Career
Tokunaga took part in the Japanese television program Star Tanjō! in 1982. The program produced many Japanese stars such as Momoe Yamaguchi, Pink Lady and Akina Nakamori. However, Akiko Matsumoto passed the test at that time, while Tokunaga and Minako Honda were rejected.
On January 21, 1986, Tokunaga debuted with the album Girl and the single "Rainy Blue". In 1987, his third studio album Birds reached the number-one position on the Japanese Oricon charts. In the early 1990s, he became well known in the Philippines when the song "Saigo no Iiwake" (from his 1989 album Realize) was covered in Tagalog as "Ikaw Pa Rin" by an unlikely singer, a non-Tagalog-speaking, fellow Japanese Ted Ito. However, his 1991 album Revolution had been his last number-one album until 2007.
Tokunaga began to release Vocalist album series, in which he covered many Japanese songs of female singers. On September 14, 2005, he released the album Vocalist, the first work of the series. The album included his cover versions of Miyuki Nakajima's 1975 song "Jidai" and Momoe Yamaguchi's 1977 song "Cosmos". The album was certified Million by RIAJ for shipment of 1,000,000 copies.
On August 30, 2006, Tokunaga released the album Vocalist 2. The album included his cover versions of Akina Nakamori's 1982 song "Second Love" and Mika Nakashima's 2003 song "Yuki no Hana". The album was certified Triple Platinum by RIAJ for shipment of 750,000 copies.
On August 15, 2007, Tokunaga released the album Vocalist 3. The album included his cover versions of Akiko Kobayashi's 1985 song "Koi ni Ochite (Fall in Love)" and Every Little Thing's 1998 song "Time Goes By". His cover version of Namie Amuro's 1997 song "Can You Celebrate?" was the final track of the album, but there was also a first press limited edition which included a bonus track, his cover version of Naomi Chiaki's 1972 song "Kassai". Vocalist 3 reached the number-one position on the Oricon weekly album charts, making it his first number-one album in 15 years 10 months. Vocalist 3 topped the Oricon weekly album charts for two weeks. The album was certified Million by RIAJ for shipment of 1,000,000 copies.
On November 1, 2007, Tokunaga also covered Noriko Awaya's "Farewell Blues" (別れのブルース, Wakare no Burūsu?) at the Tokyo International Forum as a part of Ryoichi Hattori's 100th Anniversary Concert.
On May 6, 2009, Tokunaga released his studio album We All. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly album charts. With the album, he became the first solo male artist who debuted in 1980s to have at least one studio album to top the Oricon weekly charts for three decades (1980s, 1990s and 2000s).
Tokunaga released the single "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" on March 31, 2010. It was his cover version of Teresa Teng's 1986 song and its B-sides were his cover versions of Seiko Matsuda's 1982 song "Akai Sweet Pea" and Juju's 2009 song "Yasashisa de Afureru yōni." Those songs were included by the album Vocalist 4, released on April 20, 2010. The album included his cover version of Hikaru Utada's 1999 song "First Love." Vocalist 4 debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly charts. Because of the album, he became the first male artist to have at least one album to top the Oricon weekly charts for four decades.
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