Artist of the week - Lee Seung Chul

Feb 01, 2009

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

BIOGRAPHY
For this week, we have Lee Seung-cheol, dubbed “The Emperor of Live Music”. His 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 has been performing as a solo singer. His solo debut numbers “Don’t Say Good-bye” and “On a Sleepless Night” were great hits, especially among female teens. Through the series of concerts he held to coincide with the release of his first solo album, Lee gained his nickname “The Emperor of Live Music”. However, Lee was arrested for taking drugs and had to stop his career as a musician for a while.

Lee 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” proved to be a great hit. However, the drugs problem still lingered in the shadows and Lee had to go on another hiatus as he was once again arrested for taking drugs. However, Lee didn’t give up his passion for music and came back on stage through 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 US-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 divorced in March 1997. With a more mature image since his divorce, Lee has continued to actively perform 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 15 long years 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 take centerstage once again with nearly 400,000 copies of album sales and a sold-out national tour, but the trip was short-lived and Lee and Boowhal went on their separate ways again. However, this didn’t slow Lee down at all. Determined as ever, he continued to put out album after album, even a cookbook 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, closing a very busy year for the singer.

For this year, he made a comeback with a series of songs for various drama soundtracks. First he was featured in the MBC drama East of Eden with the song ‘Are You Listening?’. Then he also had a song for a new movie ‘A Sad Story Than Sadness’, starring by Kwon Sang Woo, Lee Bum Soo and Lee Bo Young. The music video was released a few days ago. With all these recent activities, let’s hope he can continue to do more for the music industry.

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
* The Livelong Day (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
* Lee Seung Chul Vol. 8 – Reflection of Sound Digital Disc (2006)
* Lee Seung Chul Vol. 9 – The Secret of Color 2 (2007)
* Lee Seung Chul 2007 Concert Live Album – He’s Coming (2008)
* Lee Seung Chul – Moving Star (2008-07-10) Digital Single