Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese composer who won an Academy Award for scoring the 1987 film “The Last Emperor,” died on Tuesday. He was 71.
Sakamoto’s death date was announced on his Instagram page, but further details were not provided. Sakamoto said in January 2021 that he was undergoing treatment for rectal cancer, The New York Times reported.
Sakamoto was a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, which composed the score for “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,” according to Variety. He also co-starred with David Bowie in the 1983 film, the entertainment news outlet reported. He also scored music for “The Sheltering Sky” and “The Revenant,” according to the Times.
Sakamoto’s film score “The Last Emperor” earned him an Oscar, a Grammy Award and a Golden Globe, according to the BBC. He also played a role in the film, which was an epic about the life of Puyi, the last emperor of China, the news organization reported.
The composer’s Yellow Magic Orchestra swept the charts during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Times reported. That included catchy hits on synthesizers like “Computer Game,” according to the newspaper. He co-founded the group with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, The Associated Press reported.
In a statement, Sakamoto’s management company said that the composer “lived with music until the very end.”
“We would like to express our deepest gratitude to his fans and all those who have supported his activities, as well as the medical professionals in Japan and the U.S. who did everything in their power to cure him.”
— commmons (@commmons) April 2, 2023
In a 2018 interview, Sakamoto said he tried to challenge the conventions of Western music in his composing, the BBC reported.
“When I write scores my thinking is limited in the forms of Western composition which I learned when I was a teen,” he said. “But I always wanted to break it, break the wall, or limits I am trapped inside. Sometimes using electronics or blending with electronic sound can help to break this wall.”
Sakamoto also composed scores for films like “Femme Fatale,” “Snake Eyes,” “High Heels,” “The Little Buddha,” and “Wild Palms,” according to Variety.
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