Artist of the week - Lee Seung Chul

Our featured artist this week is veteran male singer Lee Seung Chul. He’s been in the music industry for more than 20 years. He started his career with the rock ballad group Boo Hwal, and Lee has also released many solo albums. Younger generation k-pop fans may not remember Boo Hwal and Lee Seung Chul too much. But in late 2002, Boo Hwal had a big comeback hit "Never Ending Story" (one of my very favorite songs) that helped Lee Seung Chul to relaunch his career successfully. Two years later in 2004, Lee Seung Chul followed up with his 7th album "The Livelong Day", which became the 2nd best seller of that year with more than 350,000 copies sold. Lee was also named "top 10 singers" in almost all year end awards. In 2005, Lee Seung Chul released a "20th anniversary album" with many of his greatest hits. Recently, he participated in a project single album "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" with the hit song "떠나지마" (Don’t Leave). Let’s find out more about him:

PROFILE
Place of birth : Seoul, Korea
Physique : 170cm, 65kg
Blood type : A
Religion : Buddhism
Hobby : Fishing
Favorite food : Sashimi

BIOGRAPHY
Lee Seung-chul, dubbed “The Emperor of Live Music,” made his debut in the pop music world in 1985 as the leading vocalist of the band “Boohwal.” However, Boohwal disbanded in October 1988 and since then Lee Seung-cheol has been performing as a solo singer. His solo debut numbers “Don’t Say Good-bye” and “On a Sleepless Night” recorded great hits especially among female teens. Through the series of concerts he held in time with releasing his first solo album, Lee gained his nickname “The Emperor of Live Music.” While enjoying his heydays, Lee, however, was arrested for taking drugs and had to stop his career as a musician for a while. He made a comeback in 1990 with the album “Part 2.” The song “The Last Concert” included in the album was a great hit and gave Lee an opportunity to successfully continue his career as a singer. In the same year, Lee released his second official solo album and the song “I Loved My Friend’s Love” recorded a great hit. However, the drugs problem still lingered on the shadows of Lee and he had to have another hiatus in his career as he was once again arrested for taking drugs. However, Lee didn’t give up his passion for music and came back on stages thorough a series of national tour concerts in 1991. The next year, Lee published a book of journals entitled “The Portrait of Muse.” In 1995, Lee held a memorable concert with the U.S.-based a cappella band “The New York Boys” capturing the hearts of many pop music lovers with sophisticated sounds and melodies. In June, 1995, Lee surprised the public by marrying Kang Moon-young, an actress. However the couple got divorced in March, 1997. With a more mature image since his divorce, Lee has continued active performances in the local pop music scene by releasing albums steadily. Lee also participated in various OSTs for local films and has been holding live concerts in which he can show the best of himself to the fans of his music.

In 2002, Lee regrouped with his former group ‘Boowhal’ after a rather long 15years of separation and produced the hit ‘Never ending story’ which seemed appropriate regarding the relationship between himself and ‘Boowhal’. This enabled Lee and ‘Boowhal’ to stand center stage once again with nearly 400,000 copies of album sales and a sold-out national tour but the trip was to be short lived which left Lee and ‘Boowhal’ to go on to their separate ways. However, this didn’t slow Lee down at all. Determined as ever, Lee Seung-Chul continued to put out album after album, even a cooking-book of his favorite recipes. Furthermore, he celebrated his 20th anniversary since his debut in 2005 with a successful nation-wide tour and a Christmas concert which closed a very busy year for the singer.

DISCOGRAPHY
Rock Will Never Die (1st album of Boohwal, 1985 : Heeya, The Story of Me and the Rain, I Only Have You
Recollection (2nd album of Boohwal, 1987) : Recollection, Recollection III, February 7th
Lee Seung-cheol Part 1 (1st album, 1989) : Don’t Say Good-bye, On a Sleepless Night,IWant to Fall in Love
Lee Seung-cheol Part 2 (1st album, 1990) : Last Concert, The Girls’ Era
The Evening Glow and I (2nd album, 1990) : To Me, The Evening Glow and I, I Loved MyFriend’s Love
Wandering (3rd album, 1992) : Wandering, A Black Cat, You Are Another Me
The Secret of Color (4th album, 1994) : The Secret in Colors, A Small Peace, Illusion
The Bridge of Sonic Heaven (5th album, 1996) : Today Once Again, Sorrow, Now I Will
Deep Blue (5.5th album, 1998) : The Reason I Let You Go, On a Beautiful Day, Serendipity
1999 (6th album, 1999) : I Have Only You, The Weight of Separation, Turn Away

Confession (6.5th album, 2001) : We Eternally, You Drip, Confession
Forever Love: Best of Best (2003): Various hits

The Livelong Day (7th album, 2004) : The Livelong Day

A Walk To Remember (20-year commemorative album, 2005) : Count to Ten, Because of the Memories, A Clear Afternoon

Live best album (Live 2005. 10) : Various hits.

20th Anniversary ‘Live in 2005’ (Live 2005.11.3): Various hits including ‘Last concert’, ‘Never ending story’.

Chungyeon ‘Blue Swallow’ (O.S.T. 2005.12) : ‘Jasmine flower’, ‘Too young to die’.

Lee Seung Chul RUI: The Best Greatest Hits (2006): Various Hits

Somewhere Over The rainbow (Project Single Album, 2006): Don’t Leave

Credits: KBS World, Bugsmusic