[3] Inoue gained recognition as a folk-rock singer-songwriter through his 1973 Kōri no Sekai album, which became the first long-playing record that sold more than a million copies in Japan alone.
He has been one of the most commercially successful Japanese male solo recording artists of the last 40 years, selling in excess of 10.9 million copies on the country's Oricon albums chart up to May 2009 and has had seven number-one albums; Kori no Sekai, Nishoku no Koma, Good Pages, Shoutaijou no Nai Show, 9.5 Carats, Under the Sun, and the compilation Golden Best which was released in 1999 and has shipped over two million units.
[1] His father, Wakami Inoue, was a dentist who had formerly worked as a surgeon for the Japanese army during World War II, and wanted his sole son to take over the business of his clinic.
A newly recorded version of the song was released as a single by the CBS Sony label in September 1969, under the distinctive stage name "Andre Candre".
Then-unknown Kiyoshiro Imawano, a frontman of RC Succession, wrote several songs including "Kaerenai Futari" and "Machibouke" with Inoue.
"Yume no Naka e", a song somewhat more accessible than his previous effort, was released as a single in March 1973 and became the first hit for Inoue, entering the top-20 on the Japanese Oricon chart.
Nishoku no Koma, a follow-up to Kōri no Sekai released in 1974, also topped the chart, and retained its position for ten consecutive weeks.
The breakthrough providing him with the nickname "Emperor of Japanese Folk-rock", and introduced his more early efforts to listeners (the songs including "Jinsei ga Nido Areba", "Ai wa Kimi", "Kasa ga Nai", "Tsumetai Heya no Sekai Chizu", "Yoru no Bus", "Natsu Matsuri", "Kannazuki ni Kakomarete", "Kami Hikouki", "Nokonoshima no Kataomoi" became popular particularly).
Project of forming a record label was initiated by Hitoshi Komuro and Takuro Yoshida, and Inoue and Shigeru Izumiya joined as the co-founders.
[11] Inoue made his comeback as a musician laterin the same year and released an album called White in 1978, but his popularity was lost hugely owing to his law breaking.
Except for a hit single "Jealousy", most of Inoue's efforts after his comeback were not as successful as his previous works, but some materials like "Nazeka Shanghai", "Umi e Kinasai", "Tomadou Perican" and "Canary" are regarded as his notable songs throughout his career.
In 1982, Hokkaido-based Inoue's then-backing band called Anzen Chitai made debut, and he contributed lyrics for their materials composed by a group's frontman Koji Tamaki.
[13] Inoue also wrote the lyrics for some of the group's subsequent releases, including a song "Koi no Yokan" that became the second top-ten hit for the band.
Also in 1984, Inoue contributed another number-one hit "Kazari ja Nai no yo Namida wa" for a pop idol Akina Nakamori.
In addition, Inoue himself scored the top-ten hit "Isso Serenade" in a same year, four his compositions dominated the Japanese singles chart at the same week in December 1984.
His subsequent studio album called 9.5 Carats is a blockbuster that features "Isso Serenade" and his own renditions of above mentioned hit singles.
The album mainly consists of his compositions (some of them were co-written by other composers or lyricists such as Tamaki, Yumi Matsutoya, and Takashi Matsumoto) that he already contributed for other performers including Kenji Sawada, Yutaka Mizutani and Inoue's spouse Seri Ishikawa.
[15] He carried out the concert with Anzen Chitai again, and also released a single "Natsu no Owari no Harmony" (written and sung by Inoue and Tamaki) together.
"Shounen Jidai" (Boyhood), a song he wrote with Natsumi Hirai was initially featured on the same-titled film adaptation of a manga Childhood Days (written by Fujiko Fujio (A), based on the novel Nagai Michi by Hyouzou Kashiwabara).
Tamio Okuda, a member of the band Unicorn who suspended the group's work and began his solo career in 1994, became a collaborator for Inoue during the mid-1990s.
Along with "Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Et Cetera", another massive hit they wrote for Puffy in 1997, it has been Inoue's live favorites in recent 10 years.