ARTIST OF THE WEEK - Lee Seung Ki

Our featured artist this week is multi-talented Lee Seung Ki. He debuted as a singer two years ago, but now he is also an actor. His song "하기힘든말" moves up 12 big spots this week on our chart. Let’s find out more about him:

Lee Seung-gi is a young male vocalist who made his debut in 2004 as a high school student. Being tall and handsome, his voice color is contrary to his soft looks. Lee Seung-gi has a low and powerful tone of voice that appeals to many pop music lovers. From his voice, it is hard to tell that he is only 17 years old when he debuted. Lee is an active student at school. He served as the student president in his second year in Sangkye High School. He first started music in high school by joining the school band as the leading vocalist. While performing with his band in a small theater in Daehagno, Lee was scouted by famous female singer Lee Sun-hee. After two years of hard training, Lee Seung-gi debuted on the stages with the song entitled “You’re My Woman.” The song and lyrics were written by Psy. It started a whole "누나syndrome." (liking older woman). He was named “2004 best new artist of the year” in various year end award shows.

In 2005, Lee Seung-gi has expanded his career to acting, appearing in the long running MBC sitcom “Non Stop 5”. However, he halted all his performance on air in July last year in order to prepare for his second album. He finally released his new album on February 2, 2006, 20 months after his 1st album. For the collection of new songs, Lee has been supported by many great figures in the local pop music market. Kim Do-hoon, writer of Crime and Punishment by SG Wannabe and Incurable Disease by Wheesung and Jeon Hae-sung, writer of It Must Have Been Love by Yoon Do-hyun and A Long Day by Lee Seung-cheol participated in the making of Lee Seung-ki’s new album. The title song of the new album is “Words Hard to Tell,” a sad ballad about letting a loved one leave. The new album contains a total of 13 tracks including “I Shout,” “The Shape of the Mouth” and “Just Once.”

Credits: KBS World, lost_kim, and Izzie