Lee Young-hoon (, March 6, 1960 – February 14, 2008) was a South Korean

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

best known for the ballads he wrote for singer

Lee Moon-sae Lee Moon-sae (; ; born January 17, 1959) is a South Korean ballad singer who is often considered a Korean pop icon. Since his debut in 1978, he has released 16 full-length albums, including 1987's ''When Love Passes By'', which sold 2.85 million ...

in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 21st century, his songs have been covered by popular

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...

acts, and were used in the

jukebox musical A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known popular music songs, rather than original music. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while others confine themselves to songs perfo ...

Gwanghwamun Love Song ''Gwanghwamun Love Song'' is a musical directed by Lee GiNa, written by Ko Sun Woong, composed by Lee Young Hoon and choreographed by Seo Byung Koo. It is about memory, true love and death. It was co-produced by CJ E&M and Seoul City Musical Comp ...

.''

Career

Lee Young-Hoon's career as a composer mostly focused on

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...

and

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

. After he was introduced to musician and songwriter Lee Moon-sae from Um-inho, he began to compose for the singer. After the success of these songs, Lee Young-Hoon began exploring the '

Pop Ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cur ...

s' genre. In 1987, Lee Young-Hoon won the

Golden Disc Award 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 ...

and the Best Composer Award for "When Love is Gone," "Break Up Story" and "Only the Sound of Her Laughter." Lee Moon-sae's third collection became a hit selling more than 1,500,000 copies. Lee Moon-sae's fourth collection sold 2,850,000 copies. Lee Moon-sae's fifth album had several thousand pre-orders before it was released, and it brought

three Golden Disc Awards. Lee Young-Hoon songs changed people’s perspectives on popular music. These songs became popular among teenagers. His work was credited as playing a significant role in the growth in popularity of the genre. He released eight more albums and three special albums with

through 2001.

Death

Lee Young-Hoon was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Despite his health condition, he continued to compose songs. During this stage, he wrote ''Old love1·2'' and produced the musical ''

Gwanghwamun Gwanghwamun () is the main and largest gate of Gyeongbok Palace, in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is located at a three-way intersection at the northern end of Sejongno. As a landmark and symbol of Seoul's long history as the capital city dur ...

'' love song. He died on February 14, 2008, at age 49. File: Lee Young Hoon Memorial Stone.jpg, Memorial statue for Lee Young-hoon at Deoksugung Palace, Seoul.

Discography

Props album

Lee Young-Hoon completed the album ''A Short Piece'' in 1992 with orchestra musicians from Russia's

Bolshoi Theater The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

. The album consists of songs he wrote in his 20s and 30s. The feeling is "wintery", as the songs were based on cold times such as during a snowy winter in Moscow. Its words derive from the prologue of 'Small Pieces, When Love is Gone'. Lee Young-Hoon composed seven albums in collaboration with singer Lee Moon-se, then moved to Russia and released his ''Small Pieces'' album with the Bolshoi orchestra. The first album, featuring "Sorrow String Melody''"'' was released in 1993. He released his second album with the Bolshoi orchestra one year after the first. This album consisted of orchestral arrangements of his previous hit songs. He submitted the work to the largest music exhibition in the world,

MIDEM Midem is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale, which is organised annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The trade show, organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Re ...

in Cannes. He later released a third album, marking the end of his collaboration with the orchestra. Gun Hee Park, who opened the first internet exhibition in South Korea, designed the album ‘Small Pieces’ and provided his support. Gun Hee Park also experimental thoughts about melody as often and as much to his ability.

Awards

He received the grand prize of

in 1987. He received Golden Disc Awards for three consecutive years from 1986.

Legacy

Before 1980, Korea had no pop music genre. People usually listened to

Teuroteu Trot (, ) is a genre of Korean popular music, known for its use of repetitive rhythm and vocal inflections. Originating during the Korea under Japanese rule, Japanese occupation of Korea in the first half of the 20th century, trot was influence ...

or American songs. However, Lee Young-Hoon and Lee Moon-se created this new genre. As Lee Young-Hoon came up with poetic lyrics, launching the Korean ‘pop ballad’. In 2000, retro culture started a trend of re-making music, and Lee Young-Hoon’s songs were heavily featured. In 2008 the first album with all re-make songs of Lee Young-Hoon appeared. Recently,

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

, IU, Oh-hyuk covered Lee Young-Hoon’s songs. The leading music critic in Korea, Lim Jin-mo said, “Lee Young-Hoon’s classic based melody and poetic lyrics improved the dignity of Korean pop music”.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Young-hoon 2008 deaths South Korean composers