Kevin Woo

Woo Sung-hyun (Hangul: 우성현, born November 25, 1991), better known by his birth name Kevin (Korean: 케빈), is a Korean-American singer and is currently a member of South Korean boy band, U-KISS,^[1] formed by NH Media in 2008. Bandmates include Soohyun, Kiseop, Eli, AJ and Hoon. (Previous members include Alexander, Kibum and Dongho.) He's one of the 3 English-speaking members of U-KISS along with Eli and AJ(and ex-member Alexander).

Kevin was born and raised in Danville, California, United States, where he lived with his parents and older sister. He attended Monte Vista High School and was in the school choir. After auditioning in Korea during a holiday trip, he was chosen and thus decided to be a singer. At the age of 15, Kevin moved to South Korea with his mother to pursue his dream. Kevin's religion is Christianity.^[2]

Singing career

2006 : Debut with XING

Kevin debuted in the four-member group XING, alongside Marumir otherwise known as Kim Kibum, Yume and Cheon Hyesung. The group name is an acronym for Crossing In New Genre. XING's first single 'In Your Hands' was released on December 14, 2006. Their popularity quickly rose and they were dubbed as the teenage SG Wannabe. XING made it onto the list of the Top 5 Most Anticipated Artists in 2007.

2006–2008 : Activities as a member of XING

Mini albums and albums released

In 2007, two new members were added to the group, while Marumir left the group. Thus, XING became a 5-member group for the release of their second mini album on August 5, 2007. My Girl, the title song falls into the genre of pop.

After undergoing dramatic member makeup changes, seven-member XING returned to the musical scene in December 12, 2007, with mini album, The White Of Winter. On March 17, 2008 the seven-member XING released a digital single T-Express. The music style of the group changeed from the pop genre to more of a dance genre with rap influence.

Other happenings

The group held its second concert on September 8, 2007. They performed songs from both their singles and each member delivered a solo performance. They performed officially on national television at the YTN Star Digital Night Concert. After the release of T-Express in April 2008, Woo, the only original member of XING decided to depart from the group.

2008 : Debut with U-KISS

Group photo of U-Kiss taken at the press conference for Dream Concert 2013. Taken and shared by K-Soul Magazine for the U-Kiss information page 11 May 2013

Kevin then became a member of then six-member group, U-KISS. The name of the group stands for Ubiquitous Korean International (Idol) Super Star. They debuted on August 15, 2008 in Japan at the Power of Atamix. The group released their first mini album, N-Generation, on September 3, 2008. Later on, the group debuted on South Korean television, with a performance of "Not Young" on M! Countdown. Kiseop later joined in 2009, before 만만하니 promotional activities, and U-KISS then became a seven-member boyband. <br / [[]]

2008–2012 : Activities as a member of U-KISS

Mini Albums and Albums released

The group made their comeback with their second mini album, Bring It Back 2 Old School, on the 11th of February, 2009. The title track "I Like You" features the members sporting Old School hairstyles, dancing to Korean pop in the late 1990s, which was the concept of their second mini album. The second promoted track was "Talk To Me", although it had no obvious links to the Old School concept they were aiming for.

On November 5, 2009 U-KISS returned with their third mini album, Am I That Easy?^[3]. The title track "Am I That Easy?" helped raise their popularity, which promptly led them to start recording their next album.

Kevin sang Finally featuring Alexander (December 2009), a song composed by Brave Brothers.

Their first full length album, Only One^[4], was released in February 2010 and the promoted songs include "Round and Round" and "What".

On October 4, 2010 the fourth mini album Break Time showed fans yet another new concept conjured up by the company. It features the title track, Shut Up.

Starting on January 5, 2011, Kevin participated in the musical “On Air Live” as the lead actor. He acted in a total of 26 shows between his first stage as stated and his last stage on February 14, 2011.

On October 12, 2011 it was revealed that Kevin and Eli of U-KISS would collaborate with Avex artist JAMOSA for her single "Together". The single was released on December 7 and the trio held release events at Lazone Kawasaki Plaza (December 9), Osaka Senri Selcy (December 10) and Asunal Kanayama (December 11).^[5] The song "Together" was then selected as the theme song for BeeTV's "sweetTV".^[6]

In 2012, Kevin and Soohyun sang "Remember", a song originally by the group UN. It was used as soundtrack for the drama series Syndrome.^[7]

