[15][16][17] Yamashita was a member of the band Sugar Babe[18] with musicians Taeko Onuki and Kunio Muramatsu, who released their only album Songs in 1975.

[19][1] After the group disbanded in 1976, Yamashita signed to RCA and launched his solo career, releasing the album Circus Town the same year.

[30][31] A mutli-faceted musician, some of his songs are recorded entirely by himself, including vocal backup, guitar arrangement, synthesizer, and percussion.

"Christmas Eve", one of Yamashita's best-known songs in Japan and the best-selling Japanese single of the 1980s,[7][8][9] first appeared on his 1983 album Melodies.

The English-version of the song, with lyrics by Alan O'Day, was also recorded by Yamashita and has been covered by artists such as Pentatonix, the Commodores, All-4-One, and Idina Menzel.

Yamashita frequently collaborated with Alan O'Day, who wrote the English lyrics for some of his most popular songs, such as “Christmas Eve”.