Keiko Fuji, a former well-known enka singer and the mother of singer Hikaru Utada, fell to her death from a 13th-floor apartment in Tokyo on Thursday in what media are calling a suspected suicide.

According to police, Fuji, 62, wearing a T-shirt and short pants, was found lying on the grounds of her apartment building in Shinjuku Ward at around 7 a.m., NTV reported. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead. Police said Fuji lived in the apartment with a male friend in his 30s who was asleep at the time of the incident. Her slippers were found near the railing on the balcony, police said, adding that no suicide note was found.

Fuji made her singing debut in 1969. She won the "mass popularity award" at the Japan Record Award in 1970, and was known for such hits as "Keiko no Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" and "Onna no Blues." She retired from singing in 1979 and relocated to the United States where she lived for several years.

© Japan Today