Born in Tokyo, Inoue started his musical career in 1960 as a member of the group Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets, serving as multi-instrumentist, vocalist and often also as composer.

Among others, he penned the group's major hit "Blue Chateau" (ブルー・シャトウ, "Burū shatō"), which won a Japan Record Award and sold over one million copies.

[1] After the group disbanded, Inoue started a career as a solo singer and as a composer for other artists, notably Finger 5 and Hiromi Go.

[1][2] Among his major hits is "Ai Senshi", the theme song of the Mobile Suit Gundam film trilogy.

[1] Suffering from a retinal detachment that was not resolved by a recent surgery, and with his wife seriously ill, Inoue committed suicide by hanging on 30 May 2000, at the age of 58.