Yū Aku

Yū Aku (阿久 悠), (occasionally credited to You Aku, February 7, 1937 – August 1, 2007), was a Japanese lyricist, poet, novelist.

He was famous for thousands of his lyrics he contributed to many recording artists since 1967. Mainly during the 1970s, more than 20 of them reached the number-one on the Japanese Oricon chart, and 7 singles sold more than a million copies. Over a half thousand of his compositions released as a single have entered the Japanese record chart, and they sold in excess of 68 million copies from 1968 to 2007, making him the most commercially successful Japanese lyricist which was followed by Takashi Matsumoto and Tetsuya Komuro.

Throughout his 40-year career as a lyricist, Aku won the Japan Record Award for five times. He was also acclaimed as a novelist, producing several award-winning works. In 1999, Aku received the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Government of Japan, in honor of his long-term contributions for the country's entertainment.