U-KISS

U-KISS

Template:Contains Korean text U-KISS (Korean: 유키스) is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed by NH Media in 2008. The members include Alexander Lee Eusebio, Shin Soo Hyun, Kim Ki Bum, Lee Kiseop, Eli Kim, Kevin Woo and Shin Dong Ho. U-KISS stands for Ubiquitous Korean International (Idol) Super Star. They debuted in Japan on August 15, 2008 and in South Korea on August 28, 2008.

The group has released one full-length album and various mini albums and singles. Their first full length album, Only One, was released on February 3, 2010.

The members of the group have had various activities as solo entertainers—acting in various dramas and musicals,and hosting various reality-variety shows.

History

Pre-debut

The group first was formed as a six-member boy-group. Their original concept was to be a pretty boy-group. Kim Ki Bum and Kevin Woo were original members of the boy band XING. Ki Bum left the group on 2007 while Kevin left the group four months before the debut of U-KISS. The pre-debut activities of the two members helped U-KISS to draw attention among Korean fans. Three of the members, Alexander, Eli, Kevin came from other countries. Alexander came from Hong Kong, while both Eli and Kevin came from the USA. Eli came from Washington DC while Kevin came from San Francisco.

2008: Debut and members

U-KISS debuted in Japan on August 15, 2008 at the Power of Atamix alongside SS501 & Paran. The group released their first mini album, N-Generation with its main track, Not Young, on September 3, 2008. Later on, the group debuted in South Korea, with a performance of "Not Young" on M! Countdown on August 28, 2008.

As many of the members had come from overseas or had studied abroad, they were fluent in other languages. Alexander can speak 7 languages at varying fluency levels. He can speak English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese fluently. Other languages he can speak include French, Portuguese and Spanish. Kibum can speak Japanese fluently. He had also studied in Australia for 2 years and can speak simple English. Dongho can speak Chinese fluently as he had studied in China, Beijing before. He is currently learning English on a variety program called "Raising Idols". Both Kevin and Eli were born and raised in the United States, thus both of them are fluent in English. Eli is also fluent in Mandarin as he had lived in China while trying to pursue an acting career. The international members came to South Korea to fulfill their dreams of becoming singers. As a result of the groups' fluency in many languages, they have no problems communicating with their fans from different parts of the world.

Shortly after their debut, U-KISS also starred in the variety shows, "All about U-KISS", "You know U-KISS". As U-KISS was not that popular then, these two variety shows did not receive much attention.

2009: New member and mini-albums

In early 2009, U-KISS made a comeback and released their second mini-album on February 11, 2009, titled Bring It Back 2 Old School with its title song I Like You. They did not gain much popularity from this album though.

Eli and Kibum also starred in the Thai drama "Autumn's Destiny". The drama was aired in Thailand only. As both Eli and Kibum cannot speak Thai, their voices were dubbed.

Kevin joined Arirang's radio show Pops in Seoul hosting the 'All About You' segment alongside co-host Isak. Shortly after, Alexander joined Kevin in hosting the show. In April that same year, Eli also became an MC of MBC's show, Fusion.

Later that year, U-KISS made another comeback with a whole new, more "manly" concept with their third mini-album titled ContiUkiss on November 5, 2009. This album helped them to gain a lot of popularity, especially their main track and hit song, Man Man Hani (Am I That Easy?). The dance for this song was named 'Kanghan Namja' (Strong Man) or Kangnam dance for short. It became a popular dance in the South Korean music industry. Their new member, Lee Kiseop, also joined them in the promotion of this mini-album.

At first, some fans were unwilling to accept Kiseop as a part of U-KISS. But that has now changed and Kiseop is now a member of the group, just like any of the other members.

Kiseop is an ulzzang and appeared in a variety show known as "Uljjang Shidae 2" or "Ulzzang Generation 2" (Pretty Boys and Girls Season 2), the ultimate survival show that seeks to find Korea's best-looking boys and girls. Fellow member Shin Soo Hyun also appeared on the show as a guest.

Dongho has made many appeareances on many variety shows, helping to promote U-KISS and helping U-KISS to gain a lot of popularity. Such shows include Invincible Baseball Team, Idol Maknae Rebellion and Raising Idols amongst many others. As a result of his hard work, he is known as the most popular member.

Kevin and Alexander were also featured in Brave Brother's new music video, "Finally."

2010: First album and other activities

Before the release of the first full length album, MBC revealed that U-KISS will star in a variety show. The show was titled U-KISS' Vampire. It was premiered on January 22, 2010. For the filming of the show, the members moved in together into a dormitory. They stayed together in the dormitory for the whole duration of the filming of the show. In the show, they were sorted into teams according to their blood types.

On the January 18, 2010, 2 years after debut, U-KISS opened their official fanclub, KissMe. The fanclub's official color is Pearl Pink.

On February 3, 2010, their highly anticipated full length album, Only One, was finally released. At first, it was announced that their song, "Without You", which is a track from the album, would be the main track. However, it was later changed to "Round and Round" (Bingeul Bingeul). The song Bingeul Bingeul later became a huge hit, gaining U-KISS the most popularity and attention that they have ever received since their debut. In this new full length album, they also changed their looks slightly, but it still similar to their "Man Man Hani" look. Dongho bleached his hair while Kevin dyed his hair a sandy brown. The album consisted of five new songs and remixes of songs from their previous mini-albums. The dance for Bingeul Bingeul was given the name "Tornado" dance.

