Kenji Sawada (Kyūjitai and real name: Shinjitai: Sawada Kenji, born June 25, 1948), nicknamed “Julie” (Jurii), also-known as vocalist for the Japanese rock band The Tigers, is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and actor. He was born in Tsunoi, Iwami (now part of Tottori), Tottori Prefecture, Japan, and raised in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto at age 3. He is married to Oshin star Yūko Tanaka, whom he met on the set of Tora-san, the Expert.
As a singer (often he also worked as a songwriter) and actor, Sawada prospered greatly on Japanese popular culture in the last three decades of the Showa era. At the end of the 1960s, he had great success as the lead singer of the band The Tigers. After the breakup of The Tigers and another project PYG, he began his own solo career.
Kenji Sawada has been one of Japan’s top entertainers for nearly 40 years, and is a prototype of the seemingly gay male entertainer, the concept of which has long fascinated Japanese. Sawada debuted in 1967 at age 20 as a member of the group sounds band The Tigers. The Tigers were amongst the most popular of the genre, in part because of the dashing good looks of their singer Sawada, and the group scored big hits such as “Kimi Dake ni Ai o (Love Only For You)” and “C,C,C”. After The Tigers broke up in 1971, Sawada organized a supergroup of sorts called PYG, with members from The Spiders, The Tempters and The Tigers.
The following year he went solo, soon producing big hits with “Yurusarenai Ai” and “Kiken na Futari”. He nicknamed himself “Julie” because of his admiration for Julie Andrews, and to this day is often referred as such. Sawada is noted for his flamboyant dress style, abundant make-up, self-confident sparkling persona, and extravagant performances.
