On the 1st, the day news of the death of singer Mari Sono (age 80), who died at 5:43 a.m. on July 26th at a hospital in Tokyo due to acute heart failure, was announced, singer Shizue Abe (72) responded to a telephone interview with Sankei Sports.

He said he had been informed in advance of the death of his senior colleague, with whom he had meals and karaoke after concerts and dinner shows, and commented, “He had a unique aura.He was a wonderful senior, so I will miss him.”

When he was in high school, he heard Sono sing and said, “I thought my voice was similar to hers, so I recorded her songs on a tape recorder and listened to them all the time. She was someone who was close yet far away, far away yet close. I felt a sense of closeness to her.”

Abe then touched on the Fuji TV drama “Konikura Jiisan,” starring the comedian Beat Takeshi (77), and reminisced, “Sono-san made a guest appearance in the drama, and although he was unsure about the role of a crying man in the fruit and vegetable section of a supermarket, he was perfect for it.”