Lee Jong-hyun

This article is about the South Korean band CNBLUE guitarist. For other people, see Lee Jong-hyun (disambiguation).
This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.
Lee Jong-hyun
Background information
Born May 15, 1990
Busan, South Korea
Origin Busan, South Korea
Genres Rock, pop, R&B
Occupation(s) Guitarist, musician, singer, songwriter, actor
Instruments Guitar, piano, bass guitar, harmonica
Years active 2009–present
Labels FNC Entertainment
Associated acts CNBLUE
Website fncent.com
Korean name
Hangul 이종현
Hanja
Revised Romanization I Jong-hyeon
McCune–Reischauer Yi Jonghyŏn

Lee Jong-hyun (Hangul: 이종현; pronounced [iː dʑoːŋ hjəːn]; born on May 15, 1990) is a South Korean guitarist, musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He is the lead guitarist and vocalist of South Korean rock band CNBLUE.

He made his acting debut in an omnibus movie Acoustic in 2010, followed by his television debut in the Korean drama A Gentleman's Dignity in 2012. In 2015 he started to play in Orange Marmalade and We Got Married

Life and career

Early life

Lee Jong-hyun was born on May 15, 1990,[1] in Busan, South Korea. His family consists of his parents and 2 older sisters. He lived in Busan before his family moved to Japan when he was four years old. His family moved back to Busan and he finished his elementary school and middle school there.

In 2010, he was the second generation member in the BEST NINE SCHOOL ULZZANG (meaning #2 ulzzang), with another CNBLUE member Jung Yong-hwa, Block B's Jaehyo, MBLAQ's Lee Joon, and BAP's Himchan, who were the first, third, fourth and fifth generation members respectively.[2][3][4]

The talent scouter from FNC Music (currently known as FNC Entertainment) who visited Busan to see Yonghwa, came across Jong-hyun in the street, and suggested scouting immediately. On his way to his audition, he met his current fellow CNBLUE member Jung Yong-hwa at the Seoul Station. They then met Kang Min-hyuk, also a current fellow member of CNBLUE, at FNC Music where they auditioned.[5] Eventually, only the three of them passed the auditions and Lee began training in bass technology at FNC Academy.

Before Lee embarked on his musical career, he was a judo athlete who won a gold medal in a judo championship amongst athletes in his hometown when he was in high school.[5] However, he decided to give up on sports upon realizing that this was not the field that he would excel in after losing in a match in just a few seconds. He then started to focus on music. At first, he learned singing, then piano. Then, upon watching an English singer-songwriter and guitarist Eric Clapton playing the guitar, he was inspired to learn to play the guitar.[6]

Music career

See also: CNBLUE

Lee debuted with CNBLUE in South Korea on January 14, 2010 with their lead single "I'm a Loner". Before their Korean debut, they debuted as an indie band, with Lee being the leader, in Japan in August 2009. Jung Yong-hwa then took over his place following the band's Korean debut. They made their major debut in Japan in October 2011.[7]

Lee, together with Jung Yong-hwa, has also been making significant contributions to the band by composing songs which were released in Japan and Korea. He composed songs such as "Blind Love", "Lie", "Rain of Blessing", "Kimio", "My Miracle", "Come On", "No More", "These Days" etc., which all gained positive feedback. "Come On" ranked number 5 in Oricon's Weekly singles chart while "Blind Love" ranked number 4. "Get Away", one of his compositions, was used as ending theme song for Japanese broadcast of American TV series Gossip Girl.[8] Jong-hyun revealed that he composed "These Days" when he was a trainee.

