U-KISS

U-Kiss (Ubiquitious Korean International Idol Super Star) is a South Korean band that was created by NH Media in 2008 that debuted willing with six members, Alexander, Kibum, Eli, Kevin, Soohyun, and Dongho. Kiseop joined in 2009, making U-Kiss a seven member boyband.

Members

Shin Soohyun, the leader of U-Kiss, was born on March 11, 1989 (24 years of age) and is the main vocalist. Fans have labeled Soohyun as "King of Fanservice", seeing to it that he does everything in his power to keep his fans happy. In 2012, Soohyun was labeled the "Power Vocal" and released his first digital solo, "Snowman"

Woo Sunghyun, "Kevin", is a Korean-American singer born on November 25, 1991 (22 years of age) and is one of the three English speakers of U-Kiss, Eli and AJ as well as ex-member, Alexander.

Kevin was born and raised in Danville, California and attended Monte Vista High School as well as being in the school's choir. He had auditioned in Korea during a holiday trip and then decided that he wanted to be a singer. At the age of 15, he moved back to Korea with his mother just for his dream.

Kim Kyoungjae, "Eli Kim", was born on March 13, 1991 and is a Korean-American singer. He is known for his Taekwondo and Kungfu practices and is the main rapper of U-Kiss.

Eli (which is short for Elison) was born in Washington D.C but spent most of his time in Virginia. After dropping out of high school did Eli go to Beijing, China alone at the age of 15 to pursue his dream where he learned Mandarin.

He studied techniques for Taekwondo and Kungfu for 12 years, giving him an oppurtunity to cast as an extra-artist in a Chinese movie.

Yeo Hoonmin, "Hoon", was born on August 16th, 1991 (22 years of age) and aside being a singer, is also a model and occassional actor. He's known as one of the vocals for U-Kiss and is currently attending Dongguk University for theater and film.

He had debuted as a solo, ballad singer and even released an extended play, Pure and Love on September 9th of 2009. He also appeared in the SBS drama Athena: Goddess of War as the president's bodyguard.

Kim Jaeseop, "AJ", was born on June 4, 1991 (22 years of age) and is best known as the lead rapper and sub-vocalist. He is one of the two members that joined after Alexander, a former member of U-Kiss, had left and also is an English speaking member.

AJ first debuted when he was 14 for PARAN with the debut song, "First Love" and soon after Alexander and Kibum had departed from U-Kiss, NH Media announced that AJ and bandmate Hoon would be U-Kiss which as PARAN under the same entertainment label.

Shin Dongho, Dongho, was born on June 29, 1994 (19 years of age) and recently left U-Kiss. He was the maknae of the group and said to have left because the idol life was becoming hard for him.

While in U-Kiss, he was an occasional actor and can communicate in Mandarin, seeing to it that he studied in Beijing, China. Dongho was the most active member of U-Kiss as he participated in many events and popular activities.

Lee Kiseop, was born on January 17th, 1991 (21 years of age) and is a vocalist as well as main dancer. He is specialized in Taekwondo and beat boxing while also occasionally acts.

Kiseop is known for being an ulzzang (having the best face) and joined U-Kiss in 2009 after their debut, making the group out with seven members.

2008: Predebut/Debut

With Kevin Woo and Kim Kibum as previous members of the boy band Xing, they had left their title to join U-Kiss in 2007, forming the six-member group. The other members were chosen individually by NH Media's selective auditions and the group had ended up debuting in Japan on the 15th of August in 2008 while debuting in Korea on the 28th of the same month with their first mini album N-Generation (New Generation). They were then considered for a Japan-Korea project even though they had been new to the industry.

The Yoshimoto Group in Japan had spent a large sum of money to get U-Kiss known as an international band, seeing to it that the members within U-Kiss were multi-lingual. At the time, Alexander had been fluent in seven different languages, Eli in three, Dongho in two, Kevin with English and Kibum in Japanese.

2009-2010: Only One + Variety shows & their first concert

With the release of U-Kiss's second mini-album Bring It Back 2 Old School in 2009 with title song "I Like You", U-Kiss found popularity in Thailand. The third mini-album released in that year, ContiUKiss with title track, "Man Man Ha Ni" launched with the seventh member, Lee Kiseop.

Their fourth mini-album, Break Time launched in 2010 with the title track, "Shut Up!" before their first full length album, Only One released on February 3rd of that year. This album topped the charts in the Philippines as well as three other music charts in just one day. To promote the album, U-Kiss played in Malaysia, Mongolia, and Japan.

Their first major concert was held in the Philippines and soon after, started their own reality shows such as All About U-Kiss, U-Kiss Vampie, and Chef Kiss.

2011-2012: Japanese Career, Neverland and Dora Dora + Tour

Alexander and Kibum had left the band in 2011, forcing an album to cancel due to the termination of a member contract. Soon after, the departure of the two members were replaced by AJ who was formerly a member of PARAN as well as Hoon.

This "new" U-Kiss launched their fifth mini-album, Bran New Kiss and a ballad song "0330" as well as their second full-length album Neverland in September with the singles "Neverland" and "Someday".

Their DVD, U-Kiss Days In Japan Topped the charts at number 8 in March of 2012 and a compilation album First Kiss placed second on those same charts. U-Kiss also released the Japanese version of Bran New Kiss on August 24th while releasing their first Japanese album, "Tick Tack" and second album Forbidden Love.

In 2012, U-Kiss participated in a Music Bank event in Paris, France. They also released their sixth album, Dora Dora on April 25th of that year and special album The Special to Kissme on June 5th.

Latest articles