Born in the United States as Hiromu Kitagawa,
he came to Japan after serving in the U.S. military in the
Korean War and worked at the U.S. Embassy before starting a
musical group called "Johnny's" and setting up a talent agency
called "Johnny & Associates" in 1962.
Over the years he honed a strategy of making sure the bands he
created, after holding open casting calls to recruit and then
train his musicians in singing and dancing, became cultural
icons through a combination of appearances on television variety
shows in addition to concerts and recording sales.
This pattern, which gave birth to groups such as SMAP, Arashi
and Kinki Kids, among many others, is also widely followed in
Korea's mammoth K-pop industry.
Kitagawa won three Guinness World Records for his phenomenal
production experience, including the most #1 singles and most
concerts produced by any one individual.
Even Japan's staid political world paid heed to his death.
"He raised many entertainment idols through the years in a huge
contribution to Japan's entertainment industry," Deputy Chief
Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami told a news conference on
Wednesday.
In 2002, the Tokyo District Court found in favor of Kitagawa in
a defamation suit against a weekly magazine that had alleged he
sexually harassed some of the young entertainers he recruited,
although the judgment was later partially overturned.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies and Kaori Kaneko; editing by Gopakumar
Warrier)
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