Lee sings "My love" OST for SBS Drama A Gentleman's Dignity which he starred in. The OST song was Lee's first solo release since debut as singer. The OST charted high on various Korean digital music charts for many weeks and become one of most popular Korean Drama OST in 2012 and win him OST Award from Seoul Music Award.[9][10] "My Love" placed No.6 on Billboard K-POP Hot 100 2012 Year End Chart and placed No. 15 on South Korea's National Gaon Yearly Single Chart[11][12]

Lee and his fellow labelmate Juniel formed a duo called "Romantic J" and released a Winter Special Digital Single Album with the single "사랑이 내려 (Love falls)". The song was composed by himself and written by Juniel.[13] The teaser for the MV was released on December 5, 2013 at 12AM KST and the full MV was released on 12NN KST at the The FNC Official channel. Together with the MV, the making, commentary by Romantic J and CNBLUE's Lee Jung-shin, and the recording films were released. The song peaked #27 at Melon chart.[14] Romantic J recorded their debut stages at Simply KPOP", M-net M! Countdown, and SBS MTV The Show.

Acting career

In 2010, Jong-hyun made his acting debut as Kim Seong-won in an omnibus film Acoustic which was released on October 28, 2010. Jong-hyun acted alongside fellow CNBLUE member Kang Min-hyuk who played his brother Kim Hae-won in the second part of the movie called "Bakery Attack". The movie revolves around the story of two brothers who love music but could not make ends meet with it. The older brother decided to sell his guitar but his younger brother accidentally lost it. They found the guitar in a bakery in Hongik University and learned new insights about music from the bakery owner.

On May 27, 2012, Jong-hyun made his small screen debut in SBS weekend drama A Gentleman's Dignity with Jang Dong-gun, Kim Ha-neul, Kim Min-jong, Kim Su-ro and Lee Jong-hyuk.[15]

In July 2013, Jong-hyun made a cameo appearance as an important character in KBS2 Adolescence Medley. He also made cameo appearance in 2014 web drama One Sunny Day starring actor So Ji-sub.

Equipment

Jong-hyun primarily uses a range of Marshall and Orange Amplifiers, notably JVM410 and JCM2000 TSL models when on stage. Jong-hyun uses a variety of guitars, including a PRS Artist V, a Paul Reed Smith Custom 22, a Gibson Les Paul Historic Reissue Goldtop, a Carvin Custom, a Martin HD-28V Acoustic and a Tobacco Burst Fender Stratocaster.

Filmography

TV series

Year Network Title Role Notes
2012 SBS A Gentleman's Dignity Collin Black Supporting role
2013 KBS2 Drama Special – Adolescence Medley Yang Yeong-woong cameo ep.2-3
2013–2014 tvN Cheongdam-dong 111 Himself Reality show ep.1-8
2014 LINE TV One Sunny Day (web drama) Couple guy cameo ep.4 & 8
2015 KBS2 Orange Marmalade Han Shi-hoo Supporting role

Film

Year Company Title Role Notes
2010 Kino Eye/DMC Acoustic ("Bakery Attack") Kim Seong-won acting debut

Variety shows

Year Title Network Notes
2011 Director's Cut Season 2 (ep 13–14) Mnet Guest (with Kang Min-hyuk)
Radio Star MBC Guest (ep 234)
2012 Radio Star MBC Guest (ep 298)
Strong Heart (ep 142) SBS Special Guest
GO Show (ep 21, 34) SBS Guest
2013 Running Man (ep 127, 129, 138) SBS Guest
Family's Dignity – Full House (ep 3) KBS Guest
Blind Test Show 180° (ep 5) MBC Guest
Taxi (ep 277) tvN Guest (with other CNBLUE members)
2014 Running Man (ep 186) SBS Guest (with other CNBLUE members)
Weekly Idol (ep 139, 140) MBC Guest (with other CNBLUE members)
Hello Counselor (ep 163) KBS Guest (with other CNBLUE members)
Golden Fishery Radio Star (ep 367) MBC Guest (with other CNBLUE members)
Weekly Idol (ep 157) MBC Guest (with Kang Min-hyuk, FT Island, AOA)
Sleeping With The Boss (ep 6, 7) JTBC Guest (with Kang Min-hyuk, FT Island, AOA )
2015 My Young Tutor (ep 14,15) MBC Guest
Yonghwa's Hologram MNET Guest
We Got Married MBC Cast member with Gong Seung-yeon
Fluttering India KBS Cast member

