1963: 21 year old Kyu Sakamoto became the first Japanese artist to hit the top of the US singles chart with a song called "Sukiyaki". It was also a #6 hit in the UK. The original title of the song was "Ue O Muite Aruko", which translates "I Look Up When I Walk". Sakamoto was killed on August 12th, 1985 when JAL Flight 123, a Boeing 747, crashed and burned on a thickly wooded mountain about 60 miles northwest of Tokyo. He was 43.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
