Lee Jong-hyun (born May 15, 1990) is a South Korean musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He was the former lead guitarist and vocalist of South Korean rock band
CNBLUE
CNBLUE ( ko, 씨엔블루) is a South Korean pop rock band formed in 2009. The band consists of Jung Yong-hwa (leader, main vocals, guitar, keyboard, rap), Kang Min-hyuk ( drums), and Lee Jung-shin ( bass). First bassist Kwon Kwang-jin left t ...
. 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. He appeared in television dramas ''
Orange Marmalade'' (2015), ''
Lingerie Girls’ Generation
''Girls' Generation 1979'' () is a South Korean television series based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Kim Yong-hee. The drama slated for eight episodes with 1970s Daegu as the backdrop. It premiered on KBS2 on September 11, 2017, and aired ...
'' (2017) and Evergreen (2018).
In August 2019, Lee departed CNBLUE after the backlash over a private direct message towards a
YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influe ...
, and amidst allegations of him viewing illicit videos and having inappropriate sexual conversations degrading women in the
Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk chatrooms
The Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk chatrooms was a South Korean entertainment and sex scandal publicized in 2019 as part of the Burning Sun scandal. The two scandals were tied together by the release of revealing KakaoTalk messages that exposed alle ...
, a part of
Burning Sun scandal
The Burning Sun scandal, also known as Burning Sun gate, was a 2019 entertainment and sex scandal in Seoul, South Korea, which involved several celebrities, including Korean idols of popular K-pop groups, and police officials. It was the largest ...
.
Life and career
Early life
Lee Jong-hyun was born on May 15, 1990,
in
Busan
Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...
, South Korea. His family consists of his parents and two 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.
He was an
ulzzang
''Ulzzang'' ( ko, 얼짱, ), also spelled as ''eoljjang'' (), is a popular South Korean term literally meaning "best face" or "good-looking". A person desiring ''ulzzang'' status would gain popularity on the internet through entering contests wher ...
at "BESTNINE" alongside Mblaq's Lee Joon, fellow member
Jung Yong-hwa
Jung Yong-hwa (; ; born June 22, 1989) is a South Korean singer, musician and actor. He is the leader, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band CNBLUE. Jung made his television debut in '' You're Beautiful'' (2009), and has since st ...
, and Block B's Jaehyo before debut.
The talent scouter from FNC Music (currently known as
FNC Entertainment
FNC Entertainment (; stands for "fish and cake") is a South Korean entertainment company established in 2006 by South Korean singer and record producer Han Seong-ho. The label operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, ev ...
) who visited Busan to see Jung, came across Lee in the street, and suggested him to audition at the company. On his way to his audition, he met his current fellow CNBLUE member Jung at the
Seoul Station
Seoul Station is a major railway station in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The station is served by the Korail Intercity Lines and the commuter trains of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway.
Services
KTX
Seoul Station is the terminus of most ...
. They then met
Kang Min-hyuk
Kang Min-hyuk (; born June 28, 1991) is a South Korean musician, singer-songwriter, and actor. He is the drummer of South Korean rock band CNBLUE.
Career 2009–present: CNBLUE
Kang became a member of CNBLUE in 2009. The group debuted in Jap ...
, also a current fellow member of CNBLUE, at FNC Music where they auditioned. 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. 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 English singer-songwriter and guitarist
Eric Clapton playing the guitar, he was inspired to learn to play the guitar.
Music career
Lee debuted with CNBLUE in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
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
Jung Yong-hwa (; ; born June 22, 1989) is a South Korean singer, musician and actor. He is the leader, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band CNBLUE. Jung made his television debut in '' You're Beautiful'' (2009), and has since st ...
then took over his place following the band's Korean debut. They made their major debut in Japan in October 2011.
Lee, together with Jung, composed many of the band's released 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
Come On may refer to:
Music
* Come On (EP), ''Come On'' (EP), by Elf Power, 1999
* Come On (Billy Lawrence song), "Come On" (Billy Lawrence song), 1997
* Come On (Christine Anu song), "Come On" (Christine Anu song), 1995
* Come On (Chuck Berry son ...
" ranked number 5 on
Oricon's Weekly singles chart while "
Blind Love" ranked number 4. "Get Away", one of his compositions, was used as the ending theme song for the Japanese broadcast of American TV series ''
Gossip Girl
''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...
''.
Lee released his first solo single "
My Love" in 2012, as part of the soundtrack for SBS drama ''
A Gentleman's Dignity'', which he starred in. The song was written by Lee himself. "My Love" debuted at number four on the
Gaon Digital Chart. It eventually became the 34th best-selling song in South Korea that year with 2,187,150 digital downloads.
