Bada

Choi Sung-hee (born February 28, 1980), known professionally as Bada, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, composer, musical actress and television presenter.

Choi Sung-hee, born on February 28, 1980, is the daughter of Choi Sae-wol, a trot singer with a background in Korean pansori.

Her childhood was marked by financial struggles, particularly after her father's illness.

For nine years until her debut, she resided in a container home provided by a local church.

In lectures aimed at youth, she has shared her humble beginnings and encouraged students not to let their backgrounds hinder their pursuit of dreams.

Bada was scouted by Lee Soo-man and entered SM Entertainment.

She debuted as the leader and lead vocal of S.E.S., the first successful female K-pop idol group.

Bada studied theater at Dankook University.

She debuted as a member of the South Korean girl group S.E.S. in 1997, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea.

Bada made her debut with S.E.S. in 1997.

The group released their debut album I'm Your Girl on November 1, 1997.

The group later became the top-selling K-pop girl group.

Since their debut, the group has released five Korean albums, two Japanese albums as well as a Japanese compilation album.

After S.E.S. disbanded in December 2002, she released her first solo studio album, A Day of Renew, in October 2003.

Since then, she continued her active singing career with songs such as Aurora, Eyes, V.I.P, GoGoGo, Queen, and Mad.

Apart from recording and performing songs, she has established herself as an actress, notably through her participation in the original and Korean versions of stage musicals including Notre-Dame de Paris, 200 Pounds Beauty, Legally Blonde, and Mozart!.

She won Best Actress at the third Musical Awards and has starred in ten musicals to date.

The group released a Korean compilation album, Friend before breaking up at the end of 2002.

In 2003, Bada released her debut solo album A Day of Renew that has sold approximately 130,000 records, according to the Music Industry Association of Korea.

Bada became the first Korean idol singer to venture onto the musical stage in 2003 with the musical Peppermint, a love story about a singer named Bada.

It was written for her by creator and producer Lee Yu-ri, who is also responsible for other musical projects such as Typhoon, Mother and Winter Sonata.

In 2004, her second album Aurora was released and has sold approximately 23,000 copies.

Members Bada and Eugene parted ways from SM Entertainment, while Shoo stayed with SM Entertainment until 2006.

Bada signed an exclusive contract with WoongJin entertainment.

In 2006, her third album, Made in Sea, was a big success.

In 2007, Bada was cast in the role of Denise in the Korean version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tell Me on a Sunday.

Right afterward, she took on the role of Esmeralda as a part of the original Korean cast of Notre-Dame de Paris.

Her widely praised portrayal of Esmeralda gained her acceptance as a musical actress and won her the Best Newcomer Actress award and others at The Musical Awards and the Korea Musical Daesangs in 2008; she reprised the role in 2009.

In 2009, Bada released her fourth

album called See the Sea which featured both Korean rap group Untouchable and 2PM's Ok Taec-yeon.

The following year, 200 Pounds Beauty, a musical based on the popular movie of the same name, cast Bada in the titular role of Kang Han-Byul, an overweight Ghost (singer) who aspires to become a star and undergoes extensive plastic surgery.

Bada's turn as Kang earned her the Best Actress honor at the third The Musical Awards.

In 2010, Bada played Peggy Sawyer in Broadway on 42nd Street

She was recast in 2011 for the project.

She has since stated that this loss was the reason for her relative inactivity in both her music and musical career from 2011 to mid-2013.

She also cast as Marguerite in the first Korean adaptation of Frank Wildhorn's The Scarlet Pimpernel.

In 2012, she briefly took on the role of Mozart's wife, Constanze, in Mozart!,

In June 2013, she was cast as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.

During Legally Blonde, her mother died.

Despite the loss, Bada continued performances for the musical until its final run and famously sang Secret Garden's "You Raise Me Up" on KBS's Open Music Concert just two days after her mother's death.