BIOGRAPHY
Kim Jong-woon (born August 24, 1984), better known by his stage name Yesung, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, actor and MC. He debuted in 2005 as a member of Super Junior and its subgroups Super Junior-K.R.Y. (2006), Super Junior-H (2008) and participated in SM Entertainment’s projects SM The Ballad (2014). Aside from group activities, he has recorded OSTs for various television dramas and movies, participated in various television dramas, movies and musicals. He began his solo career in 2016 with his first mini album, Here I Am.
His artistic name Yesung is translated as «art with the voice» and is derived from the phrase 예술가 의 성대, which means «vocal chord artist».
Pre-debut:
Yesung was born in Seoul and later moved to Cheonan, South Chungcheong when he was 10 years old. He has a younger brother, whose name is Kim Jong-jin. From a young age, Yesung expressed an interest in singing. In 1999, he joined a broadcast singing competition and won the first place at the ‘Cheonan Singing Competition‘. In 2001, Yesung’s mother, Im Bo-kyung, signed him up to audition for SM Entertainment’s ‘Starlight Casting System‘, in which he impressed the judges with his “artistic voice”, and became a trainee under SM Entertainment the same year.
Early debut:
1. 2005 – 2007 = Debut with Super Junior:
Yesung officially debuted as part of the 12-member project group ‘Super Junior 05′ on 6 November 2005 on SBS’s music program ‘Popular Songs’, performing their first single, ‘Twins (Knock Out)’. Their debut album ‘SuperJunior05 (Twins)‘ was released a month later on 5 December 2005 and debuted at no.3 on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts.
In March 2006, SM Entertainment began to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation. However, plans changed when fans started protesting against SM’s intention to add new members and “graduate” the oldest. They protested for days in front of the company building, and even bought shares to try to persuade it, and the company declared a halt in forming future Super Junior generations. Following the addition of thirteenth member Kyuhyun, the group dropped the suffix ‘05‘ and became officially credited as ‘Super Junior‘.The re-polished group’s first CD single ‘U‘ was released on 7 June 2006, which was their most successful single until the release of ‘Sorry, Sorry‘ in March 2009. In the fall of 2007, the group released their second official album, ‘Don’t Don’, which became Super Junior’s best-selling album and Korea’s second best-selling album of the year.
From September 2006 to September 2007, Yesung was host for radio program, ‘M.I.R.A.C.L.E for You’, where members of Super Junior often appeared as guests. However, before the radio show’s first anniversary, Yesung left in order to concentrate on Super Junior’s second album, ‘Don’t Don’. The last air date for the radio show was 8 September 2007. In November 2006, Yesung, along with Super Junior members Ryeowook and Kyuhyun, formed a sub-unit, ‘Super Junior-K.R.Y.‘, a group specializing in R&B ballads. The trio debuted on November 5, 2006 on KBS’s ‘Music Bank’.
He debuted as an actor on 26 July 2007 with the release of ‘Attack on the Pin-Up Boys’, a high school comedy starring fellow Super Junior members. He played the school’s rock star who gets attacked by a mysterious force.
2. 2008 – 2013 = Super Junior-H debut, Solo Activities and K.R.Y. debut in Japan:
On 9 May 2008, Yesung was sent to the hospital after he collapsed during the ‘Marathon of Hope‘ in which he and band-mates Shindong, Sungmin, Leeteuk, Eunhyuk and Kangin participated. The event was in collaboration with the SBS charity program ‘Hope TV 24‘ and the money raised was donated to a Mongolian school in South Korea which was at risk of closing down. Due to the injury, Yesung was unable to complete the marathon, but appeared on stage on crutches with his fellow members. Also on 8 August, Yesung was sent to the hospital after falling from the stage while rehearsing at the KBS music program, ‘Music Bank’. The injury aggravated old injuries from the neck and waist and he was hospitalized for two days. In June 2008, Yesung became a member of Super Junior-H, releasing their first mini-album titled ‘Cooking? Cooking!’. He sang ‘Love Really Hurts‘ for the original soundtrack of television drama ‘Tazza’, which aired from 16 September to 25 November 2008. In 2009, Yesung made his musical theatre debut in ‘Namhansanseong’, which is based on the novel of the same name by Kim Hoon. Yesung played villain “Jung Myung-soo”, a servant-turned-interpreter who feels sad from being betrayed by his country, from 9 October to 4 November at the Seongnam Arts Center Opera House. On 6 November, he made a surprise appearance on KBS’ ‘Music Bank‘, with SHINee, by replacing Jonghyun, who was recovering from influenza.
