Zard

As of 2023, Zard has sold over 38 million records, making them one of the best-selling music artists in Japan.

Zard began when the former CEO of Being Corporation, Daikō Nagato, recruited a 24-year-old model named Sachiko Kamachi.

Changing her name to Izumi Sakai in an attempt to cut off her past, she created a group called Zard.

Zard made a breakthrough with the release of their debut single February 10, 1991 Good-bye My Loneliness, which was a theme song for the Fuji TV drama "Ideals and Reality of Marriage" featuring Misako Tanaka.

The group's rock style had morphed to popular while the seemingly dark music videos turned to a relatively brighter image.

In fact, half of Zard's official appearances on TV were related to performing this song, which sold 440,000 copies.

At that time, Music Station host Kazuyoshi Morita (aka Tamori) asked Sakai what had taken Zard so long to be on stage.

On August 31, 1999, Zard held their first concert aboard cruise ship Pacific Venus, where six hundred people were randomly selected out of a million applicants.

An editorial in the Asahi Shimbun claimed that the secret to Zard's success was that while the trend in Japan showed a decrease in the number of music programs on television, Sakai used late night commercials to air her voice and so advertise her works.

She also wrote songs for other artists, most notably for the J-pop groups that shared her management company: Field of View, Wands and Deen, and the late mainland Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng.

She also wrote the lyrics for and participated in the collaboration for the single "Hateshinai Yume o" (果てしない夢を) featuring J-pop groups Zard, Zyyg, Rev & Wands.

NTV Morning News program, Zoom In Super's December 28, 2007 reports that over 500,000 entries were mailed to Being.

[8] An agency spokesman said: We hope that Izumi Sakai, along with her hit songs, will remain in the memory of her fans.

[9]Sakai had planned to release a new album in the fall, as well as make her first live tour in three years to show her fans that she was fighting strongly against her illnesses.

On the previous day, a memorial service for the people concerned was held and Maki Ohguro and Tetsuro Oda and others were in attendance.

At the same time, Tak Matsumoto and Koshi Inaba of B'z, Mai Kuraki and Shigeo Nagashima made announcements in her remembrance.

Nine screens were set up to show previously unseen footage of Izumi Sakai, and a first single after she died called Glorious Mind was played.

Extra minutes where she was singing in English were incorporated from a previously unrelated and unreleased song as well.