Megumi Asaoka

Megumi Asaoka was born October 11, 1955 in Beppu City, Ooita Prefecture Japan as the second daughter of Kazuo and Masako Fujii. Her birth name is Kayoko Fujii. Her family ran a cosmetics distribution business. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Osaka due to change in her father's business. She has an sister Akemi who is four years older than her. Akemi became a child actor in acting studio and she was also recruited to be an actor through her connection. She started performing at a young age of two and performed as a child actor and a model in various commercials and photo shoots. Her sister became a student of a song teacher in Tokyo, so to help her, she and her mother moved to Tokyo. She became a model in a modeling agency Tokyo Talent Agency under an alias of Kayoko Tajima. She entered Fujimigaoka middle school in Suginami ward Tokyo. Her father recommended table tennis for PE but she didn't find it to her liking and switched to kendo (Japanese sword fighting). When she was in 9th grade she had an opportunity to visit the island of Guam on a business trip. During this trip on the boat, several Japanese singers and actors were traveling with her. One night it became a singing contest and she sang the song 'Manatsu no dekigoto'. One of the managers who was watching her offered her a contract as singer. On 5th June 1972, she made her debut as a singer under her new alias 'Asaoka Megumi' with the song "Mebae". The name 'Asaoka Megumi' was a co-creation between her and her then record company Nippon Victor corporation. This first song sold 800,000 copies and she became an overnight singing sensation. Same year she won the prestigious 'Record Taisho shinjin sho' which is given to five best new singing talents for that year. She has appeared in numerous stages, TV shows, and concerts since then. On 27th June 1977, she announced that she is engaged to Mitsuo Watanabe a producer working for Fuji Television who she met at Nippon Victor's recording studio. He proposed to her on their second date. On 28th September of that year she was married to him at St. Paul's church in Karuizawa Nagano prefecture. On 16th November 1979 her daughter who she named 'Hitomi' was born. On 14th February 1982 she got divorced from her husband. There was some disagreement about her career between them and they decided to divorce. She has returned to acting and singing that year. Her comment: "It's very hard to raise a child while working". Since 1998 she's been also performing as a Jazz singer. She now lives with her mother and a daughter in Tokyo.