Ryuichi Sakamoto, keyboardist for the pioneering Japanese electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra and Oscar-winning composer of films like The Last Emperor and The Revenant, has died at the age of 71.
Sakamoto’s Twitter announced his death Sunday, noting that the influential artist died on Tuesday, March 28; while no cause of death was provided, Sakamoto battled two forms of cancer over the past decade, and announced in 2021 that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer.
Commmons, the record label Sakamoto founded, added in a statement Sunday, “While undergoing treatment for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create works in his home studio whenever his health would allow. He lived with music until the very end. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to his fans and all those who have supported his activities, as well as the medical professionals in Japan and the U.S. who did everything in their power to cure him. In accordance with Sakamoto’s strong wishes, the funeral service was held among his close family members.”
Commons also shared one of Sakamoto’s favorite quotes, “Art is long, life is short.”
Sakamoto’s death comes just over two months after his Yellow Magic Orchestra bandmate Yukihiro Takahashi died at the age of 70 from aspiration pneumonia.
In 1978, Sakamoto — at the time a classically-trained session musician — along with drummer/singer Takahashi, and bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Haruomi Hosono (previously of the famed Japanese rock bands Apryl Fool and Happy End) joined forces to found the the supergroup Yellow Magic Orchestra. Utilizing synths, sequencers and drum machines, the trio were trailblazers in the electronic genre, ushering in the Eighties electro sound.
Like his groundbreaking work with Yellow Magic Orchestra, Sakamoto’s solo albums proved influential for the artists developing the sound of hip-hop in the early Eighties, notably his 1980 LP B-2 Unit. That album spawned the electro single “Riot in Lagos,” which in turn informed the music of Afrika Bambaataa and Mantronix.
The always-experimenting Sakamoto also spent the first half of the Eighties collaborating with the likes of dub legend Dennis Bovell and synthpop singer David Sylvain, and made his big screen debut in the David Bowie-starring 1983 war film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, which also marked Sakamoto’s first film score.
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