Music video

Year Music video Length Album Note
2013 "Love Falls (Korean: 사랑이 내려) 5:10 Winter Special Digital Single Album by Romantic J (Duo formed by Jong-hyun and Juniel Male lead
2014 "Mr. Ambiguous" 5:26 "Hello" mini-album by MAMAMOO as himself

MC

Year Title Network Notes
2013 Show! Music Core MBC Special MC along with other CNBLUE members
MTV 'THE SHOW: ALL ABOUT K-POP’ SBS Special MC for 2 episodes with Girl's Day's Hyeri and Yura

Discography

Singles

Year Title Peak positions Sales Album
KOR
Gaon

[16]
KOR
Billboard

[17]
2010 High Fly (with Kang Min-hyuk) 102 Acoustic OST
2012 내 사랑아 (My Love) 4 2
  • KOR (DL): 2,187,150+
A Gentleman's Dignity OST 2
2013 사랑이 내려 (Love falls) (with Juniel) 27 52
  • KOR (DL): 112,735+
Romantic J: Winter Special Digital Single Album
2014 사실은 말야 (Young Love) (with Melody Day) 76 Digital Single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.
Note – Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 Chart was established in August 2011. Releases before this date have no chart data.[18]

Song writing and production credits

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref
2012 5th Korea Drama Awards Best OST "My Love" (A Gentleman's Dignity OST) Nominated [20]
14th Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) Nominated [21]
4th MelOn Music Awards TStore Best Song Nominated [22]
Best OST Nominated [23]
SBS Drama Awards New Star Award A Gentleman's Dignity Won [24]
2013 22nd High1 Seoul Music Awards Best OST "My Love" (A Gentleman's Dignity OST) Won [10]

References

  1. Mark Russell (29 April 2014). K-Pop Now!: The Korean Music Revolution. Tuttle Publishing. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-4629-1411-1.
  2. http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/33193/20130702/exo-k-himchan-bap-qri-t-ara-block-ahn-jae-hyo.htm
  3. http://www.86wiki.com/view/41578.htm
  4. http://cnbjonghyun.tumblr.com/post/36588755616/bapblue
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Lee Jong Hyun Untold Stories". cnbluestorm. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  6. "Mnet Director Cut". youtube.
  7. CN Blue's Japan major debut,dkpopnews.net, Retrieved October 20, 2011.
  8. CNBLUE's Get Away Chosen As Gossip Girl Theme Song in Japan,allkpop, Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  9. "씨엔블루 이종현이 부른 '신품' OST '내사랑아' 차트 1위 섭렵!" (in Korean). The Star.
  10. 10.0 10.1 "씨엔블루 이종현 'OST상 수상' (서울가요대상)". tvdaily (in Korean). January 31, 2013. Retrieved 2013-01-31.
  11. "Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 2012 Year End Chart". Billboard.
  12. "Gaon Yearly Single Chart (This links to current week – select the year/month/week from drop down menu)". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  13. http://www.tenasia.com/archives/75674
  14. https://twitter.com/ong_ying_yi/status/409913373355024384/photo/1
  15. "CNBLUE Lee Jong-hyun shoots 1st scene for new SBS TV series" 10 Asia. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  16. "Gaon Singles Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Chart.
  17. "Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.
  18. "Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 Chart Launches". Billboard.
  19. 19.0 19.1 http://enewsworld.interest.me/enews/contents.asp?idx=36895
  20. Kim, Sung-hee (October 3, 2012). "'해품달' 린, 코리아드라마어워즈 최고 OST 수상". Star News (in Korean). Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  21. "Nominees for the 2012 MAMA Announced". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. October 23, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  22. "Nominees Best Song for the 2012 Melon Music Awards". Melon (in Korean). November 19, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-29.
  23. "Nominees Best OST for the 2012 Melon Music Awards". Melon (in Korean). November 19, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-29.
  24. 뉴스타상, 이종현. Naver (in Korean). December 31, 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-01.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lee Jong-hyun.