Lee Sun-hee (; born November 11, 1964) is a South Korean singer-songwriter. She is often referred to as Korea's "National Diva" for her immense popularity, commercial success, and vocal ability. Lee debuted in 1984 with the song, "To J," for which she won first prize in the MBC Riverside Song Festival. She released her first album, ''Ah! The Good Old Days'', the following year in 1985. She released a string of successful albums in the 1980s and early 1990s, and won awards at

KBS Song Festival The ''KBS Song Festival'' () is an annual South Korean music show that airs on the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) at the end of every year. It first aired in 1965 as an awards show, but KBS discontinued the awards ceremony in 2006. It has co ...

and MBC Ten Singers Song Festival every year from 1984 to 1990, as well as main prize at the

Golden Disc Awards The Golden Disc Awards (, formerly spelled the Golden Disk Awards before 2015) is an annual South Korean major music awards ceremony that honors achievements in the local music industry. The awards ceremony was founded with the purpose to promo ...

every year from 1986 to 1990. The government of South Korea awarded Lee the prestigious Prime Minister's Commendation in 2010 for her contributions to popular culture. In 2011, Lee became the fourth South Korean singer to ever perform at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. She released her 15th album, Serendipity in 2014. In 2018, she performed in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

as a part of

Spring is Coming Spring is Coming ( ko, 봄이온다) was a concert that occurred in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 1 and 3, 2018. It included numerous South Korean performers, and was described as an important event in the 2018 thaw in the North Korea–South K ...

and became one of few South Korean singers to perform twice in North Korea. She released her 16th album, Anbu in 2020.

Biography

Lee Sun-hee was born in 1964 in

Boryeong Boryeong (), commonly known as Daecheon, is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Chungcheongnam-do, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It is located on the coast of the Yellow Sea. It lies on the Janghang Line railroad, which c ...

South Chungcheong Province South Chungcheong Province ( ko, 충청남도, ''Chungcheongnam-do''), also known as Chungnam, is a province of South Korea. South Chungcheong has a population of 2,059,871 (2014) and has a geographic area of 8,204 km2 (3,168 sq mi) located in ...

, South Korea. She was raised near a secluded

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple by her mother and her father, a Buddhist monk who belongs to a sect of the religion that allows monks to marry and have children. She attended Sangmyung High School and graduated from Incheon City College in 1984 with a degree in environmental management. While she was a student at Incheon City College, Lee participated in the 5th MBC Riverside Song Festival as a member of the singing duo Act 4 Scene 5 () with fellow student Im Sung-kyun. They won the grand prize with the song, "To J", which became a hit, garnering Lee prizes for best new artist at the year-end

KBS Music Awards The ''KBS Song Festival'' () is an annual South Korean music show that airs on the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) at the end of every year. It first aired in 1965 as an awards show, but KBS discontinued the awards ceremony in 2006. It has con ...

and MBC Top 10 Singers Song Festival. Her signature boyish look was also a hit, causing a so-called "Lee Sun-hee syndrome," or craze, among female students who imitated her short haircut and round glasses.

Musical style

Lee Sun-hee possesses a warm, lyric

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

voice with sturdy lows and bombastic highs. In addition to being a vocalist, Lee Sun-hee is also a songwriter, writing many of the songs on her later albums including the celebrated hit 'Fate'. 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 Song Chang-sik as one of her influences and role models.

Discography

Studio albums

Collaborations

OST albums

* KBS drama 《Fireworks》 released in 1984 * MBC animation 《The Little Princess Sara》 released in 1986 * MBC drama 《Blue Classroom》 released in 1987 * KBS animation 《Run Hani》 released in 1988 * KBS animation 《Reckless Hani》 released in 1989 * SBS drama 《Fear With No Love》 released in 1992 * MBC drama 《Gips Family》 released in 2000 *

Movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

《The Beauty In Dream》 released in 2002 *

《King And The Clown》 released in 2005 *

《

The Sword with No Name ''The Sword with No Name'' (; ) is a 2009 South Korean film based on a fictionalized account of Empress Myeongseong. The film sold 1,671,387 tickets nationwide. Plot Mu-myeong is a bounty hunter during the Joseon Dynasty who lives day-to-day by ca ...

》 released in 2009 * SBS drama 《

My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho ''My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho'' (; also known as ''My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox'') is a 2010 South Korean romantic comedy television series starring Lee Seung-gi and Shin Min-a. It aired on SBS from August 11 to September 30, 2010 on Wednesda ...

》 released in 2010 * SBS drama 《

Big Thing (TV series) ''Big Thing'' () is a 2010 South Korean television drama based on manhwa artist Park In-kwon's comic ''Daemul'', and stars Go Hyun-jung as South Korea's first female president. Number one in its timeslot for 11 consecutive weeks, it gained succes ...

》 released in 2010 * SBS drama 《

The Legend of the Blue Sea ''The Legend of the Blue Sea'' () is a 2016–2017 South Korean television series starring Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Min-ho. Inspired by a classic Joseon legend from Korea's first collection of unofficial historical tales about a fisherman who capture ...

》 released in 2016 * MBC drama 《

The Red Sleeve ''The Red Sleeve'' () is a South Korean television series starring Lee Jun-ho, Lee Se-young, and Kang Hoon. It aired from November 12, 2021, to January 1, 2022, on MBC's newly established Fridays and Saturdays at 22:00 ( KST) time slot. Syn ...

》 released in 2021

Filmography

Television shows

Awards

Awards and nominations

State honors

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sun hee 1964 births Living people South Korean women pop singers People from Boryeong 20th-century South Korean women singers 21st-century South Korean women singers South Korean Buddhists South Korean sopranos