As a singer, songwriter, and actor, Sawada prospered greatly on Japanese popular culture in the last three decades of the Shōwa era.
Sawada was the lead singer of the best-known J-pop music act of the late 1960s Group Sounds era band The Tigers.
In 1968, Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees was commissioned to compose two songs for the band in an attempt at international success.
In spite of his clear English pronunciation, the record did not make the pop charts in foreign markets as the Watanabe Productions management team had hoped.
Kenichi Hagiwara, Sawada's main rival in the Group Sounds era, was a co-lead vocalist.