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Wheesung

Revision as of 10:45, 18 March 2010 by Pizca (talk | contribs) (→‎Awards)
Wheesung campaigning for Save The Air (2009)

Wheesung is a Korean R&B singer formerly under M.Boat Entertainment Group & YG Entertainment label. He left both labels when his contract ended in March 2006. He is now under the Orange Shock Agency label. His music, at the beginning of his career, was heavily influenced by R&B but pop had become more evident in his music in recent years. He isn't fluent in English, though his pronunciation is considered to be very good; He usually has 1 or 2 songs sung completely in English in all of his albums.

Wheesung has also done a large number of collaborations as well as writing and composing songs for other artists.

Profile

  • Real Name: Choi Whee Sung (최휘성)
  • Stage Name: Wheesung (휘성, フィソン / pronounced: Hwisung)
  • Nicknames: Real Slow
  • Birthday: February 5th, 1982
  • Blood type: O
  • Height: 172 cm
  • Weight: 63 kg
  • Family: Parents & 1 Younger Brother (Hyuk Sung)
  • Education: Sunmoon University changed to International Digital University
  • Hobbies: Reading Comic Books

Information

Wheesung was first part of dance-team "ING" when he debuted in 1997. He later became the lead vocals for the short-lived boyband "A4". Due to musical differences & disagreements with other group members, He left after the release of their first album.

After leaving A4, he was taken under the management of YG Entertainment's sister company M.BOAT and was trained for two years before releasing his first solo album in 2002. Even before the release of his first album, Wheesung attracted attention from music lovers after being highly praised by veteran singers Shin Seung Hoon, Yang Hyun Suk & Seo Taiji. His debut album gained great popularity and quickly reached the top ten in music charts. In 2003, he released his follow-up album, It's Real. It proved to be as popular as his first, making him the best selling artist of 2003 in Korea. Unlike his debut album, It's Real wasn't restricted to R&B and it included different musical elements like pop and hip-hop.

For his third album's performances, Wheesung choose to perform his first performance at a different show instead of the natural first choice, SBS' Inkigayo. This move not only angered SBS, it also fueled a fierce disagreement between SBS and YG Entertainment. In the weeks that followed, SBS refused to let any artist belonging to the YG Entertainment & M.BOAT stable to perform in Inkigayo. In retaliation, Yang Hyun Suk, founder of YG Entertainment, posted a comment on YG's website stating that all artists under YG Entertainment would boycott the 2004 SBS Music Awards. The feud between the two companies ended after Wheesung performed his first comeback performance in SBS' Inkigayo, for his Love..Love..?Love..! album, in September 2005. He was the first YG artist to perform in SBS' Inkigayo in nearly a whole year.

His contract with YG Entertainment & M.Boat ended in March 2006. He signed a new contract that is reportedly worth 1.5 million won with his new company Orange Shock Agency. It was stated that he will be composing and producing more with his new company giving him more freedom to do so.

To date he has released 4 albums and participated in several other artists' albums. Wheesung's 5th album was expected to be released January 2007 but it met with delays. The album will now be released on the 4th of September, named Eternal Essence of Music this album was to include a duet with BoA but due to her busy schedule it was not possible to record the track in time for the album release. The song might be later released as a digital single or part of BoA's next Korean album.

Notable Concerts

In 2003, he joined Gummy, Se7en and Big Mama on stage at their joint concert called "Soul Train".

In the following year, he performed, for the first time, in the U.S. in a series of concerts called "New Dimension Tour". The tour featured JYP's Rain and Park Jin Young and YG's Se7en, Lexy and himself. Though the concerts weren't a success in terms of ticket sales, it helped expose Wheesung more to the foreign market. In the same year, he was among some 40 other South Korean artists to participate in the Unification Desire Project "Love". As the title suggests, the project gathered artists together to sing in hopes of seeing North & South Korea unified.

In 2005, he participated in several of m-flo's concerts. One being in Korea entitled "m-flo LOVES Korea" and another held in Budokan in November 2005, which was later released as a DVD called M-Flo Tour2005 Beat Space Nine at Nippon Budokan. He also joined YG Family (Se7en, Gummy, Big Mama, Jinusean, 1TYM, Lexy, Stony Skunk, 45RPM and Soul Star) in December 31, 2005 on stage in YG's 2005 ONE concert. Another notable concert he participated in that year is the "Korea/Japan Friendship concert".

He also appeared in the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Annual Korean Festival held in Hollywood Bowl, US.

Discography

Albums

Mini Albums

Digital Singles

Collaborations

Composition

Lyrics & Music

Lyrics

Music

Awards

  • 2002 Seoul Music Awards - Best Newcomer
  • 2002 Korean Entertainment Arts Awards - Best Singer
  • 2002 17th Golden Disc Awards - Best Newcomer
  • 2002 KMTV KOREAN MUSIC AWARDS - Best Newcomer
  • 2002 MBC Music Festival - Best Newcomer
  • 2002 SBS Music Festival - Best R&B
  • 2003 M-NET MMF - Best Male Singer, Best Male R&B
  • 2003 18th Golden Disc Awards - Bonsang
  • 2003 KMTV KOREA MUSIC AWARDS - Bonsang
  • 2003 Seoul Music Awards - Bonsang
  • 2003 SBS Music Festival - Bonsang
  • 2003 MBC Music Festival - Bonsang
  • 2004 Korean Music Awards - Best Male Singer
  • 2004 M.NET KM Music Video Festival - Best R&B
  • 2004 19th Golden Disk Awards - Bonsang
  • 2004 KBS Music Awards - Bonsang
  • 2004 MBC Music Awards - Bonsang
  • 2005 M.NET KM Music Video Festival - Best Male R&B
  • 2005 20th Golden Disk Awards - Bonsang
  • 2005 SBS Music Awards - Bonsang
  • 2005 KBS Music Awards - Best Singer
  • 2007 22th Golden Disk Awards - Bonsang

Trivia

  • He used to attend the same school as his good friend, Fany of Fly to the Sky.
  • He used to date Gummy before they both became famous; now they both claim to be good friends.
  • He was in Gummy's MV Geudae Doraomyeon.
  • His ideal girlfriends are singer Eugene (formerly of S.E.S) and actress Lim Soo Jung.
  • He helped produce Eddie's debut album Just My Way.
  • When he was still part of A4, his name was romanized as "Hwee Sung".
  • Though he left YG Family in early 2006, he is on good enough terms to return and help voice train the vocalists of the group BIGBANG.
  • He also joined the collaboration of singers known as Big 4 w/S.G. Wannabe, Vibe, and Seeya. He informally replaced singer Kim Jong Gook because he is serving his military. When a member of Seeya, Nam Gyu Ri, had her breast exposed during on of the Big 4 concerts, many netizens tooks pictures and it was a rage on the internet. Whee Sung on his website publicly bashed those who put the picture on the internet on his website.
  • He, Gummy and Danny An (from G.O.D) worked on Baby Vox Re.V's first album.

External Links & Sources

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