Lee Hyori 이효리 李孝利
Background information
Born	(1979-05-10) May 10, 1979 (age 34)
Origin	Cheongwon, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea
Genres	Pop, R&B, Hip-hop
Occupations	Singer, actress, dancer, model, designer
Years active	1998–2002 (with Fin.K.L) 2003–present (solo)
Labels	DSP Entertainment (1998-2006) Mnet Media (2006-2010) B2M Entertainment (2010-present)
Associated acts	Fin.K.L
Website	Official website

This article contains Korean text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hangul and hanja.

Lee Hyori (Hangul: 이효리; born May 10, 1979) is a South Korean singer. She debuted as a member of the successful pop girl group Fin.K.L, but has since become a solo artist. In 2003 she released her debut solo album Stylish which won many "Daesang"s (a Korean award equivalent to "Artist of the Year"). In 2006, she was the highest-paid female singer in South Korea when she signed a contract with Mnet Media.

Biography[edit]

1998-2002: Beginning in Fin.K.L[edit]

She began her career as part of South Korean pop girl group Fin.K.L. As the eldest member, she was the leader of the group. Lee was discovered while taking sticker pictures with her friends and was actually the last to join Fin.K.L, just before their debut in January 1998. Fin.K.L debuted officially on May 22, 1998 with their first single "Blue Rain", which was received quite well. The second release from their debut album, "To My Boyfriend", became the first of their multiple number one hits. Fin.K.L became one of the most popular and successful South Korean pop groups of all-time, rivaling fellow popular girl group S.E.S.

2003–2005: Solo debut[edit]

A year after Fin.K.L's fourth studio album Forever, her solo debut album was released on August 2003, entitled Stylish. The lead single "10 Minutes" became one of her signature hits and the singer nearly swept the Daesangs, the most prestigious South Korean music award, winning more than seven of them, including three of the four most prestigious Daesangs. Stylish sold 144,182 copies in South Korea alone, according to the Music Industry Association of Korea in 2003.^[1] Her popularity in her various activities eventually was dubbed as the "Hyori Syndrome" in South Korea, and the Korean Media nicknamed 2003 "The Year of Hyori" as she was rarely out of the news all year.^[2]

Lee Hyori has also appeared as the lead female actress in the SBS drama Three Leaf Clover, co-starring opposite Ryu Jin, Kim Jung-hwa, Kim Kang-woo, and Lee Hoon. However, the ratings were continually low, and it ended after 16 episodes. On August 8, 2005, she co-hosted the annual Korean Music Festival for the second year running.

2006–2007: Move to Mnet and Dark Angel[edit]

In February 2006, Lee released her follow up album, Dark Angel. The first single, "Get Ya!", was controversial as the songwriters of Britney Spears' single "Do Somethin'" accused the "Get Ya!" songwriters of plagiarism.^[3]

It was reported that Hyori had signed a three-year contract with Mnet Entertainment (currently Mnet Media) for ₩2.2 billion,^[4] becoming the highest-paid female singer in South Korea (approx. $650,000 per year).^[5]

Meanwhile, Hyori prepared to appear in a new mini-drama during February 2007,^[6] despite the failure of her previous drama. She starred alongside Lee Dong-gun in If in Love... Like Them which, although originally announced as being only one episode long, ran for four episodes on Mnet. An edited two-episode version of the drama also ran on SBS. During filming for the drama, part of a roof Lee was standing on collapsed. Only her foot fell through the roof and she was able to be saved, and as it was reported the fall would have been fatal if co-star Lee Dong-gun had not rescued her.

In February 2007, Lee announced her new digital single which would essentially be the soundtrack to If in Love... Like Them. She had her comeback on The Music Trend on February 25, 2007, performing all three main tracks from the single. The lead song was "Toc Toc Toc" (Korean: "톡톡톡", Toktoktok), which was a sexy R&B number like her previous efforts. However, the single also gave Lee an opportunity to sing ballads and to slowly move her image away from the "sexy superstar" that she is known to be. The single, although initially given a digital-only release, was given a limited retail release of only 30,000 copies, and was titled If in Love... Like Them. Released on March 6, 2007, it included three of the tracks found in the digital single, along with a reworked version of "Toc Toc Toc". It was the best-selling album for that month, selling 27,845 copies.^[7]

Although her single was commercially succeessful, her drama was heavily penalized for violating advertising guidelines, as If in Love... Like Them had several scenes advertising the products of its sponsors, in addition to using Lee's songs in the soundtrack. The Korean Broadcasting Committee has ruled that the drama can never be aired in South Korea again, and that the network must apologize to its viewers.^[8]

According to The Chosun Ilbo, Lee has also been promoting her work in Japan. Japanese network Fuji TV decided to air If in Love... Like Them and has even invited the singer/actress to visit Japan to promote the drama, where she will be treated to the same VIP treatment offered to other international stars.^[9] However, the drama was broadcast on satellite station CS Fuji, a smaller network that Fuji TV owned. The Japanese considered the leading part of this drama to be Lee Dong-gun.^[10]

2008–2009: TV hosting and It's Hyorish[edit]

During breaks in her solo music career, Lee also hosted various television programs, including Time Machine and Happy Together, which she co-hosted with Yoo Jae-suk in 2006. It was reported on March 26, 2008 that Lee would join KBS's Sang Sang Plus as a co-host alongside Country Kkokko members Shin Jung-hwan and Tak Jae-hoon, replacing various outgoing hosts; she debuted on April 8, 2008.^[11] She was one of the original co-hosts of Change, a show on SBS's Good Sunday line-up, before leaving in early July. She is also a former cast member of season one of the variety show Family Outing. Mnet also ran a 12-episode show called Off the Record: Lee Hyori in which Hyori's life was on the set for three months. The purpose of the show was to lessen the gap between the superstar and her fans/anti-fans by letting them see that she is just another human being like anyone.

