Yûsuke Natsu

Yûsuke Natsu (夏夕介, Natsu Yûsuke, October 30, 1950; Arao, Kumamoto - January 27, 2010, Tokyo, Japan), also known as Yuki Taura (田浦 幸, Taura Yuki) (his former stage name), was a Japanese keyboardist and actor. His real name was Hisayuki Taura (田浦 久幸, Taura Hisayuki) and his nickname was Yuki (ユキ).

Music and acting careers

Natsu was in charge of the organ in the Osaka band "Grump Leeds". After graduating from high school in the spring of 1969, he moved to Tokyo after his professional debut with Akiko Wada, who was a vocalist for Grumpleys. Yuki Taura was added to the popular group sounds band "Ox" at the time, taking over Ai Akamatsu, who left the group in May of the same year after being bought by HoriPro, the agency of Wada.” In 1970, he changed his stage name to "Yusuke Natsu" while enrolled in "Ox" and made his debut as a solo singer with "Tears Burning". At the same time, he entered the acting business and made his first movie debut with "Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo". In 1971, the Ox was disbanded at the end of May. While appearing in the TV dramas like "How About A Beautiful Woman?", Natsu became a trainee of the theater company NLT.

Appearing on films and TV shows

In 1972, he was selected to play the leading role of Junichiro Iwaki in the unique stage show-style hero program called "Assault! Human!!" (produced by Nippon TV), which was broadcast from October to December. In 1974, in "Love Love Rivals" (TBS series), while performing a comical performance, he turned aside and performed a comical performance, while in Ai to Makoto" (Tokyo 12 channel-current TV), a drama adaptation of the popular comic based on Ikki Kajiwara . As the leading role of Makoto Taiga, he played the opposite role of Kimiko Ikegami, who made her first acting debut, and became a popular actress. In 1976, he starred in the movie "Ai no Nagisa" (directed by Junzen Nemoto, produced by Toho) for the first time. In the same year, he played the role of a protagonist again in "Space Ironmen Kyodain" as Joji Hayama / Skyzel, along side with Takeshi Sasaki (who previously portrayed Hayato Ichimonji in Kamen Rider (Mainichi Broadcasting System-TBS series).

Latter career

After appearing in dramas such as "Red Bond" (TBS) and "People Call It Scandal" (TBS), Natsu has appeared in crime action television drama "Tokusou saizensen" (TV Asahi) as a detective Shunichi Kano since 1980. Regular appearance for 7 years until 1987. After that, he developed a Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. Although he disappeared from the front stage for a while due to symptoms such as facial nerve paralysis, Natsu overcame this and played an active role as an actor representative of "Gekidan Theater Japan". He died at a hospital in Tokyo on January 27, 2010 due to stomach cancer at the age of 59.