Jeong Hyeon-cheol (Korean: 정현철; born February 21, 1972), better known as Seo Taiji or Seo Tae-ji (서태지), is a South Korean singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. After dropping out of high school to pursue a music career, he rose to become one of the most prominent and influential cultural icons in South Korea, with many referring to him as "the President of Culture".
Following a brief stint in the heavy metal band Sinawe, Taiji formed Seo Taiji and Boys in 1991 with whom he found immediate success. Their style of music, dance, fashion, and self-presentation resonated with the young generation—termed the sinsedae, "new generation." They incorporated elements of popular musical genres from the West and contributed considerably larger to Korean pop culture and Korean pop's development in the 1990s. His songs addressed social and political concerns of the youth including the stressful and stifling system of education in Korea, and the rage of youth in the face of poor social and economic outlook. Widespread youth backlash to government suppression of the social commentary in his music became a catalyst for the abolishment of censorship of Korean popular music lyrics. His career paved the way for free expression in Korean pop music. Although he initially announced retirement upon disbanding the group in 1996, Taiji released his first solo album two years later and continued his successful career.
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Biography
Early career with Sinawe
At an early age, Jeong Hyeon-cheol had a fascination with music. At 14, he participated in several amateur rock bands. He took the stage name of "Seo Taiji" at age 17, when he was recruited into the heavy metal band Sinawe as bass guitarist by Shin Daechul. He chose to drop out of school because he felt that continuing to be enrolled in school would not be useful in pursuing a career in music.
Seo Taiji and Boys: 1992–1996
Seo Taiji and Boys was a seminal South Korean boy band. Although also including Yang Hyun-suk and Lee Juno, Taiji was the leader and main songwriter and began his signature of mixing many different genres of music. They had several controversies with songs and lyrics, but became the first modern highly successful band in the South Korean music industry. The popularity of their music marked a departure from the trot style of music that previously dominated Korea's popular music scene.
Solo career: 1998–present
Two years after Seo Taiji and Boys' retirement, Taiji resumed his career as a musician and solo act, which has been and continues to be successful. He sought to return to his true roots and perform rock music. Without any appearances or activity in South Korea, he released an album with a couple of music videos in 1998. There was some controversy over his sudden reversal of retirement, but his first Solo album Seo Tai Ji sold more than a million copies, even without any promotion in Korea. His first solo work included heavy metal and nu metal songs, but the main genre was still alternative rock. Although it was his first solo work, fans refer to it as his 5th album.
In 2000, he returned to South Korea after a four-year absence. On the day of his arrival at the Kimpo International Airport in Seoul, the entire airport had been crowded by thousands of fans and media trying to get the first look at Seo Taiji.
He released the album Ultramania which consisted of nu metal and Hardcore punk. His solo act had an effect on many South Korean boy bands such as H.O.T. and caused them to decline in popularity. His songs "Internet War" and "Ultramania" were the biggest hits of the year. After the first ETPFEST in 2001, which he founded during his comeback, Taiji was presented with hide of X Japan's Fernandes MG-360S guitar, which is yellow with pink hearts, by hide's parents and his brother, Hiroshi, to celebrate the success of ETPFEST and the first hide showcase tribute ever at a Korean rock festival.
Seo Taiji maintained his nu metal sound in his third solo album, 7th Issue. However, unlike Ultramania, 7th Issue was recorded mostly on a dropped C tuning, which gave the effect of the album sounding like one long song. Nevertheless, it had no problem attracting attention to a wide range of audiences. 7th Issue's catchy rock tune made his fans call it "punk rock". Also, he obviously added Drum and Bass sound into his several songs, so that it proved him to be a favorable electronica musician (skills he learned from producing the "Seo Taiji and Boys" albums). J from Luna Sea also participated in the making of this album as the bassist. His song "Live Wire" was a good hit succeeding the vivacity of "Ultramania". "Robot" deals with his youth and anguish, while the song "F.M.Business" acrimoniously criticize the issues of and the commercialized music business and the artist exploitation from greedy corporate record labels. He also touches on the issue of abortion along with sexism and sexual assault with the song, "Victim". His record sale was reduced to a half million due to on-line downloading services, but was still the highest selling record of 2004 in South Korea. Taiji proved himself to be a musician in top popularity for more than a decade. After being active up to 2005, he once again suddenly disappeared out of the spotlight.
