Kyu Sakamoto

Kyu Sakamoto ,December 1941 August 1985 was a Japanese singer and actor, best known outside Japan for his international hit song Ue o Muite Aruk , which was sung in Japanese and sold overmillion copies. It reached number one in the United States Billboard Hot 100 in June 1963, making Sakamoto the first Asian recording artist to have a number one song on the chart. Sakamoto died on August 12, 1985, in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123, the deadliest singleaircraft accident in history.

Kyu Sakamoto was born in 1941, in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture to Hiroshi Sakamoto, a cargo tender officer, and his wife Iku Oshima. He was the youngest of his fathers nine children, which is why he was nicknamed Kychan , meaning nine. It is also an alternate reading of the kanji of his given name Hisashi .

Source: Wikipedia