Se7en was fascinated by figures such as Michael Jackson as a young age since his father was a fan of Jackson and had one stage wanted to pursue a career as a singer. At the age of 5, se7en was following dance steps of Michael Jackson. He had always been a performer and from watching Seo Tai Ji & Boys, he became inspired and set goals to become a singer himself.
He auditioned for YG entertainment at the age of 13 and successfully became a yeon seub saeng – a practice student. For the first year or 2, he scrubbed the floors of the practice rooms and cleaned the place and it was not until later, he was finally given singing and dancing lessons. Everyday he would go to school, then straight after school, he would go to YG and stay til late. He would either sleep at YG and directly go to school or even if he went home, he would get home fairly late. He had some trouble juggling school and practice (he admits to always have slept in class) but he never gave up. Even when a promised debut was delayed, he never lost hope and persevered with his dream.
Finally at the age of 18, he debuted with his famous hit “Come back to me." He was an instant hit and soon became popular amongst young teenage fans for his live performing ability as well as his cute and loveable character. His 1st album “Just Listen” was named one of the top 10 selling albums of the year and “Come back to me” was No 1 on MBC’s music camp for 5 weeks straight, a great achievement for anyone, let alone a newcomer. He sailed through success in the following years, producing a number of No 1 songs and albums such as “Passion” (2nd album – Must Listen), “I know” (3rd album – 24/7) and “La la la” (4th album – Se7olution).
His image has changed over the years and he has evolved from a young boy to the mature man he now is. From 2005, He entered the Japanese music scene with his debut single “Hikari”, followed by singles which entered the top 10 oricon single chart – “Style” (2005), “Startline” (2005), “I wanna” (2006), “Aitai” (2007) and “Arinomama” (2007) , as well as the Japanese album “First Se7en” (2006).
He has also enjoyed success in other parts of Asia such as Hong Kong, Thailand, China and Taiwan and his popularity has increased even more with the release of his first Korean drama “Goong S” in Asia. Currently, he is preparing for his US debut for end of 2007/beginning of 2008 with famous American names such as Rich Harrison (producer), Fabolous (rapper) and Mark Shimmel.
Se7en is known among fans all over Asia, as a polite, caring and humourous person. He shows concern and consideration for his fans wherever he goes by leaving messages on his official site and recently, in utilizing Korean site ufotown, he is even replying fans’ messages one by one.
He is known to have a great sense of humour and always likes to make little jokes in his messages such as “You can have an affair but if I catch you, then you’re dead!” (part of message left on his official site 2007 before leaving for the US, expressing how he understands that his fans might be lonely while he was gone)
Credit: written by ceciliase7en @ http://soompi.com/fanclub/se7en/
