Ken'ichi Hagiwara

was a Japanese singer and actor.

Music career

Also known as Sho-Ken, he was the lead singer of The Tempters, which was a blues-rock band connected to the Group Sounds scene, and gained big hits in the late 1960s. Hagiwara was known for his good looks and wild vocals, which appealed to young male and female fans. After The Tempters, he formed the band PYG along with Kenji Sawada, the first true Japanese supergroup, a unit which included members of The Tigers, The Tempters, and The Spiders. He was in the Donjuan R&R Band with Hideki Ishima, formerly of The Flowers Travelln' Band.

Acting career

After being highly praised for his acting in the film The Rendezvous (1972), he appeared in many films and television shows, including many films directed by Tatsumi Kumashiro and such hit TV dramas as Taiyō ni hoero!, Kizudarake no tenshi, and Zenryaku ofukurosama. He was still popular as an actor in the early 2000s.

Death On 26 March 2019, Hagiwara died of a gastrointestinal stromal tumor at the age of 68 in a hospital in Tokyo. He had been fighting the disease since 2011, but declined to publicize the name of the illness.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1969 Za temputazu Kenichi Yamakawa (Shôken) 1971 Kigeki: Inochi no nedan 1972 The Rendezvous Burglar Niji wo watatte 1973 The Wanderers Mokutaro Kaseki no mori 1974 Seishun no satetsu Kenichiro Eto 1975 Two in the Amsterdam Rain Akira Sakuda Afurika no hikari Jun 1975 Yatsuhaka-mura Tatsuya Terada 1979 Sono go no jingi naki tatakai Customer 1980 Kagemusha Takeda Katsuyori 1981 Masho no natsu – 'Yotsuya kaidan' yori Iemon Tamiya 1982 To Trap a Kidnapper Kazuo Furuya Lead role 1983 Modori-gawa Gakuyo Sonoda 1985 Capone Cries a Lot Umiemon Lead role Seburi Monogatari Hajime Kinoshita Lead role Love Letter Shoichi Takehara Lead role 1986 Minami e Hashire, Umi no Michi o! Ryuji Gondo Rikon shinai onna Keiichi Iwatani 1987 Yogisha Masahiko Tamura The Man Who Assassinated Ryoma 1989 Gokudo no onna-tachi: San-daime ane Testuro Akamatsu 226 Shirō Nonaka 1990 Gekido no 1750 nichi 1991 Jutai Rinzo Fuji, Father 1992 The Triple Cross Kanzaki Lead role 1994 Ghost Pub Sotaro Lead role 1998 Joker Murakoshi 2001 Daburusu Key Desert Moon Keechie's boss 2009 Tajomaru Ashikaga Yoshimasa 2013 Natsuyasumi no chizu

Television Year Film Role Notes 1973 Taiyō ni Hoero! Jun "Macaroni" Hayami 6 episodes 1974 Katsu Kaishū Okada Izo Taiga drama 1999 Genroku Ryōran Tokugawa Tsunayoshi Taiga drama 2001 Fighting Girl Yūzō Yoshida 2002 Toshiie and Matsu Akechi Mitsuhide Taiga drama 2018 The Rootless Land Shigeru Yoshida 2019 Idaten Takahashi Korekiyo Taiga drama