Akiko Wada

Akiko Wada (和田 アキ子, Wada Akiko; born April 10, 1950) is a Japanese singer, tarento and businesswoman from Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture.

Akiko Wada
和田 アキ子
Born	Kim Bokja (1950-04-10) April 10, 1950 (age 75) Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Occupations	Singer tarento businesswoman
Years active	1968–present
Agent	Horipro
Height	174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Korean name
Hangul	김복자
Hanja	金福子
Revised Romanization	Gim Bok-ja
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Pokcha
Website	www.ako50.com

She has various nicknames, one being "Akko". Due to her above-average height (174 cm or 5’8.5"), she is also nicknamed "jotei" (女帝), meaning "empress".

Biography

Akiko Wada is Japanese of Korean ethnicity. She was born Kim Bok-ja (Korean: 김복자, Hanja: 金福子, Kim is the family name). Like many Zainichi Koreans, she also had a Japanese-style name for everyday use, Fukuko Kaneumi (金海福子, Kaneumi Fukuko). When she took Japanese citizenship, her name became Akiko Wada (和田 現子, Wada Akiko), which upon marriage became Akiko Iizuka (飯塚 現子, Iizuka Akiko).

She is signed to the Horipro entertainment agency.^[1]

Career

At age 15, she dropped out of high school after 2 or 3 days due to her father arbitrarily delivering a note telling the school that Akiko would quit attending the school. Then Akiko started performing in clubs due to boredom. She was signed to the Horipro entertainment agency and released her debut single, "Hoshizora no Kodoku" in 1968 and had her first hit the next year with "Doshaburi no Ame no Naka de". She performed on Kōhaku Uta Gassen, a music show broadcast live every New Year's Eve, in 1970 and has performed over 30 times on the show since then. She received the award for Best Song at the 1972 Japan Record Awards for "Ano Kane wo Narasu no wa Anata".

She played the voice of Bowser in Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!.^[2] She has also voiced Marge Simpson in the Japanese version of The Simpsons Movie.

She also performed with the music group M-Flo on the song "Hey!" on their 2005 album Beat Space Nine.

Wada performed at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York in September 2008 as part of her 40th debut anniversary tour.^[3]

Kōhaku Uta Gassen Appearances

Number	Year	Song	Appearance order	Opponent	Remarks
21	1970	笑って許して (Waratte Yurushite, "Laugh and Forgive")	2/24	Mizuhara Hiroshi	Kōhaku debut
22	1971	天使になれない (Tenshi ni Narenai, "Can't be an Angel")	3/25	Kenichi Mikawa
23	1972	孤独 (Kodoku, "Solitude")	2/23	Four Leaves
24	1973	Waratte Yurushite (repeat)	6/22	Yukio Hashi
25	1974	美しき誤解 (Utsukushiki Gokai, "Beautiful Misunderstanding")	10/25	Kaientai
26	1975	もっと自由に (Motto Jiyū ni, "More Freely")	6/24	DOWN TOWN BOOGIE WOOGIE BAND
27	1976	雨のサタデー (Ame no Satadē, "Rainy Saturday")	7/24	Hideki Saijo
28	1977	夜更けのレストラン (Yoake no Resutoran, "Break of dawn Restaurant")	12/24	Masao Sen
29	1978	コーラス・ガール (Kōrasu Gāru, "Chorus Girl")	13/24	Masao Sen (2)
37	1986	もう一度ふたりで歌いたい (Mō Ichido Futari de Utaitai, "Sing with the Two of Us Once More")	12/20	Sugawara Youichi	Returned after 8 years
38	1987	抱擁 (Hōyō, "Embrace")	20/20	Hiroshi Itsuki	Host and finale for red team
39	1988	だってしょうがないじゃない (Datte Shōganai Janai, "Can't Be Helped")	9/21	Yoshi Ikuzō	Red team host
40	1989	Datte Shōganai Janai (repeat)	19/20	Shinji Tanimura	Host and penultimate performance for red team
41	1990	抱かれ上手 (Dakare Jōzu, "Good at Being Held")	27/29	Saburō Kitajima
42	1991	あの鐘を鳴らすのはあなた (Ano Kane o Narasu Nowa Anata, "You Are the One That Rings That Bell")	28/28	Shinji Tanimura (2)	Red team finale
43	1992	愛、とどきますか (Ai, Todokimasuka?, "Does Love Reach You?")	27/28	Masashi Sada	Red team penultimate performance
44	1993	星空の孤独 (Hoshizora no Kodoku, The Loneliness of The Starry Night)	24/26	Shinji Tanimura (3)
45	1994	Ano Kane o Narasu Nowa Anata (repeat)	22/25	Akira Kobayashi
46	1995	Mō Ichido Futari de Utaitai (repeat)	25/25	Takashi Hosokawa	Red team finale
47	1996	Mother	20/25	Masashi Sada (2)
48	1997	夢 (Yume, "Dream")	24/25	Saburō Kitajima (2)	Host and penultimate performance for red team
49	1998	今あなたにうたいたい (Ima Anata ni Utaitai, "I Want to Sing to You Now")	25/25	Hiroshi Itsuki (2)	Show finale
50	1999	Ano Kane o Narasu Nowa Anata (repeat)	27/27	Saburō Kitajima (3)	Red team finale
51	2000	Mō Ichido Futari de Utaitai (repeat)	27/28	Saburō Kitajima (4)	Red team penultimate performance
52	2001	Yume (repeat)	27/27	Saburō Kitajima (5)	Red team finale
53	2002	Hōyō (repeat)	25/27	Masashi Sada (3)
54	2003	古い日記 2003 KOUHAKU Remix (Furui Nikki Kōhaku Rimikkusu, "Old Diary Kōhaku Remix")	27/28	Hiroshi Itsuki (3)
55	2004	Ano Kane o Narasu Nowa Anata (repeat)	22/28	Yuzu
56	2005	HEY!	27/29	Misato Watanabe	Appeared under white team
57	2006	Mother (repeat)	23/27	Masafumi Akikawa
58	2007	Ano Kane o Narasu Nowa Anata (repeat)	26/27	Shinichi Mori	Red team penultimate performance
59	2008	Yume (repeat)	26/26	Kiyoshi Hikawa	Red team finale
60	2009	Mō Ichido Futari de Utaitai (repeat)	22/25	Kobukuro
61	2010	AKKOィィッ!紅白2010スペシャル (Akko! Kōhaku 2010 Supesharu) Medley consisting of 人生はこれから (Jinsei wa Korekara), Waratte Yurushite (repeat), Furui Nikki (repeat)	16/22	Yūzō Kayama
62	2011	Ano Kane o Narasu Nowa Anata (repeat)	19/25	Arashi
63	2012	Ai, Todokimasuka? (repeat)	21/25	Akihiro Miwa
64	2013	今でもあなた (Ima Demo Anata)	17/26	Tokio
65	2014	古い日記〜2014紅白スペシャル〜 (Furui Nikki 2014 Supesharu)	11/23	V6	First half finale
66	2015	Waratte Yurushite (repeat)	11/25	Takashi Hosokawa (2)