In 2010, Yesung starred in the title role of musical ‘Hong Gil Dong’, alongside band-mate Sungmin who also played “Hong Gildong”. It took place at Woori Financial Art Hall of the Olympic Park from 18 February to 18 April 2010. On 31 March 2010, Yesung contributed to the OST of television drama ‘Cinderella’s Sister’, starring Moon Geun-young and Chun Jung-myung. The song, ‘It Has To Be You‘, is a ballad that tells the story about a man who refused to look for another girl, except for the one he loved. On 4 June, Yesung performed it for the first time on ‘Music Bank‘ which reached no.3 on show’s K-Chart.
In July 2010, Yesung appeared with band-mate Leeteuk as MCs for MBC’s ‘Love Pursuer’. The show presents a Korean celebrity being showered with affection from a secret admirer, with the challenge of guessing who the admirer is. Yesung was himself the subject of admiration in episode 10. From 1 October to 28 October 2010, also he starred in his third musical ‘Spamalot’ playing the main role of “Sir Galahad”. On 29 December 2010, Yesung together with Luna of f(x), sang the track ‘Loving You’, on part 2 of the original soundtrack of KBS drama ‘President’.
During the recording of ‘Dream Team 2′ on 21 August 2011, he fell from a platform and strained his waist again, but was reported to be a minor injury. On 4 September, he became the new MC for ‘MUZIT’, a musical talk show alongside K.Will and veteran composer Yoo Youngsuk. It showcased various musical talents from the Korean music industry.
On 31 January 2011, Yesung’s third solo song, from the OST of SBS’s drama, ‘Paradise Ranch’, was released. ‘Waiting For You’ is a ballad that tells the story of a man who is adamant on waiting until the end of the world for his lover to return to him. He performed it for the first time at Super Junior K.R.Y’s first concert in Seoul on 11 February.
From 28 February to 21 June 2011, Yesung temporarily replaced band-mate Eunhyuk as radio DJ partnering with Leeteuk on ‘Super Junior’s Kiss the Radio’, while Eunhyuk was away on promotional activities for Super Junior-M’s third extended play ‘Perfection’. In June, he joined KBS’s ‘Immortal Songs 2‘ where singers render their own versions of old songs from music legends. He lost in the first episode but won the third episode when he sang Boohwal’s song ‘The More I Love‘.
His second duet with Jang Hyejin, was released on 14 July 2011 throughout Korea’s digital charts. ‘I Am Behind You‘ is from the album ‘Cooperation Part 1′ . The song has a fantastic harmony and is mixed with the lyrics of secretly loving someone and wondering if that person could possibly be feeling the same way about them. On 18 July 2011, ‘For One Day‘ was released. It is from the historical drama ‘Warrior Baek Dong Soo’. The song explores an emotional farewell from a lover.
On July 26, Yesung’s family opened his first Café called “Handel & Gretel” that quickly became a meeting place for fans of the group and foreigners, as members followed and Yesung even helped his family in the box or serving as a waiter. The coffee was very close to the KBS channel, so celebrities from other groups such as Girls’ Generation and T-ara frequently went shopping before or after the agenda. This made the popularity of the place increase, however, it had to close in mid-2012 due to insufficient space.
Yesung performed this live for the first time on 6 October 2011 at Super Junior K.R.Y.’s concert in Nanjing.
On 27 September 2011, he along with Eunhyuk and Shindong filled in for band-mate Heechul, who was enlisted for mandatory military service on 1 September, during the performance, on ‘Music Bank‘ and ‘Show! Music Core’, of Kim Jang-hoon’s latest single ‘Breakups are So Like Me‘.
On 23 October 2011, Yesung performed in the New York SM Town concert at Madison Square Garden.
On February 29, 2012, Yesung’s father opened an optical store called WHY STYLE, where in addition to lenses they also sell certain limited products such as iPhone cases, key chains, pencils and more. Yesung and the other members of Super Junior were occasional models of the brand appearing in photos with different models of lens frames. The store is located in Myeongdong and was a gift from Yesung to his father. On November 11, 2012 Yesung, his mother and brother Kim Jong Jin officially opened their new cafe called “Mouse Rabbit Coffee” referring to the signs of the Chinese zodiac of Yesung and Jongjin. The cafe caught the attention due to its interior design similar to a rabbit hole, with trees next to the tables and faint colors. Yesung himself was in charge of the decoration and design of the place. Yesung himself was in charge of the decoration and design of the place.
In November 2012, Super Junior K.R.Y. held a concert tour in Japan, ‘Super Junior K.R.Y. Special Winter Concert‘. They announced that they would be releasing their first single 6 years after their debut. The teaser for ‘Promise You’ was released on November 21, 2012, followed by the single on 23 January 2013. It debuted at no.2 on Oricon’s daily singles chart.