Other happenings

Kevin has several MC credits to his name. He joined Arirang^[8]'s radio show Pops in Seoul to host the 'All About You' segment alongside co-host Isak. Alexander later joined the duo in the hosting. Eli joined them as a new co-host in early 2010, replacing Isak. Kevin and Alexnader were also selected as new MCs for Arirang TV global music show "The M-Wave^[9]" in early August. As of March 17, 2011, U-Kiss' Kevin, Eli, and former member Alexander no longer MC for Arirang's Radio School. With the group's loss of former members Alexander and Kibum, and the release of their 2011 album, Arirang etched out Radio School, replacing it with an alternate program. Mid-2011, Kevin was selected to MC the Korean Music Wave in Singapore alongside Miss A's Min,^[10] as well as Korean Music Wave in Malaysia, with fellow U-KISS member Dongho.^[11] Later in November 2011, Kevin and Eli were selected as MCs for Mnet's English language version of MCountdown, called US MCountdown.^[12]

Five members, Soohyun, Kibum, Kiseop, Dongho and Kevin were announced to be part of drama I Am Legend,^[13] acting as a rock band. This marked their acting debut, where members would get to show their musical talent by playing instruments they are good at. Kevin was to play the guitar. Fans have noted that they did not appear in the drama. No officials stood out to explain the issue.

U-KISS has also starred in many variety shows over the years. Variety that are U-KISS centric includes "You Know U-Kiss", "All about U-Kiss", "U-Kiss' Vampire^[14]" and "Chef's Kiss"

In a Japanese survey through popular fortune-telling site Cocoloni, Kevin was ranked as the number one luckiest Hallyu star for 2012. 100 fortune-tellers participated in the survey, predicting the stars' fortunes through zodiac, blood type and other methods. When Kevin received the news, he stated: "I'm honored to be ranked first. I want to make this really happen this year. U-KISS will go on a Japanese tour and we will also release our album. Please keep supporting us and help us rank first on the Oricon chart." ^[15]

U-KISS members Soohyun, Eli, Kiseop and Kevin participated in the drama KPOP The Ultimate Audition, having small cameo appearances in three episodes acting as a senior idol group to the main cast.^[16]

On February 1, 2013, U-KISS was scheduled to hold a fan party in Jakarta, Indonesia, but due to bad weather and flooding, the event was postponed until April. Members Kevin and Soohyun traveled to Jakarta to hold a charity event and auction their personal items and signed CDs. Two albums were auctioned live with total sales of Rp3.500.000 (roughly 350USD). They also met with Indonesian children who were affected by the floods and expressed their desire to inspire people to help those in need.^[17]

On April 22, 2013, sub-unit group uBEAT debuted with their first mini-album and title track "있을 때 잘해줄걸" composed by hit-maker, Brave Brothers. Their first stage was at MNET M!Countdown’s special global edition in Taiwan. uBEAT consists of U-KISS members Eli and AJ, with Kevin featuring as their main vocalist on their debut album.^[18]

U-KISS members Kevin and Soohyun were selected to appear in the Korean adaptation of musical "Summer Snow" alongside Super Junior's Sungmin, Supernova's Sungjae, SS501's Heo Young-saeng and FT Island's Seunghyun. Their appearances lasted from April 2013 to June 2013. This is Kevin's second musical.^[19]

Awards

References

1. ↑ KBS World. U-KISS. March 13, 2008. Retrieved September 3, 2008.
2. ↑ "YouTube Link". 
3. ↑ NEWSEN. 만만하니 유키스 만만하니. November 5, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2010
4. ↑ allkpop. More details on return of U-KISS. January 28, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
5. ↑ oricon. JAMOSA, U-KISS First Collaboration. October 12, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
6. ↑ musicman-net.com. JAMOSA+KEVIN&ELI(U-KISS), "Together" Selected as BeeTV's Theme Song. December 19, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
7. ↑ korea.com. U-Kiss releases a beautiful ballad, “Remember”. February 29, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
8. ↑ Arirang. Arirang. February 8, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2009.
9. ↑ MSN News. Alexander & Kevin chosen to be Arirang TV Music Show's MCs. August 2, 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2010
10. ↑ Kevin's Twitter Kevin's Twitter Update. June 12, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
11. ↑ viki.com Lineup announced for Korean Music Wave 2011 in Malaysia. August 30, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
12. ↑ @US_MCountdown. US_Mcountdown.
13. ↑ Nate News. U-KISS become acting idols, 5 members to debut in drama. July 27, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
14. ↑ allkpop. U-KISS transform into Vampires. January 11, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
15. ↑ korea.com. Japan predicts luckiest Hallyu stars for 2012. January 18, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
16. ↑ news.nate.com. "KPOP Ultimate Survival" U-KISS. April 22, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
17. ↑ korea.com. U-KISS Trip To Indonesia Postponed, Members To Donate Their Personal Belongings. February 01, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
18. ↑ http://m.news.naver.com/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=106&oid=073&aid=0002249353
19. ↑ http://u-kiss.jp/news/20130220.html
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 GoKpop Music Awards Results http://www.gokpop.com/awards/ Retrieved January 23, 2012.

External links

• Official website (Korean)
• International fanclub