Born in Nishinari-ku, Osaka, Japan,[2][3] to a Zainichi-issei Korean father Gonzaburou ((unknown surname) 權三郞) and a Japanese mother Mitsuko Yashiki (Japanese: 家鋪光子), he started his singing career in the 1970s in Gion, Kyoto, and then moved to Shimokitazawa, Tokyo in 1980.
In 1981, he sang the theme song of the first movie of the Mobile Suit Gundam, Suna no Jūjika and it sold thirteen thousand CDs.
He moved back to Osaka in 1982 and had been active mainly in the Kansai region since then.
[citation needed] In January 2012, he announced that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and that he would take a leave and concentrate on its treatment.
He made a short comeback in 2013, but he died on January 3, 2014.