Personal life
On April 21, 2011, Sports Seoul broke the story (later confirmed by numerous media outlets) that Seo Taiji had secretly married actress Lee Ji-ah (real name Kim Sang-eun) from October 12, 1997, until August 9, 2006. Their union was kept secret because both Seo and Lee notoriously kept their personal lives hidden from the media. The couple first met in 1993, and after Seo temporarily retired in 1996, they got married in 1997 and lived in Atlanta and Arizona, until Seo's return to Korea in June 2000. They were separated since the return. Lee filed for divorce in the U.S. in 2006, citing both lifestyle and personality differences. According to Seo, the divorce was finalized in 2006, which Lee disputed, stating it had been 2009. In January 2011, Lee sued Seo for ₩5 billion of her share of matrimonial properties and ₩500 million in alimony, and court papers caused their relationship to go public in April. Seo's estimated worth at the time was reported between ₩40–50 billion ($35–44 million US). After a six-month lawsuit, an out-of-court settlement was reached on the alimony and division of assets in July 2011. In August 2014, Seo released a statement denying several of Lee's claims about their marriage when she made a guest appearance on the talk show Healing Camp, Aren't You Happy.
Seo married actress Lee Eun-sung, with whom he shares a sixteen-year age gap, on June 26, 2013, at Seo's newly built home in affluent Pyeongchang-dong in northern Seoul (he used to live in Yeonhui-dong), with only family members present. They met in 2008 when Lee appeared in the music video for "Bermuda Triangle" (on Seo's eighth album), and began dating in late 2009. Their first child, a daughter, was born on August 27, 2014.
Seo Taiji Band
Although Taiji now works as a "solo" artist, the following musicians consistently play with him during tours, studio recordings, and music videos. Some of them belong to other bands, but they participated in recording and performances for a short period of time.:
Top (Ahn Seong-hoon) – lead guitar
Rock (Choi Chang-rok) – rhythm guitar
Sang Uk (Monkey) – bass
Heff "The Machine" Holter – drums
Christopher "DJ Babu" Oroc - turntables for Seo's 6th album
Kim Seok-jung (김석중) – keyboards/programming/samples/arrangement for Seo's 8th album
Kang Joon-hyung (강준형) – bass for Seo's 8th and 9th albums. He normally works with the band "A'ccel in a story".
Choi Hyun-jin (최현진) – drums for Seo's 8th and 9th albums. He normally works with the band "Vassline"
Doc Skim (닥스킴) – keyboards for Seo's 9th album
Discography
Live releases
Seotaiji Band Live Album 2000/2001 (2001)
6th Album Re-recording & ETPFEST Live (2003)
Seotaiji Live Tour Zero '04 (2005)
The Great Seotaiji Symphony (2009)
2009 Seotaiji Band Live Tour [The Möbius] (2010)
Singles and EPs
Feel the Soul (2001, Single) (Japan-exclusive)
8th Atomos Part Moai (2008, EP)
8th Atomos Part Secret (2009, EP)
DVD
Seo Taiji Live Tour '2000–2001: The Taiji Speaks (2001)
Seo Taiji Live Tour Zero '04 DVD + Art Book (2004)
2004 Seo Taiji Record of the 7th (2005)
The Shedding Bird: Seo Taiji Company DVD + Art Book (2005)
The Great 2008 Seotaiji Symphony with Tolga Kashif & Royal Philharmonic (2010)
Seotaiji Live Tour: The Möbius (2011)
ETP Festival 08 09 Seo Taiji (2013)
Blu-ray
The Great 2008 Seotaiji Symphony with Tolga Kashif & Royal Philharmonic (2010)
Atomos: The Film (2011)
Seotaiji Live Tour: The Möbius (2011)
Seo Taiji Record of The 8th 398 (2012)
Box sets
[&] Seotaiji 15th Anniversary Album Box Set (2007)