Masahiko Kondō (近藤 真彦, Kondō Masahiko?, born July 19, 1964 in Yokohama) is a Japanese singer, an actor and is a member of Johnny & Associates. He is also a semi-professional racer and a racing team owner. He is known as Matchy. It is from his name Masahiko in short. He is signed onto Sony Music Japan.
He founded a racing team Kondo Racing in 2000, and now he is the owner and the racing director of the team that competes in Formula Nippon and the Super GT.
Biography
Kondō became a popular singer when he was 15. His first single set records for sales for a debut single by a male solo artist. The song debuted at number one. He won the top Japanese singer award Japan Record Award when he was only 23.
When Kondō first obtained his driving license, he was already famous. Because of his popularity, he could not drive on public roads. His manager took him to a racing track and he practiced his driving skills there. Kondō had always had an interest in cars from an early age. Driving on the race track gave him the desire to drive race cars. So he practiced and was accepted into a racing team when he was 19. He went on to have a moderately successful career on Japan's race circuit.
His latest big hit was "Midnight Shuffle," released in 1996. He appeared on Kōhaku Uta Gassen. To appear on this program is a big honor for a singer. From 1998, he went full-time into his racing career. He rarely appeared on TV and did not put out any new songs. He occasionally appeared on TV but as a racer or racing commentator.
In 2001 he released a song, but it was his self cover. He appeared only on a few music programs. In 2005, he decided to come back for the 25th anniversary of his debut. He released a song named “Chosensya”, which means challenger. He appeared in many TV programs, held dinner shows and went on a limited concert tour. He joined many of his successors like SMAP, Kinki Kids, V6, and Arashi on their TV shows.
Since then, Kondō has appeared on TV regularly, except during racing seasons. He collaborated with QUESTION?, forming the group "MATCHY with QUESTION?" and sang the ending theme of Naruto: Shippuden in 2008.
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