Artist of the week - Lee Ki Chan

Aug 17, 2008

LeeKiChan

PROFILE
Date of birth : January 10th, 1979
Education : Seoul Arts College, Kyunghee University
Debut song : “Please” (January, 1997)
Physique : 173cm, 60kg
Nickname : The Little Prince
Hobbies : Watching movies, traveling, snow-boarding
Talents : Playing the piano & flute

BIOGRAPHY

Our featured artiste this week is Lee Ki Chan, one of the very few artistes in Korea who have released 10 or more studio albums. Lee Ki Chan made his debut as a singer when he was still a high school student. In 1996, Lee took part in a talent contest held during a radio show and won the grand prize. Since then, Lee has developed his career as a professional singer. Along with Lee Ji Hoon and Kim Soo Keun, Lee was among the most promising high-teen singers. At the time of Lee’s debut, the Korean pop music world was dominated by dance music, but Lee Ki Chan garnered attention with his soft ballads.

Having undergone musical training by Han Yong Jin, a renowned re-mix DJ, Lee Ki Chan released his first album entitled “Na Na Na Na Nineteen.” In only 3 months since the release of the album, 220,000 copies were sold. The song “Please” was the most popular among the tracks. In November of the same year, Lee released his second album entitled “Indelible Impression”. In the song “Glass”, Lee Ki-chan showed off his singing talent that sounded much more mature than his 19 years.

For his 3rd album, Lee Ki Chan took on the challenge of producing his own songs. As a result, the album reflected Lee’s own personality and characteristics. One of Lee’s greatest hit songs came later in his 5th album released in 2001. The song, “Another Love Goes Away”, was written by Park Jin Young (JYP). The appealing singing method of Lee that harmonized perfectly to the words and melody of the song touched the hearts of many listeners. Lee Ki Chan is a musician with a flexible mind and attitude who tries constantly to figure out what the listeners want in his music. Challenging various musical genres such as latin, rap and reggae, Lee Ki Chan was quite successful in relating to the listeners through his music. Lee’s hope is to become a person who makes and sings songs forever.

In 2007, Lee Ki Chan’s career reached new heights with the release of his 9th album. Collaborating with Korea’s top songwriter Cho Young Soo, the title song "A Beauty" reached No. 1 and was one of the year’s top ballad songs. Later that year, Lee released a digital single "Love Too…Separation Too…" which also gained a lot of attention.

Despite his young age, Lee has already released 10 albums to date and the last one was released on July 2008 before he entered military service on Aug 4. Fans will certainly miss him for the next 2 years.

DISCOGRAPHY

Na na na na Nineteen (1st album, 1997) : Major, Please, Cyber Love, Red Light, Want, Unblues

Indelible Impression (2nd album, 1997) : Glass, Please Be There, Magic, Nothing, Feels Like Autumn LeeKiChan2