Post by xxxgwynethxxx on Feb 8, 2009 20:37:07 GMT 7
From left to right: Ye-eun, Sunye, Sohee, Sunmi, and Yubin at the MBC Campus Song Festival in October 2008.
The Wonder Girls (Korean: 원더걸스) is a South Korean girl group. They are produced by singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young and are signed to his talent agency, JYP Entertainment. Each of the five original members were selected through auditions. Debuting in early 2007, they became popular in the fall of that year with the song "Tell Me." Since then they have scored 3 consecutive #1 hit singles. The Wonder Girls also achieved worldwide recognition when they were selected as one of the Top 8 Girl Groups to Watch Worldwide by Virgin Media. Their music videos "So Hot" and "Nobody" were also featured in Perez Hilton's blog.
The Wonder Girls debuted on February 10, 2007 on MBC's 쇼! 음악 중심 ("Show! Music Core"), singing "Irony", the hip-hop single from their debut mini-album, The Wonder Begins. The mini-album sold 11,454 copies in 2007.
Out of the members, Sun Ye was the first one debut in the industry through the program called 2001 Park Jin Young's Challenge of 99%. However, as a group, the Wonder Girls were introduced through the program called MTV Wonder Girls which was filmed and directed by MTV. The first four episodes contained each members' characteristics and profiles (except Ye Eun's), and showcased their schedules for the day. In the fifth episode, Ye Eun appears in the JYP audition for the search of 5th member. She battled against other final three contestants, and eventually her strong vocal and dance-style won her the fifth member spot of the Wonder Girls.
Not long after selecting Ye Eun as the fifth member, the Wonder Girls had their showcase in the MTV Studio. In the showcase, they performed "Don't Cha" by the girl thingycat Dolls and their own songs, such as "Irony" and "미안한 마음". Sun Ye did the solo by singing Destiny's Child's "Stand Up for Love" while Hyun-a showed her dance skills by doing solo dance. The other three members — Ye Eun, Sun Mi and So Hee — performed on Janet Jackson's "Together Again".
Throughout the rest of 2007, however, the Wonder Girls were beset by various injuries and health problems. On June 25, Sohee was sidelined for a month after tearing a knee ligament falling off a motorcycle during the filming of 뜨거운 것이 좋아 (I Like It Hot). The remaining four members continued performing until late July, when Hyuna was removed from the group due to their concern over her health—in particular, chronic gastroenteritis which had her hospitalized briefly in March and April. Because of injuries of So Hee and Hyuna, group had to perform many of their songs only with three members and two back-up dancers. Once there was an occasion where Sun Ye was singing an Hansung Byul Gok OST (한성별곡 OST) called "일월지가", and fan chanted "원더걸스 기다릴께" which translates "We'll be waiting right here, Wonder Girls." After listening to the cheer of fans, Sun Ye could not stop crying after the performance. She recalls this was the hardest time for the Wonder Girls.
On September 5, 2007, Good Entertainment, the talent agency for the popular boy band Shinhwa, sent their trainee Yubin to JYP Entertainment as a replacement for Hyuna. She made her debut three days later in the group's live performance of "Tell Me" on Music Bank.
Their first full-length album, The Wonder Years, was released the following week, on September 13, 2007, with "Tell Me." Due to the last-minute addition of Yubin, the album version does not contain her part. However, the performance version of the song was reworked to include a bridge with Yubin's rap. The single was a hit and reached number one on various Korean television and internet music charts, including KBS's Music Bank.
The choreography for the song was simple and widely imitated: by October, many fan performances of the dance circulated on video sharing sites such as YouTube and Daum[8], including one by a group of policemen who were eventually profiled on SBS's Star King. The dance became so popular it was known as the 'Tell Me Virus' and earned them the title of 'Korea's Little Sisters'.
Wonder Girls had an extensive promotional schedule for their album and in December 2007 they began performing the second single from the album, "이 바보" ("This Fool"). They made numerous appearances on variety and game shows, sang live on radio, at music festivals, on music shows, and in special joint performances with other groups such as Big Bang. MTV has also aired three seasons of The Wonder Life, a reality TV series starring the girls. In January 2009, however, they ceased promotion of their album to prepare for their concert in United States that was scheduled for March 2009.
A former member, Hyun-a, left shortly before the release of "Tell Me" due to health complications.
Yoobin
Birth name: Kim Yoobin (Hangul: 김유빈; Hanja: 金瑜斌)
Date of birth: October 4, 1988 (1988-10-04) (age 20)
Discovery: Good Entertainment Trainee
Position: Rapper
Ye-eun
Birth name: Park Ye-eun (Hangul: 박예은; Hanja:Hyun Ye-Eun)
Date of birth: May 26, 1989 (1989-05-26) (age 19)
Discovery: 2007 audition during the show MTV 'Wonder Girls Season 1'
Position: Lead Vocalist
Sunye
Birth name: Min Sunye (Hangul: 민선예; Hanja: 閔先藝)
Date of birth: August 12, 1989 (1989-08-12) (age 19)
Discovery: 2001 Park Jin Young's Challenge of 99%
Position: Leader, Main Vocalist
Sunmi
Birth name: Sun Mi (Hangul: 선미; Hanja: 宣美)
Date of birth: May 2, 1992 (1992-05-02) (age 16)
Discovery: JYP Entertainment Trainee
Position: Vocalist
Sohee
Birth name: Ahn Sohee (Hangul: 안소희; Hanja: 安昭熙)
Date of birth: June 27, 1992 (1992-06-27) (age 16)
Discovery: JYP Entertainment Trainee
Position: Lead Dancer, Vocalist
Source:
Wikipedia