Mickie Yoshino

Early years and The Golden Cups

Yoshino's musical career began when he was a junior in high school, playing in night clubs and the U.S. military base in Yokohama, Japan. In 1967, at the age of 16, he became a member of The Golden Cups, a pioneering Japanese blues band that released several popular hits.^[1] After leaving the band in 1971,^[2] he studied music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.^[3] While there, he studied piano with Charlie Banacos, Dean Earl, Ray Santisi, and Edward C.Bedner. He also performed arrangements with Gary Burton and Phil Wilson. Yoshino formed the group Flesh & Blood (a.k.a. "Dutch Baker") and played in the Boston rock scene at the same time as Aerosmith and Boston.^[4][5]

Godiego

After graduating from Berklee, Yoshino returned to Japan to form the group Godiego (pronounced Go-Dai-Go).

Godiego appeared frequently on the hit charts from 1978 through the mid-1980s^[6] and is credited with influencing the Japanese pop scene.

In the United Kingdom, Godiego became known for the theme song of the BBC TV series The Water Margin. The song reached number 16 on the UK singles chart.^[7] Satril Records released the album The Water Margin in the UK and Europe.^[8][9] Godiego's biggest hits in Japan came from a TV series called Monkey, which also aired on the BBC. This series became a "cult Japanese TV series"^{[citation needed]} with videos and DVDs sold not only in the UK but in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries. "Gandhara" and "Monkey Magic" were the most well-known songs from the TV series. Godiego also attracted international attention when they wrote and released "Beautiful Name", the theme song for Unicef's International Year of the Child.

Yoshino also wrote and played for soundtracks such as the film House. Francis Ford Coppola intended to select Japanese composer Isao Tomita for his movie Apocalypse Now, but this was prevented due to a label contracts issue,^[10][11] and Tomita^[12] had been planning to let Godiego record the rock part of the soundtrack.^[13]

Yoshino was also very involved with Roland Corp. in the development of synthesizers and digital stage pianos in the 1970s and 1980s.^[14] Godiego was one of the first rock bands to use a guitar synthesizer for both recordings and live performances.^[15]

In 1980, Godiego was the first rock group to perform in China.^[16][17][18] They also performed for 60,000 people in Kathmandu, Nepal,^[19] and performed in Australia^[20] and the United States.^[21] Around 1985, Godiego broke up. In 1999/2000, they reunited for a 17-concert nationwide tour.

1980s–1990s

In the late 1980s, Yoshino helped to establish the PAN School of Music in Tokyo and Yokohama. He also released his own albums American Road and Longway from Home, and worked with many musicians including Paul Jackson,^[22] Jennifer Batten,^[23] Peter Green and Ray Parker Jr.,^[24] Kenichi Hagiwara,^[25] and Shuichi Hidano.

EnTRANS and jazz/fusion activities

Yoshino has participated in diverse musical activities since the 1960s. He joined the Time is Now jazz and rock crossover concert^[26] with the Terumasa Hino Quintet, Hiroshi Kamayatsu, and Takayuki Inoue in 1969. With Godiego, Yukihide Takekawa and he composed "Suite: Peace" inspired by the theme of Edward Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance No.1 in 1977, and "In You Kanjincho" based upon Nagauta, Japanese traditional music, and Kanjincho. Yoshino arranged a rock tune with horns and traditional Japanese musical instruments such as the shamisen, shakuhachi, biwa and tsuzumi in 1981.

He formed a crossover musical group called EnTRANS with Takayuki Inoue, Yoshihiro Naruse (Casiopea 3rd), Nobuo Yagi (blues harp) and Shuichi Hidano (Taiko drums). Inonu retired in 2009, but the band continues to perform. Since the 2000s, Yoshino has frequently played with the jazz musicians Kenji Hino and Masa Kohama.

The Golden Cups reunion

In the early 2000s, Yoshino participated in the reunion of the Golden Cups and a documentary film, The Golden Cups One More Time,^[27] which was produced by Altamira Pictures. The movie showed the band's influence on many Japanese rock players,^[28] such as Kiyoshiro Imawano, Akiko Yano, Takayuki Inoue, and Ken Yokoyama.

Go-Die-Go's Endless Journey

Yoshino reformed Godiego in 2006 with the popular members Yukihide Takekawa, Takami Asano, Steve Fox, and Tommy Snyder. They had a three-year series of concerts for Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, 2007–2009. In 2014, Yoji Yoshizawa joined the band, and they continue to tour, releasing CDs and DVDs.

The Golden Cups

Godiego

See Godiego Discography

Tigers Memorial Club Band

EnTRANS

Solo, session and small unit