Ryuichi Sakamoto, the revered Oscar-winning composer who contributed to the scores of more than 100 productions, has died aged 71.
The Japanese musician had suffered from cancer in recent years and passed on Tuesday, March 28, the recording company Avex said in a statement.
His death is a big loss to cinema in Japan and beyond, and he will be remembered for a remarkable and eclectic career.
Who was Ryuichi Sakamoto?
Born in Tokyo on January 17, 1952, Sakamoto was part of a family of editors and businessmen.
In the late 1970s, he performed in the electronic band Yellow Magic Orchestra alongside Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi. The group released eight studio albums and are credited by many as an influence for their pioneering work in electronic music.
Sakamoto started working on film scores in the 1980s as well as producing his own studio recordings, the twelfth and final solo studio album entitled 12 - which came out on January 17.
He was also an activist against nuclear power, a campaign which came to the fore in Japan in the early 2010s after the Fukushima plant disaster.
From the early 1990s, he lived primarily in New York but moved back to Japan during the pandemic and died in his native country.
Sakamoto was married three times. His daughter Miu Sakamoto is an actress who has starred in productions including the anime classic Ghost in the Shell 2.
Which film scores has Ryuichi Sakamoto composed?
Sakamoto kicked off his career in cinema as a composer and actor in the 1983 film Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, which also starred David Bowie.
This led to a successful second part of his career, and he went on to develop in this realm throughout the 1980s. His awards success culminated in his score for The Last Emperor in 1987, which won him the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Other scores he produced include:
- The Handmaid’s Tale (1990)
- The Barcelona Olympics opening ceremony (1992)
- Wuthering Heights (1992)
- Wild Side (1995)
- Snake Eyes (1998)
- Femme Fatale (2002)
- The Revenant (2015)
- Proxima (2019)
- Beckett (2021)
