Lee Sun-hee (singer)

Lee Sun-hee
Lee Sun-hee 2014
Background information
Born	(1964-11-11) November 11, 1964[1] Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1984-present
Labels	Hook Entertainment
Korean name
Hangul	이선희
Hanja	李仙姬
Revised Romanization	Yi Seon-hui
McCune–Reischauer	I Sŏnhŭi

Lee Sun-hee (Hangul: 이선희; born November 11, 1964) is a South Korean ballad singer who debuted in 1984 with the song "To J".^[2][3] In her home country, she is widely regarded as a legendary singer representing South Korea, and the most successful and skilled vocalist in the country, earning her the nicknames "국민 디바" ("National Diva") and "여가왕" (Queen of Female Vocalists). She is also widely considered as a vocalist with the best vocal ability among South Korean female singers, and a singer who swept the middle and late 1980s in South Korea by its nation.

She is evaluated as a singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of her popularity in the 1980s based on explosive energy and perfect vocals from a small body of herself. She is also estimated as a authentic singer-songwriter who is loved by all people regardless of sex, age, and background. She is widely regarded as creating the first 'sister unit' in South Korea which refers to her groupie. She is known for being considered as one of the best divas in South Korea followed by Lee Mi-ja and Patti Kim, and a specialist of expressing emotions using effortless vocal transition.

In addition to being assessed to be one of the greatest vocalists in Korea with Cho Yong-pil, Lee Seung-chul, and Yim Jae-beom, she has been recognized as the best female vocalist in her country. Although the present is neither her prime time as a singer nor as a vocalist, when discussing musical achievements with divas such as Lee Mi-Ja, Patti Kim, Hyun Mi, and Ha Chun-Hwa, even when discussing the "present" singing ability with young generation singers such as Park Jung-hyun and Sohyang, she is a singer who is never be excluded anytime.

She is appraised as a singer-songwriter who is also good at writing and composing. For example, all of the songs in her 13th album, including the famous hit "Fate", which was used in the movie "King And The Clown", were all written and composed by her. Since then, the 14th and 15th albums have mostly been filled with her own songs. She has written a little piece from junior high school, but she has not been able to put it in the album, and started to record her own songs in her album from the 10th album, 'When the lilac falls'. She has been regarded as maintaining her unchanging appearance and voice since her debut.

She has numerous nicknames including "small giant(작은 거인)", "national singer(국민 가수)", "national diva(국민 디바)", and "evergreen girl(만년소녀)". She is also considered as an incarnation of true self-management by her own nation. Recently, She has been actively work in the field of Drama OST and get the qualification of 'Mother of OST' in her country.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

Biography

Lee Sun-hee was born on December 14, 1964 in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. She attended Sangmyung Women's High School and graduated from Incheon City College. Lee Sun-hee is known affectionately by her fans "Sunny" or "Little Giant". She is a daughter of a Buddhist monk and was raised near a mountainside Buddhist temple where a large number of monks resided. Her father was a master of the traditional Buddhist music known as Beompae in East Asia.

In 1984, she participated in the 5th MBC Riverside Song Festival as a team named '4막 5장' with Im Sung-kyun, senior of the same department of university, and made her debut earning great attention to win the Grand Prize with a song "To J". At that time, she had a perm in a hurry because she was afraid that she might be caught the fact that she competed in the festival without any permission by her parents. That's why she seems so out of place.

When Lee Sun-hee visited the music office of Jang Wook-jo, a South Korean songwriter, in the second year of high school to find a song to sing, a composer named Lee Se-geon was throwing bunch of sheet music away in the garbage can. Sun-hee asked him watching that scene, "Can I use this?", and picked music with his permission. Surprisingly, the song in that music was "To J", her debut and signature song which gave her grand prize of festival. There was a joke that Jeon Doo-hwan, South Korean president at that time, would ban "To J" in radio because the song reminded the nation of the president because his family named starts with 'J'. In fact, this song was used when satirizing the news that always report their president at first.

She was famous for having female fans more than male fans even though she is a woman because of her explosive singing ability and the charm of her boyish attire. It is the beginning of 'sister unit'. At that time, video of her stage performance shows screaming sound of female fans like the sound coming out in the male idol's stage performance by yelling fans nowadays. The size of her sister unit of Lee Sun-hee was so huge, and the power of her sister unit was so great that there was a rumor that the company gave money and mobilized people.

Lee Sun-hee's round glasses and curt hair caused so-called 'Lee Sun-hee syndrome', which was popular among female students at that time. The unique image making that sticks to a course wearing pantsuit costume and her appearance like a shy boy attracted not only male fans but also female fans in 'Lee Sun-hee syndrome'. Social atmosphere that rejects the decadent trend set up the environment that singers with healthy image like her can succeed and stretch their wings. Additionally, Lee Sun-hee was able to make herself popular with her unique vocal ability expressing strong power at high notes and songs that stimulate emotions of young women.

Musical style

During her 30th anniversary concert tour, Sun-hee broadcast a clip during the intermission revealing her three biggest musical influences: Barbra Streisand, Madonna, and Whitney Houston. She has mentioned Korean vocalist 송창식 (Song Chang-sik) as one of her influences and role models. Sun-hee possesses a warm, lyric-soprano voice with sturdy lows and bombastic highs. In addition to being a vocalist, Sun-hee is also a song writer, writing many of the songs on her later albums (including the celebrated hit 인연 "Fate").

Discography

Awards

References

External links

• Official website