Jerome White, Jr. – Jero for short – is a 26-year old African American originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Oh, and he’s also a popular enka singer in Japan. I’d write more, but TokyoMango puts it better:
…He’s a quarter Japanese, and he promised his now-deceased Japanese grandma that he would become a famous enka singer. In 2003, he moved to Tokyo and started entering singing contests. Soon enough, he got picked up by a record label and some really famous songwriters helped him kick off his career.
Here, he performs his debut single, Umiyuki, which broke the record for debut enka single on the famed Oricon charts this week with 3.5 million copies sold.
Viewing some other Jero videos, I love how he starts singing for this Japanese variety show and the hosts just go “WHAAAA?!” once they realize he’s singing enka, and then again once they realize he can speak fluent Japanese. (Also, what’s up with the dude in the speedo at the one-minute mark? Variety show, indeed.)
What next?
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9 Comments to “Jero, Just Your Typical African-American Enka Singer”
:: jozjozjoz :: wrote:
OMG!
My newest crush!
I love him!
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 4:31 pm | Permalink
jun wrote:
THAT… IS… F*CKIN… CRAZY…
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 7:04 pm | Permalink
Rich wrote:
that was amazing. i loved the scene in the beginning with the walk, pop and lock a bit, and so on. talk about fusion.
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 10:07 pm | Permalink
Xxxtine wrote:
*chant* JERO-SAN! JERO-SAN!
Posted on 29-Feb-08 at 11:43 am | Permalink
Goh wrote:
Mindblowing. I love it when stuff like this happens!
Posted on 02-Mar-08 at 1:09 am | Permalink
Jeanne wrote:
AWESOME;VERY IMPRESSIVE
Posted on 28-Mar-08 at 3:48 pm | Permalink
icecool wrote:
Jero’s got alot of class. I think he will be huge in a few years. Lets see if his second album has got the right stuff
http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/jero-japans-first-black-enka-singer-has-great-success/
Posted on 04-Nov-08 at 6:27 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » Jero on Kohaku 2008: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog wrote:
[...] is Jero, our favorite African-American Enka singer performing, with a guest appearance of his Mommy sitting in the audience, saying [...]
Posted on 31-Dec-08 at 10:12 pm | Permalink
8Asians.com » Asian-Americans Kids: Moving Back and Forth Between Asia: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog wrote:
[...] Jun) of the Wonder Girls spent time in San Jose. Sam Milby is successful in the Philippines. Jero went to Japan to start a career doing Enka. My nephew who does hip hop and electronic music and [...]
Posted on 01-Jan-09 at 6:42 pm | Permalink
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