On 13 February 2013, Yesung’s OST ‘Gray Paper‘ for SBS’s melodrama ‘That Winter, the Wind Blows’ was released. The track was composed by label-mate Kangta and he performed it on SBS’s music program ‘Inkigayo’ on February 17.
Yesung announced at ‘Super Show 5′ that he would enlist for his mandatory military service in 2013. He served as a public service worker after four weeks of basic training.
3. 2014 – 2015 = S.M the Ballad, Return with Super Junior and Solo Activities:
During military service in February 2014, Yesung joined the ballad group ‘S.M the Ballad‘, initially formed by SM Entertainment in 2010. On the group’s 2nd album, he had a solo song for the track ‘Blind‘, but he didn’t participate during the promotions.
Super Junior-K.R.Y. reunited with Yesung’s return from military service Super Junior-K.R.Y. Japan Tour was started in Yokohama on June 2–3 and had a total of 11 performances. In July 2015, SM Entertainment announced Super Junior-K.R.Y. would start their tour in Seoul at the Olympic Hall in Seoul on August 22 and 23. The trio released a Japanese single Japan titled ‘Join Hands‘ on 5 August 2015.
On 8 July 2015, SM Entertainment announced that Yesung would re-join Super Junior for the special album, ‘Devil’ which was released on July 16 to celebrate the group’s 10th anniversary.
In August, Yesung’s solo ‘Dreaming’ from the OST of MBC’s drama, ‘Splendid Politics‘ was released. In November, Yesung played a role in the Korean drama ‘Awl’.
4. 2016 – present = Solo Debut:
On the 12th of April 2016, SM Entertainment revealed that Yesung’s solo debut album ‘Here I Am’ would be released on April 19, 2016. Yesung made his solo debut stage on April 21. Yesung held his first solo concert titled ‘Sweet Coffee’, part of the concert series ‘The AGIT’ by S.M. Entertainment artists, in June 2016.
On November 18, 2016 It was confirmed that Yesung joined the drama called ‘Voice’, which was aired in January 2017.
On 18 April 2017, Yesung released his 2nd mini Album, ‘Spring Falling (Yesung 2nd EP)’. The title song to his 2nd mini album was a ballad song called ‘Paper Umbrella‘.
In 2017 he appears in the drama “VOICE” as a member of the Golden Time team. Yesung stars in Oh hyun Ho, hacker of the call center.
In May 2018 I participate in the musical “Maybe, Happy ending” in Japan, I starred as Oliver and shared the role with another actor. The plot tells the story of Oliver, a company robot who wants to go find his former owner, James. In order to go on this journey, he asks Claire for help, another robot who lives in the apartment in front of him. In August 2018 he returned to Japan with the musical “Altar Boyz”, a remake of a Broadway production written by Kevin del Aguila. The plot focuses on a Christian boy band on their world tour. Yesung played Matthew, the group leader. In August 2018, Yesung and his brother, who run Mouse Rabbit cafe, open a new store called Cafe Armoire. Just a short walk separate it from Mouse Rabbit Cafe. Cafe Armoire isn’t exactly easy to find, since it does not have a great signage as Mouse Rabbit Cafe does, but even the entrance door is through a kind of closet.
On December 16, 2018, Yesung released «Whatcha doin’ (지금 어디야?)», a digital single, in collaboration with singer ChungHa. He himself participated in the composition of the lyrics, music and the production of the MV.
On January 10, 2019, Yesung launches its second station «Carpet», this time in collaboration with BUMKEY.
In February 2019, he performed Altar Boyz again in Japan, this time in Osaka.
2019: First Japanese album and third Korean album
On February 20, 2019 it became his first Japanese album, Story, with the songs title Because I love you and if you. The album contains the four songs released as singles since 2016, among those “Ai shiteru tte Ienai” with lyrics by the writer Ryu Murakami, as well as a song featuring D&E. Yesung was intensely involved in the preparation of this album, which took more than a year to prepare, with personal contribution in lyrics and composition on eight of the eleven songs of the album. For the promotion of this work, his third Japanese tour, called Y’Story, was held in four of the most important cities in the country, culminating in Tokyo in mid-March. At the end of March his comeback was budgeted in Korea, due to his personal activities and those of Super Junior as a group, in the encore concert of the Super Show 7S tour he said that had been postponed. Finally, after months of uncertainty and two years of waiting, it was revealed on June 18 would be the release of his third mini album: Pink Magic, which contain six songs, two of which are personally composed, «Eat’s ok» (a fan song) and «Wish».
Currently, he is participating in the Super Junior world tour «SUPER SHOW 8: INFINITE TIME», in which they promote their 9th studio album, «Time Slip».
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