ever get back to the Tokyo record stores.
Naomi Chiaki had her breakthrough single in 1970 with “Yottsu no Onegai”, and would end up releasing a barrage of singles through Columbia all through the seventies, and even beyond, with further labels. Further digging tells me her biggest and most successful hit was “Kassai” released in 1972, a song which has been commonly considered her signature tune. It sold over one million copies by February 1973, and because of it she won the 14th Japan Record Award and landed a “Gold Disc” for it. She would also release a tonne of LP’s (I have counted 28) all the way up to 1991, so she really enjoyed a successful recording career.
Chiaki also did a few musicals, but it is said when she played Billie Holiday in the musical ‘Lady Day’ in 1989 to 1990, that her performances were absolutely unforgettable. She also played Carmen the musical ‘Song Days’ in 1991, so this tells us a lot about her stage talent and vocal chops.
Sadly her husband *Eiji Go, passed on September 11 in 1992, and she stopped working completely as an artist. But I’m certain her millions of her admirers, will continue to listen to her vast catalogue for many years to come. Apparently Naomi Chiaki had recorded 425 songs, and I’m wondering if there’s a more perfect Chiaki release amongst them? Let me know if there is.
- del Piero
*Eiji Go was an actor known for “Kamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Mutants” (1973) where he played Doctor G, and also starred in “The Executioner II: Karate Inferno” (1974) and “The Executioner’ (1974).
I think it is lovely and sweet to see Chiaki’s late husband in action, so here is a link to Kamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Mutants. I love this stuff! Hope you can see why!
Seven45rpm 
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