Lee Seung-gi

With this single, he received the Digital Single Bonsang award in the 24th Golden Disc Awards.

The same year, he released his fourth album Shadow, which was a success and received 40,000 pre-order copies before its release.

He also received the Digital Single Bonsang award for the second consecutive time at the 25th Golden Disc Awards with his song Love Taught Me To Drink.

Lee Seung-gi (born January 13, 1987) is a South Korean singer, actor, host, lyricist and entertainer.

Lee Seung-gi was born on January 13, 1987, in Banghak-dong, Dobong District, South Korea.

His family consists of his parents and younger sister.

During his elementary and middle school days, Lee was considered a good student, he was an all rounder and performed equally well in sports, academics and arts and was the elected president of the student council throughout his school years.

In school, he became well-versed in English, Japanese and Korean.

Lee was also part of a band in his local high school, where he was the lead vocalist.

Their band name was initially called Brain Hemorrhage to give a strong impression, but it was later changed to Natural.

During his band's last activity, he was scouted by singer Lee Sun-hee when she saw him perform in a small theater.

Although Lee initially rejected the offer to concentrate on his studies, he later accepted it after his mother's persuasion as Lee Sun-hee was her favorite singer.

He trained for 2 years before making his singing debut at the age of 17.

Scouted by singer Lee Sun-hee, Lee trained for two years before debuting on June 5, 2004, at the age of 17.

"Because You're My Girl", his debut song from his first album The Dream of a Moth, became a popular ballad which created a 'liking older women' syndrome in South Korea.

With this song, he won the Best Newcomer award in various music awards ceremonies in 2004, such as the M.net KM Music Festival and Seoul Music Awards.

He was a member of the first season of weekend variety show 1 Night 2 Days from November 2007 to February 2012, and the host of talk show Strong Heart from October 2009 to April 2012.

In 2007, he also won the Best Male Solo Artist award at the M.net KM Music Festival with his song White Lie from his third album Story of Separation.

He has garnered further recognition as an actor and rose to popularity in parts of Asia with leading roles in popular dramas such as Brilliant Legacy (2009), My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho (2010), The King 2 Hearts (2012), Gu Family Book (2013), You're All Surrounded (2014), A Korean Odyssey (2017–2018), Vagabond (2019), Mouse (2021) and The Law Cafe (2022).

While busy in his career, Lee graduated from Dongguk University obtaining his degree in International Trade and Commerce on February 20, 2009, and received a special achievement award during graduation.

He then continued his studies obtaining two master's degrees, Marketing, Trade Theory as well as Finance and Cultural Contents at Dongguk Graduate School.

He successfully received Child Psychiatry Counselling Certificate while he was doing Little Forest variety show.

He released a digital single titled Will You Marry Me in 2009, which became a hit in South Korea.

As one of the highest paid celebrities of South Korea and recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including a Golden Disc Award for music and Baeksang Arts Award for acting, Lee has been featured multiple times in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 list since 2010, and recently ranked sixth in 2022.

His success as a singer, actor and host has earned him the title of "Triple Threat" entertainer and has established him as a top Hallyu star.

He has numerous hit songs as a singer such as "Because You're My Woman", "Will You Marry Me", "Return" and "The Ordinary Man".

Lee was first included in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 list in 2010 placing seventh, subsequently ranking fourth in 2011 and sixth in 2012, 2015 and 2022.

In 2021, Lee was selected as one of the 200 actors (100 males and 100 females) to be featured in the Korean Actors 200 Campaign, run by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

This methodical project's aim is to select actors that best represent the present and future of Korean film and to introduce them to other people that work in the film industry overseas.

In 2010, he recorded a duet version of his 2007 song Smile Boy with South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna, which became the official 2010 FIFA World Cup commercial song in South Korea.

This was followed by the release of his fifth album, Tonight in 2011, a departure from his usual traditional ballads and encompasses more of a rock band-style sound and melodies.

The title song Aren't We Friends instantly topped online music charts upon release.

His other single, Era of Love also earned the No. 1 spot on that week's Billboard K-Pop Hot 100.

On March 6, 2012, Lee made his debut in Japan with the release of his first Japanese album Time for Love (also translated as Alone in Love) and a single of the same title.

Both the album and single ranked number one on the Oricon Daily Chart.

To celebrate his success, Lee held a fanmeeting at Tokyo Dome City Hall.

He held a concert at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, on June 1, 2012, three months after his debut.

Back in South Korea the same year, he released an EP titled Forest.

The title song Return set a record for being number one for six consecutive weeks on Billboard's Korea K-Pop Hot 100.

On June 10, 2015, he made his music comeback with his sixth album And... after a hiatus of two years and seven months.