AWARD-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has died at the age of 71.
After battling multiple types of cancer for the past few years, Sakamoto passed away on Tuesday, according to his management team.
3
3
The composer is best known for writing the score to Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and The Last Emperor.
“We would like to share one of Sakamoto’s favorite quotes: ‘Ars longa, vita brevis.’ Art is long, life is short,” his management team said while announcing his death.
Sakamoto was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1952.
Growing up, he listened to classical musicians like Bach but also enjoyed music from The Beatles.
At six years old, Sakamoto began taking piano lessons and went on to write his own music.
He would later become influential in the rise of electronic pop.
In 1978, Sakamoto co-founded a band called the Yellow Magic Orchestra, in which he played the keyboard.
Read Related Also: ‘Fantastic’: Martin Keown hails what £50m star Arsenal seemingly want did vs Tottenham
Sakamoto wrote his first score and also acted in the 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.
He starred alongside music icon David Bowie.
Sakamoto won a Golden Globe, Oscar, and Grammy for his score in the 1987 film The Last Emperor, along with composers David Byrne and Cong Su.
The composer continued his passion after being diagnosed with throat cancer, which was publicly acknowledged in 2014.
More recently, Sakamoto wrote the score for The Revenant, a 2015 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Revenant director Alejandro González Iñárritu has curated an album of music from Sakamoto, which will be released on May 5.
In January 2021, Sakamoto announced that he had been diagnosed with rectal cancer.
“From now on, I will be living alongside cancer. But, I am hoping to make music for a little while longer,” he wrote on his website.
A funeral service was held with Sakamoto’s close family members, per the composer’s wishes, his management team said.
3
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’
fbq(‘init’, ‘752905198150451’);
fbq(‘track’, “PageView”);