The song earned Lee five award nominations, ultimately winning "Best OST" at the 2013
Seoul Music Awards
The Seoul Music Awards (; SMA) is a major South Korean music awards show presented by the newspaper ''Sports Seoul''. The award winners are selected based on a combination of criteria, including music sales, popular votes, and expert judges' op ...
.
In December 2013, Lee and his fellow label-mate
Juniel
Choi Seo-ah (Korean: 최서아; born Choi Jun-hee on 3 September 1993), better known by her stage name Juniel, (Hangul: 주니엘, often stylized as JUNIEL) is a South Korean singer-songwriter. She began her career in Japan before eventually ...
formed a duo called "Romantic J" and released a digital single album titled "Love Falls". Inspired by the movie ''
Music and Lyrics'', the song was compose by Lee, with lyrics written by Juniel. The single peaked at #27 on the Melon Chart. The duo subsequently promoted the song through
Mnet
M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...
's ''
M Countdown'' and SBS MTV's ''
The Show''.
On August 2, 2015, Lee held his first solo fan meeting in Japan at the Tokyo International Forum and met with 10,000 fans.
Lee made his solo debut in July 2016, with the studio album ''
Sparkling Night''. The album debuted at number seven on the weekly
Oricon Albums Chart and number nine on ''
Billboard Japan
''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway
is a Japanese private railway compa ...
'' magazine's Hot Albums,
eventually selling 13,529 copies.
Lee then embarked on the "Welcome to Sparkling Night" tour, his first series of solo concerts. The first two concerts took place from August 9–10 at the
Osaka International Convention Center
, also known as
, is a convention center in the city of Osaka, Japan.
Located adjacent to the convention center is underground Nakanoshima Station served by Keihan Electric Railway Nakanoshima Line as the terminus.
Past events
*2001 World To ...
in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
, followed by a concert on August 13 at the
Nagoya Congress Center
The is a multi-purpose convention center, in the city of Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
The centre was constructed for the World Design Exhibition 1989 (世界デザイン博覧会). Other venues included Nagoya Castle and Nagoya Port.
It has ...
in
Aichi
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...
, and two final concerts from August 17–18 at the
Tokyo International Forum
The is a multi-purpose exhibition center in Tokyo, Japan. The complex is generally considered to be in the Yūrakuchō business district, being adjacent to Yūrakuchō Station, but it is administratively in the Marunouchi district.
Tokyo Int ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
.
Acting career
In 2010, Lee made his acting debut in the
omnibus film ''
Acoustic'' alongside fellow member
Kang Min-hyuk
Kang Min-hyuk (; born June 28, 1991) is a South Korean musician, singer-songwriter, and actor. He is the drummer of South Korean rock band CNBLUE.
Career 2009–present: CNBLUE
Kang became a member of CNBLUE in 2009. The group debuted in Jap ...
.
On May 27, 2012, Lee made his small screen debut in
SBS weekend drama ''
A Gentleman's Dignity''. He earned positive reception for his debut role and won the "New Star" award at the year-end
SBS Drama Awards
The SBS Drama Awards (), also known as SBS Awards Festival, is an awards ceremony presented annually by Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) for outstanding achievements in Korean dramas aired on its network. It is held annually on December 31. The hi ...
.
In May 2015, Lee starred in the fantasy high-school drama ''
Orange Marmalade
''Orange Marmalade'' () is a South Korean manhwa series written and illustrated by Seok-woo. It was adapted into a Korean drama, TV series Orange Marmalade (TV series), of the same name in 2015.
Plot
Vampires were once hunted to extinction, b ...
'', alongside labelmate
Seolhyun
Kim Seol-hyun (born January 3, 1995), better known by her mononym Seolhyun, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is a former member of the South Korean girl group AOA and she has starred in television dramas ''Orange Marmalade'' (2015), ' ...
from
AOA, where he plays a vampire. He also joined the
fourth season of the Korean
reality show ''
We Got Married
''We Got Married'' () was a South Korean reality variety show that aired on MBC from 2008 to 2017. The show paired up celebrities who pretended to be married couples and completed various challenges together. The show ran for four seasons and ...
'', pairing with actress
Gong Seung-yeon
Gong Seung-yeon (, born Yoo Seung-yeon on February 27, 1993), is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her roles in the film '' Aloners'' (2021) and television series such as ''Six Flying Dragons'' (2015–2016), ''The Master of Revenge ...
