is a Japanese lyricist and former musician. After several years playing the drums in the rock bands Apryl Fool and Happy End during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Matsumoto decided to focus on writing lyrics for others in 1974. As of 2015, he had written over 2,100 songs, 130 of which entered the top 10 on the Oricon chart. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 49.8 million copies, making him the third best-selling lyricist in Japan. In 2017, he was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government for his work in music. Life and career In elementary school, Matsumoto listened to Igor Stravinsky and read poetry by Jean Cocteau. However, he bought a drum kit and became obsessed with rock music because of the Beatles. Matsumoto is a Keio University graduate. Matsumoto's first band was , which covered songs like Them's "Gloria and Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'". In 1968 he joined the psychedelic rock band Apryl Fool, going by the alias Rei Matsumoto, after being invited to join by Haruomi Hosono. However, they announced their break up on the release day of their only album. In 1969, he and Hosono then formed the pioneering rock band Happy End, for which he wrote most of the lyrics. After releasing two studio albums, Happy End (1970) and Kazemachi Roman (1971), they officially disbanded on New Year's Eve 1972, before the 1973 release of their third album. Upon declaring himself a lyricist, Matsumoto told a friend that he wanted to write a "commercial" song, meaning a TV advertisement. But the friend mistakenly thought by "commercial" he meant "popular" and got him a job writing for Agnes Chan, a pop idol. Matsumoto made his debut as a lyricist in 1974 with "Pocket Ippai no Himitsu" by Chan. Matsumoto said that while in Happy End he focused on the quality of the music over its potential popularity, but upon becoming a lyricist, he vowed to focus on both quality and sales. He was most prolific in the late 1970s and 1980s, offering lyrics to many idol singers such Seiko Matsuda (including 17 of her 24 consecutive 1 singles), Kyōko Koizumi, Miho Nakayama, Masahiko Kondo and Hiroko Yakushimaru as well as musical artists such as Yellow Magic Orchestra. The songs "Garasu no Shounen", "Hakka Candy" and "Boku no Senaka ni wa Hane ga Aru" by KinKi