Shizuko Kasagi(1914-1985)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Japan's "Queen of Boogie" ("Bugi no Jo" - or "Buugi no Jou") in the
postwar years. She was born in Kagawa on August 25, 1914, and scored
her first success in a girls' opera company before the war. After the
war, when American troops filled Japan's cities and their pop culture
became the rage, Kasagi began recording jazz and boogie-woogie songs
with an American sound but distinct Japanese subject matter. She became
an instant star, and many other singers imitated her trademark, a sort
of worldless growl/roar at the end of each song.
Her best-known song outside Japan is probably "Jungle Boogie"
("Jianguru Bugi"), which she sings and Toshiro Mifune dances to in
Kurosawa's Drunken Angel (1948). Bigger hits in Japan included "Tokyo
Boogie" and "Shopping Boogie" ("Kaimono Bugi"), the latter of which she
sang and acted to in a great short film that's easily seen on the web.
She was a huge influence on the young Hibari Misora, who was originally
billed as "the Baby Shizuko" before going on to become Japan's most
popular singer.
Kasagi didn't do as well surviving the end of the "Bugi-Ugi" craze and
in 1957 gave up singing to concentrate on acting. She died in 1985, at
the age of 70, of ovarian cancer.
postwar years. She was born in Kagawa on August 25, 1914, and scored
her first success in a girls' opera company before the war. After the
war, when American troops filled Japan's cities and their pop culture
became the rage, Kasagi began recording jazz and boogie-woogie songs
with an American sound but distinct Japanese subject matter. She became
an instant star, and many other singers imitated her trademark, a sort
of worldless growl/roar at the end of each song.
Her best-known song outside Japan is probably "Jungle Boogie"
("Jianguru Bugi"), which she sings and Toshiro Mifune dances to in
Kurosawa's Drunken Angel (1948). Bigger hits in Japan included "Tokyo
Boogie" and "Shopping Boogie" ("Kaimono Bugi"), the latter of which she
sang and acted to in a great short film that's easily seen on the web.
She was a huge influence on the young Hibari Misora, who was originally
billed as "the Baby Shizuko" before going on to become Japan's most
popular singer.
Kasagi didn't do as well surviving the end of the "Bugi-Ugi" craze and
in 1957 gave up singing to concentrate on acting. She died in 1985, at
the age of 70, of ovarian cancer.