Yūzō Kayama is a Japanese popular musician and film star, born on 11 April 1937. His father, Ken Uehara, was a film star during the 1930s. Yuzo Kayama became a star in the 1960s in the Wakadaishō (Young Guy) film series. He showed his ability for drama when Akira Kurosawa cast him for his 1965 film, Red Beard (൤rR Akahige), starring Toshirō Mifune. Kayama reported that he found the two years spent making this film the most difficult, but proudest work of his life. As a guitarist, he took inspiration from the American instrumental group The Ventures, and performed a form of psychedelic surf music in the 1960s with his Mosrite guitar. One of his best-known instrumentals is "Black Sand Beach". "Kimi to Itsumademo" ("Love Forever"), another of his compositions, sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc in 1965. At that point it was the biggest selling disc in the Japanese recording industry's history.

• kayamayuzo.com
• en.wikipedia.org
• imdb.com
• jpopasia.com