Biography
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Born
21 February 1972 (age 53)
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Born In
Jongno District, Seoul, Korea, Republic of
Seo Taiji (born Jeong Hyeon-Cheol on February 21, 1972) is a South Korean singer and musician.
At the age of 14, Taiji participated in several amateur rock bands. In 1989, at age 17, he was recruited into metal group Sinawe (shee-nah-wee), popularly hailed as the first Korean heavy metal band. Taiji chose to drop out of school, a system that he felt did nothing but corrupt the minds of youth, and became a professional musician.
After the break up of Sinawe in 1991, Taiji switched gears and formed the dance group Seo Taiji and Boys (Seo Taiji and Boys) with dancers Lee Ju-no and Yang Hyun-suk.
The introduction of the first Seo Taiji and Boys album announced a complete shift in the focus of popular Korean music that is still felt today. Their first single, “Nan Arayo” (난 알아요, “I Know”) was a hugely successful hit, being one of the first songs in K-Pop to meld contemporary dance sounds with urban-influenced rap lyrics.
Seo Taiji and Boys broke up in 1996 after four wildly successful studio and two hugely popular live albums. Taiji suddenly disappeared from the music scene for the next two years, moving to the US and living a low-profile life.
In 1998, Taiji returned to the music scene with his first solo album, Seo Taiji V. His self-produced album continued with his long established sound of mixing contemporary American rock and pop music with Korean vocals. His comeback album, coming in as the best-selling South Korean album of the year, quickly put him back onto the path of greatness.
In 2000, Taiji exploded with his hugely popular sixth album, Ultramania. With his new band, he blasts out an album with hardcore, crashing metal tracks. “Ultramania,” “Internet War,” and “Tank” were all huge successes. With the release of his new album, Tai-ji embarked on his first Korean tour since 1996 playing to sold out crowds.
Ultramania was re-released in 2002 with remastered tracks and featured live Taiji tracks from the 2002 ETPFEST.
In early 2004, after almost four years, Taiji’s first all new album, 7th Issue, was released.
Taiji is often noted by his fans for his influential contributions to Korean popular music. He’s proven an exceptionally versatile artist with music ranging from ballads to heavy metal. His band originally consisted of Top (guitar 1), Rock (guitar 2), Sang Wook (bass), and Jeff Heff Holter (percussion). As of 2008 his band consists of Top (Guitar), Choi Hyun-Jin (Drums), Kang Joon-Hyung (Bass), Kim Seok-Jung (Keyboards/Samples/FX)
He held ETPFEST 2008 and it was a successful concert, marking his first major appearance in 4 years. Shortly after which, he held “The GREAT SeoTaiji symphony” which was such a success that he was called forward to do an encore of the concert.
After taking a break, Taiji returned in 2014 with his 9th album, Quiet Night, which featured his fresh “Nature Pound” sound and partially collaborated with popular soloist IU.
In 2017, Taiji held his 25th anniversary concert featuring BTS, which was a massive success. Following this, BTS released their version of his 1995 hit Come Back Home.
Since 2017, Taiji has resumed a hiatus.
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