Her third studio album, It's Hyorish, was released on July 14, 2008. "U-Go-Girl", the first single from the album, hit #1 on online and offline charts, including various television music shows.

In November 2009, the contract with Mnet Media was set to expire. Lee planned to sign a contract with Gil Entertainment (currently B2M Entertainment) and work with Gil Jong-hwa who was Fin.K.L's co-manager and has worked since Fin.K.L debuted.^[12] However, her 2010 album is released under the label of Mnet Media.^[13]

2010–present: H-Logic and Monochrome[edit]

Almost two years after her previous album, Lee returned with H-Logic on April 12, 2010. The album has 14 tracks, including collaborations with Daesung from Big Bang, Jeon Ji-yoon from 4Minute, Bekah from After School, Gary from Leessang, and Sangchu from Mighty Mouth. The singer worked also with E-Tribe, the team behind "U-Go-Girl", the lead single from her previous album.

A music video was released for "Swing" (Korean: "그네", Geune), featuring Gary from Leessang, on March 31, 2010. The lead single "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and its music video were released soon after. The self-penned song, which features Ceejay (from Freshboyz), was released the same day as her album. She won two Mutizen Song awards on The Music Trend for her lead single within two weeks.

Seven of the songs in H-Logic, given by Bahnus, were accused of plagiarism, including "Bring It Back" performed by Canadian girl group Cookie Couture, soon after the album's release. On June 21, 2010, Hyori had announced and admitted that the plagiarism accusations placed against her album were confirmed, and that she would temporarily stop all her activities as a singer and also suspended her TV appearances.^[14][15]

In 2011, while on hiatus, Lee released two charity songs for donation to animal shelters, "Please Stay Behind" (Korean: "남아 주세요", Nama Juseyo) and "Remember" (Korean: "기억해", Gieokhae).

From March 4, 2012, with the singer-songwriter and pianist Jung Jae-hyung, they hosted the music show Jung Jae-hyung & Lee Hyo-ri's You and I on SBS.^[16] The show aired its final episode on October 14, 2012, ending its ten-month run due to low ratings.^[17]

Throughout 2012, there have been multiple times when Hyori was supposed to make her comeback. After many times of being pushed back, it was finally announced that she would return to the stage with her fifth full-length album in May of 2013.^[18] Five video teasers were released for her comeback album on April 23, 2013.^[19] On May 6, 2013, she released her pre-release track for the album, titled "Miss Korea" (Korean: "미스코리아", Miskoria). Her fifth studio album, Monochrome, was released on May 21, 2013.^[20][21]

Endorsements[edit]

Lee has done many endorsements for various companies, her most prominent commercials being for Samsung Anycall. In late 2003, Lee signed an advertising contract with Samsung, for which she would make three musical commercials and songs for their Anycall cell phones. The first commercial and song, "Anymotion", was released in early 2005, featuring Eric Mun from Shinhwa. In early 2006, the follow-up commercial "Anyclub" was released in two parts; the music video starred Eric Mun and Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo. The song "Anyclub" featured Teddy Park from 1TYM. The songs from the commercials served as singles for Lee in between her albums. The final commercial was released in December 2006, titled "Anystar" and differed from the first two in that it featured mostly dialogue. The commercial starred Korean actor Lee Joon-gi and YG Family trainee Park Bom (2NE1).

Hyori also became a model for Black Bean Therapy, a health drink, and she made several advertisements. Hyori finished her contract with Biotherm early February 2007, and is no longer a representative for the company. Her contract with Samsung has also ended in December 2007. She has recently signed on with KB Card, and has starred in commercials along with fellow K-pop sensation Rain. She was chosen as the first ever Asian-wide model for Calvin Klein Jeans, modeling for the "Pure Calvin" Collection. She was also briefly featured in a 2010 commercial for the clothing company Adidas. Also in 2007, she starred in a commercial for South Korean cosmetics company Isa Knox, with Jessica Alba.^[22]

Personal life[edit]

Lee adheres to a vegetarian diet for ethical and health reasons and is an advocate for animal welfare and animal rights.^{[23][24][25][26]} In 2012 she published Closer, a photo-essay book that focuses on her everyday life with her dog Soonshim whom Lee adopted from an animal shelter. In the book Lee wrote her thoughts on animal rights and animal shelters as well as her sentiments toward wearing animal fur.^[27][28][29]

She has been dating musician Lee Sang-soon since 2011.^[30][31][32]

Discography[edit]

Studio albums

• Stylish (2003)
• Dark Angel (2006)
• It's Hyorish (2008)
• H-Logic (2010)
• Monochrome (2013)

Tours[edit]

• Invincible Lee Hyori: Hyori's First Concert (2008)

Filmography[edit]

Television[edit]

Film[edit]

Music video[edit]

Awards and nominations[edit]

See also[edit]

• Fin.K.L
• Mnet Media

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lee Hyori

• Lee Hyori on Twitter
• Hyolee World
• Lee Hyo-lee’s weibo
• Jung Jae-hyung & Lee Hyori's You and I