Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets

Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets ( Japanese: ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ) is a Japanese GS band, active from 1957.

Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets
Background information
Origin	Japan
Genres	GS
Years active	1957 – 2021

History of the band

The band formed in 1957 just as The Blue Comets.^[1] In 1963 they renamed "Jackie Yoshikawa and the Blue Comets" with Jackie Yoshikawa serving as the leader of the group.^[1][2] Their debut single "Aoi Hitomi" ("Blue Eyes") was an immediate success, selling over 100,000 copies in its English-language version and over 500,000 copies in its Japanese-language version.^[1] They appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show performing their major hit song of 1967 "Blue Chateau" (ブルー・シャトウ, "Burū shatō"), which won a Japan Record Award and sold over one million copies ^[1][2][3] Thanks to their popularity, they were the first musical group invited to participate in a Kōhaku Uta Gassen contest.^[1] Their last song to chart was "Ame no Hymn", which was released in January 1971 and reached the No. 65 on the Oricon Chart.^[1]

In October 1971 Tadao Inoue, Kenji Takahashi, and Tsunaki Mihara left the group, replaced by new members.^[1] Tadao Inoue committed suicide by hanging in May 2000.^[3] The surviving members of the original line-up reunited in October 2001.^[1] The leader of the band Jackey Yoshikawa died in May 2020.^[2]