Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952–2023) was the Tokyo-born composer and pianist who co-founded Yellow Magic Orchestra and won an Academy Award for scoring The Last Emperor (1987). His solo range ran from synth-pop to ambient — try BTTB (1999) or the late-career landmark async (2017). Shop Ryuichi Sakamoto vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Ryuichi Sakamoto was born in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan on January 17, 1952. He studied music composition at the Tokyo University of the Arts. He co-founded the foundational Japanese electronic music group Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) in 1978 with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi (died 2023). YMO is widely cited as one of the most important electronic music groups in popular music history - predating and influencing the entire international synth-pop, techno, and electronic music movements. Sakamoto's parallel solo career - launching with the 1978 album Thousand Knives - has been varied across multiple decades, combining electronic music, ambient, classical composition, and film score work. His 1987 film score for Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor won the Academy Award for Best Original Score (shared with David Byrne and Cong Su), and his film score work for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983, in which he also acted opposite David Bowie), The Sheltering Sky (1990), Babel (2006), and The Revenant (2015) has been. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and rectal cancer in 2021, with later work addressing mortality and ecological themes. His 2023 album 12 - released two months before his death - is widely cited as his final statement. He died of cancer on March 28, 2023 at age 71. His foundational influence on electronic music, ambient music, film score composition, and broader contemporary international music is widely cited as one of the most important contributions to the form.
Ryuichi Sakamoto's sound combines electronic music, ambient, classical composition, film score, synth-pop, techno, modern classical, and Japanese contemporary classical with his distinctive piano work, virtuosic multi-instrumental electronic production approaches, and varied compositional approaches across multiple decades and subgenres.
Original Alfa, CBS/Sony, Virgin, Warner Bros., Milan, and Commmons (his own label) pressings of the Ryuichi Sakamoto catalog are foundational items in electronic music, ambient, and Japanese music collecting.
Listeners new to Ryuichi Sakamoto typically start with The Last Emperor soundtrack (1987), BTTB (1999), or async (2017). See also Yellow Magic Orchestra.
