Kim Bum-soo

KIm Bum-soo

Kim Bum-Soo (Hangul: 김범수; Hanja: 金範洙; born January 26, 1979) is a South Korean R&B and soul singer. His first successful song was "One Day", released in early 2000. He became most famous for his song "I Want to See", which was used on the soundtrack of the drama Stairway to Heaven. He performed in the television program I Am a Singer in 2010.

Biography

When Kim was young, he sung in a church choir in Seoul. He wanted to become a Christian music singer. He went to Soongsil University. He was allowed in because they had a shortage of students. It was disappointing for him enter like that, but he trained a lot to win a scholarship. He wanted a scholarship because his family was having difficulties with money. After he failed to get the scholarship, a singer named Park Sun-Joo began training Kim to sing. By chance he was signed to an agency, and he recorded part of a new song by R.ef, which was a famous rave music group in those days.

Kim released his first album, A Promise. However, after he appeared on a television program, his sales decreased because his appearance did not satisfy the public's expectations. His agency decided to promote him as a "faceless" singer instead. His songs were broadcast through radio and television again, but his name and appearance was never known to people.

After the success of the song "I Want to See", Kim wanted to appear on television again. He made his agency allow him once more to be broadcast. He appeared on a show called Love Letter. He received good comments from the public. His song "I Want to See" was selected to be on the soundtrack of the drama Stairway to Heaven. Kim has remained best known for this song. His later albums were not very successful. He served his military service from 2006 to 2008. After he was discharged from the army he released his sixth album, The Practical Usage of Sadness. His seventh album, Solista, was an ambitious work. The first part was released in 2010, but was not successful.

His appearance on the television show I Am a Singer was a turning point of his career. He became recognized again thanks to the popularity of the program. His song "Please Come Back", which was originally by Lee So-ra, maintained the first position in several websites for a month. Kim released his second part of Solista in 2011. It was popular, and Kim held several concerts to promote it.