Saeko Kamata (Japanese: 鎌田 小恵子, Hepburn: Kamata Saeko; 17 February 1952 – 11 November 2016), commonly known as Lily (りりィ, Riri), was a Japanese singer-songwriter and actress.
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Life
Born in Tenjin, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. She grew up in Tojinmachi and her family moved to Tokyo when she was in the third grade. Her mother ran a bar called Hisui (翡翠) in Nakasu, Fukuoka and her father was an officer in the US Air Force. Her father was reportedly killed in the Korean War before Lily was born.
At the age of 10, she moved to Tokyo with her family. She belonged to Toei's children's theater company for a year and a half. In 1966, while she was enrolled in Toei, she played a small role in "Yoko, the delinquent girl" (非行少女ヨーコ) starring Mako Midori. She didn't attend high school and after her mother died when she was 17, she played piano and sang at bars to make ends meet. She said that her stage name, "Lily", was based on the nickname her peers gave her when she was hanging out. The first two characters in りりィ are hiragana, while the last character is in katakana. Normally names would only use one type of kana.
In 1971, she participated in Itsuroh Shimoda's album "I'll have to disappear without anyone knowing" (遺言歌 誰にも知られずに消えるしかないさ). She is in charge of the lead vocal of the song "Hitori Hitori" (ひとりひとり) under the name of Lenia (レーニア). The name is taken from the British folk singer Donovan's song "Lalena".
