Childhood & Early Life
Eunhyuk was born Lee Hyuk-jae on April 4, 1986 in Neunggok, Goyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea into a middle class family that was struggling to make ends meet. He was brought up in Seoul with his elder sister, Lee So-ra. He was inspired by early stars like Michael Jackson and Yoo Seung-jun to start with street performances at a young age.
While he was in elementary school he put together a group called Song Rap and Dance (SRD) with his friends that gained popularity amongst the youth and started featuring in local news.
At the age of 13, he auditioned for SM Entertainment but failed to get through. However, he did not give up and auditioned the following year to be selected as a trainee for singing, dancing and acting. He also attended classes in Mandarin language to prepare himself for Chinese show business.
In 2000, he won the Goyang Citywide Dance Competition while he was training with SM Entertainment and got recognised as a future star of South Korea. He soon began making minor appearances in shows like ‘Pop versus Rock’ that featured different styles of singing and dancing.
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Career
He finally made his official debut on the SBS music programme ‘Popular Songs’ as part of the 12 member group ‘Super Junior 05’ in November 2005. This was followed by their debut album, ‘Super Junior 05 (Twins)’ that reached the number three spot on the monthly K-pop album charts.
In 2006, SM Entertainment stopped further seasons of Super Junior and Super Junior 05 became to be known as just ‘Super Junior’. Eunhyuk remained a member of the group and did most of their song writing, including the lyrics for the super hit ‘Show Me Your Love’. He also wrote and sang the solo number ‘One Love’ on Super Junior’s first concert, ‘Super Show’.
As he gained experience, he performed as radio DJ, with co-host Leeteuk, for the KBS ‘Super Junior’s Kiss The Radio’ show. He was also MC for the music programme ‘M! Countdown’ on Mnet television channel.
His single ‘Rokkugo’ and studio album ‘Sorry Sorry’ with Super Junior became super hits in 2009. He also appeared on the variety shows ‘Star King’ and ‘Strong Heart’ around the same time. As his popularity grew, he became a member of the KBS ‘Dream Team’ sports variety programme.
From singing and dancing, Eunhyuk ventured into choreography as well. He was the main choreographer for Super Junior’s fourth album and follow up song, ‘Boom Boom’ that went viral on social media. He is also credited with most of the lyrics, rapping, choreography and production work for Super Junior’s fifth studio album, ‘Mr Simple’, which won a number of awards.
In late 2011, he made his debut in musical theatre with his performance as Tyrone Jackson in the show called ‘Fame’ that was run at the Woori Financial Art Hall during November 2011-January 2012. During this period he also released the number ‘Oppa Oppa’ on Super Junior’s ‘Super Show 4’ that reached the number two position on the Oricon Daily Chart in Japan and sold over 42,114 copies within a week.
Their sixth studio album, ‘Sexy, Free & Single’ featured Eunhyuk in a lead role with his band mates. He was also the MC for their live shows to promote the album and featured on their promotional videos blindfolded.
In 2013, Eunhyuk took a break from Super Junior for a while to participate in the variety shows ‘Come to Play’ and ‘Barefooted Friends’. However, he had to withdraw from both programmes to join the Super Junior world tour that held 28 shows in North and South America, Europe and Asia.
Despite his busy schedule he found time to record his studio album ‘Ride Me’ and single ‘I Wanna Dance’ with Donghae that reached the number three spot on the Gaon and Oricon charts in Japan. His follow up single ‘Still You’ was just as popular in 2013.
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The following year he toured Japan with Donghae and participated in the dance project titled ‘Beat Burger Project x Eunhyuk’ that was released as a video choreographed to the song ‘Mo Jazzy’ by Yoo Young Jin. He was also part of Super Junior’s seventh album, ‘Mamacita’ that was released online in August 2014.
Eunhyuk continued to perform with Donghae and released their Korean album, ‘The Beat Goes On’ in 2015. He is also very much a part of Super Junior where he is concentrating on song writing and choreography. He wrote the lyrics of the song ‘Alright’, which was a part of the group’s 10th anniversary album, ‘Devil’.
Major Works
He has written the lyrics for a number of songs of Super Junior, TVXQ, Donghae, Siwon, Leeteuk and Kang Seul-gi.
He has appeared in movies like ‘Attack on the Pin-up Boys’ (2007), ‘Super Show 3D’ (2011), ‘SMTOWN Live in Tokyo’ (2012) and ‘SM Town The Stage’ (2015).
His television serials include ‘Nonstop 6’ (2005), ‘Mnet Super Junior Mini-drama’ (2006), ‘Rainbow Romance’ (2006) and ‘Dream High’ (2011).
He has participated in a number of reality shows including ‘Battle of the Century: Pop vs Rock’ (2002), ‘KM Super Junior Show’ (2005 – 2006), ‘MBC Every 1 Idol Show’ (2008), ‘KBS2 Let’s Go Dream Team’ (2009 – 2011), ‘SBS Star King’ (2009 – 2011), ‘Running Man’ (2012 & 2015), ‘SBS Strong Heart’ (2009 – 2013), ‘Barefooted Friends’ (2013), ‘MBC Animals’ (2015), ‘MBC Bachelor Party’ (2015) and ‘MBC Oppa Thinking’ (2017).
He has been host and MC for ‘M! Countdown’ (2007-2008), ‘SBS Entertainment Awards’ (2010), ‘Super Junior’s Foresight’ (2010-2011), ‘Show Champion’ (2012) and ‘23rd Seoul Music Awards’ (2014).
He made his theatre debut in ‘Fame’ which was played at the Woori Financial Art Hall from November 2011 to January 2012.
He featured on the ‘Super Junior Kiss the Radio’ show from 2006 to 2011.
Trivia
In 2007, he was involved in a car accident while returning from a recording session of the radio show ‘Super Junior Kiss the Radio’. Fortunately, he got away with minor injuries.
Besides singing, he plays the piano.
In order to avoid confusion with the famous comedian, Lee Hyeok-jae, he changed his stage name to Eunhyuk meaning Silver. He is also called BEJEWELED.
