Artist of the week - Kim Bum Soo

Oct 26, 2008

PROFILE

Date of Birth: 1979/01/26
Debut: Promise (1999)
Education: Soongsil University, Seoul Art College
Physique: 173cm, 60kg
Hobbies: Soccer, Sauna
Debut: 1999

BIOGRAPHY

For artiste of the week this week, we have Kim Bum Soo. A sentimental balladeer, he is known as The Faceless Singer because he didn’t appear at all to promote his albums during his early times. This is because he want to share his music with fans and he also thinks he isn’t attractive enough to appear in music show.

The first time he actually attracted people’s attention was in a famous MBC drama, “Watch And Watch Again”, when a sad and calm song played in the background; the song was Kim’s “Promise”. Having made a successful debut through the TV drama, Kim Bum-Soo released his first album “A Promise” in 1999. The album has melodramatic ballads, like the title song “Promise”, that has all the ingredients for the Korean listeners to love: a soft voice, sad but lovely melody, sympathetic lyrics, and a great singer.

The next year, Kim Bum-Soo released his second album ‘Remember’, with six remade songs from the first album and seven new songs. One of the songs that triggered many people’s interest was “Like Rain, Like Music”, which used the latest technology to create a duet with Kim Hyun-Shik, who has already passed away.

Since then, Kim Bum-Soo has produced and revised massive amounts of songs, releasing an album a year: 2.5th album ‘New Song & Special (2001),’ 3rd album ‘I want to see you (2002),’ and his 3.5th album ‘Friends (2003).’ And in May 2004, Kim Bum-Soo came back with his fourth album ‘The 4th Episode’. He also was in the Billboard 200 chart in 2001 because he released a single in the US for ‘Hello Goodbye Hello’. That is the English version for Haru (A Day).

Soon after, his song ‘Bo Go Ship Da’ from his 3rd album become the main soundtrack for the drama Stairway to Heaven. He became more popular and started to do more promotions. He also appeared more on TV but not regularly. In 2006, he was called for military service just days before his 5th album was due to be released. So there were no album promotions at all for his 5th album.

After doing military service for 2 years, he is now back in the limelight on 2008. His first project was a digital single, ‘Cry with Us’, a charity project for the children of North Korea. He’s also been featured in Dynamic Duo’s single ‘Good Love’, and it received positive response from netizens.

He released his 6th album in August 2008. It is an album filled with various sounds that range from ballad and electronic to country and hip-hop. The principle track ‘Seul peum hwal yong bop’ ("The Practical Usage of Sadness" – Track 2) paints the daily struggle of a lovelorn man who tries everything in his power to move on from his bygone love but finds himself trapped in deep sadness. Producer Hwang Chan Hee, most famous for Kim Jong Kook’s hit ‘Han namja’ ("One Man"), took charge of the album’s entire production, bringing his soulful and rhythmic touch into each cut.

As usual he featured a few artistes in the album, but for this time female rookie singers being featured are Younha and Yoobin of Wonder Girls. Joosuc also rapped for one track. Kim has also recently finished a concert in Seoul.

DISCOGRAPHY
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* A Promise (1999, Kim Bum-Soo 1st album): Promise
KimBumSoo2 PURCHASE THE ALBUM
* Remember (2000, 2nd album): a day; Maybe; Stars falling
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* New Song & Special (2001, 2.5th album): during the lifetime/ tears
KimBumSoo3 PURCHASE THE ALBUM
* I want to see you (2002, 3rd album): I want to see you
Friends
* Friends (2003, 3.5th album): You are Leaving me
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* The 4th Episode (2004, 4th album): Sun setting in the Heart

WithoutYou

* Without You (2005, digital single)

Again

* Again (2005, Remake album)
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* Live Concert Album (2005)
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* Remember Kim Bum Soo 5th & So Long… (2006, 5th album)
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* Kim Bum Soo Vol. 6 (2008, 6th album): Intro, Sad Inflection, Smile Again, Tug-of-war, Love, Interlude, Callus, Do You Know That?, Easy Breakup, Until the End, Without Your Love, Dear, Light, With Grace, Sad Inflection (Inst)