Kazuo Zaitsu in Osaka

Kazuo Zaitsu is a Japanese singer-songwriter, born in Fukuoka in 1948, and the leader and principal songwriter of the pop band Tulip. His best-known compositions include “Kokoro no Tabi,” “Seishun no Kage” and “Saboten no Hana,” while “Wake Up” became a signature song of his solo career. Tulip reunited in 1997, returning Kazuo Zaitsu to concert touring with the group after its earlier dissolution. He withdrew from the band’s 45th-anniversary tour in 2017 while undergoing cancer treatment, then resumed performing and later led Tulip’s 50th-anniversary tour.