Koji Tamaki

Okay, let me just say it: Koji Tamaki has one of those voices that feels almost unfair. The guy can sing a line completely plainly and somehow your throat tightens and your eyes start stinging before you even know why. With Anzen Chitai he leaned into this smoldering, grown-up romance on ballads like "Wine-red no Kokoro," and then solo he flips to "Den'en" and just bellows at the sky like his whole heart is leaving his body. Wild range, but you'd recognize that voice in one note. Add that he came up out of Inoue Yosui's backing band, a kid from Asahikawa in Hokkaido, and it's pure self-made legend. Plenty of people sing well; almost nobody melts you like this. I genuinely feel lucky we share an era.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Koji Tamaki was born on September 13, 1958, in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan. He co-founded the rock band Anzen Chitai in 1973 and made their major-label debut in 1982, going on to produce million-selling hits such as "Wine Red no Kokoro" and "Kanashimi ni Sayonara." He launched a solo career in 1987 and expanded his reputation as a composer, winning the Japan Record Award in 1993 for a song he wrote for Kaori Kozai, as well as achieving another million-selling solo single with "Denen" in 1996.

Name (English)

Koji Tamaki

Name (Japanese)

玉置浩二

Reading

たまきこうじ

Born

September 13, 1958 (age 68)

Origin

Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

Height

177 cm

Occupation

Singer / Singer-songwriter / Actor / Composer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Dog

Blood type

A

Agency

SALTMODERATE (independent label and agency)

Agency history

Kitty Records (Anzen Chitai debut era)

Active years

1973–present

Junior high

Asahikawa Municipal Kamikawa Junior High School

High school

Hokkaido Asahikawa Agricultural High School (dropped out)

University

Did not attend

Debut

February 1982, major debut with Anzen Chitai via the single "Moegi-iro no Snap." Solo debut in July 1987 with the single "All I Do."

Awards & achievements

• 1993 Japan Record Award — Grand Prize (as composer of Kaori Kozai's "Mugonzaka")
• 2024 NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen Special Feature Appearance

Timeline

1. 1973Founded Anzen Chitai with junior-high classmates in Asahikawa, Hokkaido
2. 1982Made major-label debut with Anzen Chitai via the single "Moegi-iro no Snap"
3. 1984"Wine Red no Kokoro" reached No. 1 on Oricon with over 700,000 copies sold
4. 1985"Kanashimi ni Sayonara" reached No. 1 on the Oricon singles chart
5. 1987Solo debut with the single "All I Do"
6. 1993Won the Japan Record Award Grand Prize as composer of Kaori Kozai's "Mugonzaka"
7. 1996Solo single "Denen" reached No. 2 on Oricon and sold over one million copies; starred in and composed music for the film Romance
8. 2003Anzen Chitai resumed full-scale activities
9. 2010Married television personality Noriko Aota
10. 2012Founded independent label and agency SALTMODERATE

Spouse

Noriko Aota (remarried 2010, current wife)

Siblings

Elder brother Kazuyoshi Tamaki (former drummer of Anzen Chitai)

Hobbies

• Guitar
• Piano
• Baseball (was a pitcher and cleanup batter in junior high)

Specialties

• Vocals
• Composition
• Guitar
• Piano

Works summary

Appearances

165 (1985–2025)

By year (titles with a known year)

1985: 1, 1986: 1, 1987: 3, 1988: 3, 1989: 6, 1990: 1, 1992: 7, 1993: 10, 1994: 6, 1995: 5, 1996: 8, 1997: 12, 1998: 6, 1999: 7, 2000: 2, 2001: 2, 2003: 4, 2004: 2, 2005: 7, 2006: 5, 2007: 1, 2008: 2, 2011: 2, 2012: 2, 2013: 5, 2014: 8, 2015: 4, 2017: 1, 2018: 1, 2020: 2, 2021: 2, 2022: 4, 2023: 1, 2024: 2, 2025: 2, year unknown: 28

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://saltmoderate.com/
• YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdc6yGNDvXynwA0pfCuxRzg
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8E%89%E7%BD%AE%E6%B5%A9%E4%BA%8C
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1041749

Tags

• From Hokkaido
• Asahikawa
• Anzen Chitai
• SALTMODERATE
• Singer-songwriter
• Denen
• Wine Red no Kokoro
• Japan Record Award

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.