. Shortly after, he reunited with Gong in the youth historical drama ''
My Only Love Song
''My Only Love Song'' () is a South Korean streaming television series produced by Netflix, starring Lee Jong-hyun and Gong Seung-yeon. It also has elements of fantasy since it involves time travel and a "magical van".
Synopsis
Soo-jung ( Gon ...
''.
In 2017, he starred in the teen drama ''
Lingerie Girls’ Generation
''Girls' Generation 1979'' () is a South Korean television series based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Kim Yong-hee. The drama slated for eight episodes with 1970s Daegu as the backdrop. It premiered on KBS2 on September 11, 2017, and aired ...
'' in which he played a former gangster of
Daegu who turned to be a kindhearted local handy man. The same year, he was cast in the Japanese film ''Ikiru Machi'', which is about the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
In 2018, Lee starred in the fantasy romance drama ''
That Man Oh Soo'' opposite
Kim So-eun
Kim So-eun (born September 6, 1989) is a South Korean actress. She rose to fame in 2009 in the popular television drama ''Boys Over Flowers''. She has since starred in '' Happiness in the Wind'' (2010), '' A Thousand Kisses'' (2011–12), ''Liar ...
.
Controversy and departure
Inside trading of stocks
In June 2016, Lee and fellow CNBLUE member
Jung Yong-hwa
Jung Yong-hwa (; ; born June 22, 1989) is a South Korean singer, musician and actor. He is the leader, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band CNBLUE. Jung made his television debut in '' You're Beautiful'' (2009), and has since st ...
were accused of insider trading of FNC stocks based on information that their label, (
FNC Entertainment
FNC Entertainment (; stands for "fish and cake") is a South Korean entertainment company established in 2006 by South Korean singer and record producer Han Seong-ho. The label operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, ev ...
), was signing popular comedian, host, and television personality
Yoo Jae-suk
Yoo Jae-suk (; or ; born on 14 August 1972) is a South Korean comedian, host and television personality. He has hosted several variety television shows in South Korea, including ''Infinite Challenge'', '' Running Man'', '' Happy Together, and ...
. While Jung was acquitted of all charges, Lee was fined. Lee apologized and stated that he bought the stocks without verifying the information, but once he realized legal issues could result from the purchase, he held onto the stocks.
Group chat rooms
On March 12, 2019
Lee's agency issued a statement that Lee was not connected to alleged chat rooms and sexual activities, which
Jung Joon-young
Jung Joon-young (born February 21, 1989) is a South Korean former singer-songwriter, radio DJ, host, actor, television personality and convicted serial rapist.
Jung first gained recognition in the 2012 season of the musical reality competiti ...
was part of. However, on March 14, it was reported that Lee was involved in the
Burning Sun scandal
The Burning Sun scandal, also known as Burning Sun gate, was a 2019 entertainment and sex scandal in Seoul, South Korea, which involved several celebrities, including Korean idols of popular K-pop groups, and police officials. It was the largest ...
with Jung in a one-to-one chatroom where Jung had shared sexual hidden camera footages of himself as Lee engaged in "inappropriate sexual conversations, and inappropriate conversations degrading women".
On March 15, 2019, Lee admitted that he watched sex videos shared by Jung and he had made disparaging remarks about the women filmed. Investigation is still ongoing. In August 2019, Lee departed CNBLUE after the backlash over inappropriate messages he sent to a
YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influe ...
, which brought renewed attention to the Burning Sun issue.
Philanthropy
The proceeds collected from "LEE JONG HYUN Solo Concert in Japan - METROPOLIS" which was held in June 2018 were donated for the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Kumamoto Earthquake through the Japanese Red Cross Society.
Mandatory military service
Lee enlisted in his military service in August 2018.
Lee was officially discharged from his military service on March 25, 2020.
Filmography
Television series
Film
Variety show
Discography
Albums
Singles
Video albums
Song writing and production credits
Awards and nominations
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jong-hyun
1990 births
Japanese-language singers of South Korea
K-pop singers
FNC Entertainment artists
English-language singers from South Korea
21st-century South Korean male actors
Living people
People from Busan
South Korean composers
South Korean male idols
South Korean male singers
South Korean pop rock singers
South Korean pop guitarists
South Korean pop singers
South Korean rhythm and blues singers
South Korean rock guitarists
South Korean male television actors
South Korean male web series actors
CNBLUE members
South Korean singer-songwriters
South Korean male film actors
South Korean musicians
School of Performing Arts Seoul alumni
Warner Music Japan artists
South Korean male singer-songwriters