About Eiichi Ohtaki
Eiichi Ohtaki (Japanese: 大瀧 榮一, Hepburn: Ōtaki Eiichi; July 28, 1948 – December 30, 2013) was a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He first became known as a member of the rock band Happy End, but was better known for his solo work which began in 1972. In 2003, Ohtaki was ranked by HMV at number 9 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. Patrick Macias referred to Ohtaki as Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, George Martin and Joe Meek "synthesized into a single human being," and called his work "an encyclopedia of everything that was great about pop music in the 20th century." == Biography == Ohtaki was born in Esashi District, in what is now part of Ōshū. Before joining Happy End, Ohtaki was guitarist in a group called Taboo with future Blues Creation singer Fumio Nunoya. Happy End produced three albums, Happy End (1970), Kazemachi Roman (1971) and Happy End (1973), before officially disbanding on New Year's Eve 1972. Ohtaki had already released his first self-titled solo album back in November 1972, which Macias described as probably just what Happy End fans expected; "tuneful folk-rock" and "fuzzed out country rock nuggets ala Neil Young." However, Macias noted that this is the last time Ohtaki would create music like this in his career. He produced the rock band Sugar Babe, and continued to produce its members Taeko Onuki and Tatsuro Yamashita after the group's break up. Their only album Songs was the first release on Ohtaki's record label Niagara Records in 1975. Ohtaki's second album, Niagara Moon, followed a month later.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.