| Asami Kobayashi | |
| Native Name: | 小林麻美 |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Birth Place: | Kōriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan |
| Other Names: | Toshiko Tanabe |
Asami Kobayashi (; born 29 November 1953), which is the stage name for Toshiko Tanabe, is a Japanese singer, actress and model.
Born in Kōriyama, Kobayashi started her career as an idol while still at high school;[1] she made her record debut in 1972 with "Hatsukoi no merodī" (初恋のメロディー; "Melody of First Love"),[2] [3] which reached the 18th position on the Oricon Singles Chart.[4] She eventually had her breakout in the late 1970s as a model and an actress for commercials of major brands such as Shiseido and Parco.
Kobayashi's major hit was the 1984 song "Amaoto wa Chopin no Shirabe" (雨音はショパンの調べ; "The Sound of Rain is Chopin's Music"), a cover of Gazebo's "I Like Chopin" with Japanese lyrics by Yumi Matsutoya; the song peaked at the top of the Oricon Singles Chart for three weeks.[5] She also worked as an actress in TV dramas and films.[6] In 1991, she married and retired from show business to focus on her family.[7]
Kobayashi made her official comeback in 2016, posing on the cover of the magazine Kunel. In 2020, she was the subject of a biography, Kobayashi Asami ― dai ni-maku (小林麻美―第二幕; "Kobayashi Mami ― The Second Act"), written by Hiroshi Nobue.
| Title | Release Date | ||
| 1 | Debut single | 1972-08-05 | |
| 2 | 1972-12-20 | ||
| 3 | 1973-04-20 | ||
| 4 | 1974-10-05 | ||
| 5 | 1975-02-20 | ||
| 6 | 1975-07-05 | ||
| 7 | 1976-02-20 | ||
| 8 | Biggest hit | 1984-04-21 | |
| 9 | 1984-11-21 | ||
| 10 | 1985-05-22 | ||
| 11 | 1987-03-05 | ||
| 12 | 1987-06-21 |