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Ryuichi Sakamoto

File:Ryuichi_Sakamoto_side.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Ryuichi Sakamoto

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Also known as Ryūichi Sakamoto, Sakamoto Ryūichi, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Professor Sakamoto, Ryouichi Sakamoto

Japanese composer (1952–2023)

OverviewAI-generated

Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952–2023) was a Japanese actor, composer, record producer, and music arranger. Born in Nakano, he was educated at Tokyo University of the Arts and began his professional work in 1975. He was a member of the group Yellow Magic Orchestra and worked with record labels including Island Records, Nippon Columbia, and Columbia Records. His musical genres encompassed electronic music, techno, experimental music, ambient, art pop, and classical.

Sakamoto received an Academy Award for Best Original Score, a BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, and the Order of Rio Branco. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. His published works include *Skmt*, *From Satie to Cage*, *Electronic music*, *Film music*, and *Traditional music in Africa*. He was married to Akiko Yano and had a child named Miu Sakamoto.

Synthesized by Vinony from 41 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1952
Works
19

Top works

  • Skmt
  • From Satie to Cage
  • Electronic music
  • Film music
  • Traditional music in Africa

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Sound · Tokyo, Japan

Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一, Sakamoto Ryūichi, January 17, 1952 - March 28, 2023) was a Japanese composer, record producer, and actor who had pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres.

Known for

  • Ryuichi Sakamoto | Playing the Orchestra 2014 — Self2025
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto: Diaries — Self (archive footage)2025
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto's Last Days2024
  • Tonovan Musician Kazuhiko Kato and His Era — Self2024
  • Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV — Self (archive footage)2023
  • SUGA: Road to D-DAY — Self2023
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus — Self2023
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2022 — Himself2022
  • Brilliant Trees Sessions2021
  • NHK MUSIC SPECIAL2021

via TMDB

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
188,793
Total plays
6,567,035

Tags

ambientjapaneseelectronicpianoSoundtrack

Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一, Sakamoto Ryūichi, born January 17, 1952 - 28 March 2023) was a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who had pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. Sakamoto began his career while at university in the 1970s as a session musician, producer, and arranger. <a hre

via Last.fm · 坂本龍一

Key facts

Born
( 1952-01-17 ) January 17, 1952, Nakano, Tokyo , Japan
Died
March 28, 2023 (2023-03-28) (aged 71), Tokyo, Japan
Education
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music ( BA , MA )
Occupations
Musician record producer actor
Years active
1975–2023
Spouses
Natsuko Sakamoto ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1972 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1982 ) ​ Akiko Yano ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1982 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 2006 ) ​
Children
3, including Miu Sakamoto and Neo Sora
Genres
Classical electronic ambient avant-garde electro electro-pop experimental film score glitch minimal synth-pop techno world
Instruments
Keyboards vocoder marimba sampler vocals
Works
Ryuichi Sakamoto discography
Labels
Columbia Alfa MIDI Sony Japan EMI For Life Warner commmons A&M Restless
Formerly of
Yellow Magic Orchestra Sketch Show
Website
sitesakamoto .com

via Wikipedia infobox

~36 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japanese: 坂本 龍一, Hepburn: Sakamoto Ryūichi; January 17, 1952 – March 28, 2023) was a Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his YMO bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. As a film score composer, Sakamoto won an Academy Award (Oscar), BAFTA, Grammy and two Golden Globe Awards.

Sakamoto began his career as a session musician, producer, and arranger while he was at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in the mid 1970s. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He pursued a solo career at the same time, releasing the experimental electronic fusion album Thousand Knives in that year, and the album B-2 Unit in 1980. B-2 Unit includes the track "Riot in Lagos", which had a significant influence on the development of electro, hip hop and dance music. He went on to produce more solo records, and collaborate with many international artists, including David Sylvian, DJ Spooky, Carsten Nicolai, Youssou N'Dour, and Fennesz. Sakamoto composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, and his composition "Energy Flow" (1999) was the first instrumental number-one single in Japan's Oricon charts history.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ryuichi Sakamoto” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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