On May 5, 2010, back from the Philippines, U-KISS started promotions for their follow up song for their Only One album, titled Mworago (What). This song too, helped them to gain some more popularity. They named the dance for this song the "Outcry" dance. In an interview, the members decided that Soohyun was the best at this dance as he was good at shrieking.

On June 14, 2010, U-KISS had their first concert in the Philippines. Around that time, they also had promotional activities in Asia, visiting Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan.

On June 16, 2010, it was announced that Soohyun would be starring a popular musical called "A Chorus Line". He had been practicing diligently for the musical but he had to later drop out as he had to prepare for U-KISS' comeback and for the recording of U-KISS' new album.

U-KISS appeared on various variety shows as a group. Such as Shin JungHwan PD Variety Show on June 8, 2010, Idol League, Heroes Challenge, and Idol United (they had to drop out of this one as their schedules were too busy. But they appeared for the first and second episode).

They also starred in a new reality show that finished airing on the July 30, 2010, called Chef's Kiss, in which the seven members split into teams and opened a real restaurant, which they named U-KISS Steak House. Each week, they had a single item on their menu, however, the single menu item would be changes every week. They had cooking challenges every week to decide on which team would be chosen to cook and which of the remaining teams would have to wait tables. Of the losing teams, a member would be chosen to wash the dishes. At the end of the filming, all the members had improved in cooking tremendously. Eli was chosen as the best chef.

Kevin and Alexander continued their role as hosts on Arirang's All About You show, and Eli joined them as a new co-host. Kevin and Alexander also became MCs for Arirang's music programme, "The M Wave" in August 2010.

2010: U-KISS Promotional Activities Overseas in 2010

Premiere Entertainment Philippines Inc. (PEP) brought Korean Super Idol Band U-KISS to Manila for the very first time for a series of special mall shows last March 26, 27 and 28. This is in line with the promotion of the band's full-length solo concert in the Philippines in June. PEP Chairman Joong Ku said that U-KISS is the first of the many Korean stars that his company will bring to the Philippines.

On the March 22, 2010, at an hour before midnight, Universal Records Philippines uploaded the venues for U-KISS’ Philippine promotional tour on YouTube. The video included a greeting to Filipino fans. The Mall Tour included a CD Signing Event after a series of performance of their songs Bingeul Bingeul, Man Man Hani, I Like You, As Long As You Love Me and Talk To Me. The tour kicked off at SM Megamall on the 26 of March, with SM Clark next, scheduled for the 27th and SM North Edsa on the 28th. Their promotions in the Philippines also included a special performance of Bingeul Bingeul at the pilot episode of Party Pilipinas. It was reported that their three-day tour in the Philippines earned 1 Million Pesos, which included a 4,000 copies sell-out sale of their full-length album Only One.

U-KISS had their very first concert in Manila, Philippines last June 14, 2010 at the Araneta Coliseum. The show was originally scheduled for May 29, 2010 but it was postponed to a later date because of an unknown reason. However, U-KISS apologized to their fans through a video uploaded on May 29, 2010, in the video, they promised to work hard in the time that they were still in South Korea. The originally three hour long show was rescheduled to a two hour show due to lack of preparations. The stage layout was also modified to a simpler one because of the delay of stage demolition of Pilipinas Got Talent which recently had a show the day before. The Hydraulics, Fireworks, lifts and 3 more LCD Background Screen were removed from the stage. The large crowd of concert attenders was spotted 2 hours before the start of the show. After the concert, Dongho immediately left for the airport for a scheduled taping in South Korea, but the other members departed for Seoul on June 15, 2010 after having fun at the SM Mall of Asia. The concert was taped and planned to have an official DVD to be released by the end of the year. The said Official DVD is under MNET and Universal Records.

U-KISS recently had guest starred at RAIN's INTENSITY concert in the Philippines at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds in September 11, 2010. The concert was filled of controversy as U-KISS fans filled the event and swept off the Clouds (Rain's Fanclub). It was rumored that an estimated 8,000 KissMes attended, while only over 2,500 Clouds attended. However, the night was still filled with much intensity. Reportedly, only 4,500 Kissme's attended the event but it was still successful.

2010: Fourth Mini Album: Break Time and Mworago Music Video

U-KISS had filmed the music video for their single Mworago from their full-length album in June and July 2010. The music video was set to be released on August 24, 2010 but it was pushed back to early September. In late September, NH Media announced that U-KISS were going to release a new mini-album titled Break Time and that with the release of their new mini-album, the Mworago music video was to be released as well.

The pictures of their fourth mini-album "Break Time" cover album is already being previewed all over the Internet. This mini-album is set to be released on October 4, 2010 in South Korea. It includes 5 new tracks and one instrumental version of one of the new songs in the album. The album contains a 50-page Photo Book and a Poster.

U-KISS is also scheduled for a mall tour promotion in the Philippines in early November. Scheduled also are fan meetings in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore at the end of the year to early January 2011.

2011: U-KISS Future Promotion Plans

NH Media released a statement that they are trying their best to bring U-KISS to other Asian countries around May and June nest year and will end around mid-August. Schedules have not been finalized yet but NH Media said that a bigger show for cities such as Singapore, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Jakarta and a special finale in Manila or in South Korea were definitely certain. Updates will soon be posted, however, information might be changed and everything released is not to be taken as final as information may be affected by factors like availability of venues and ticket sales.

It was also said that concerts for an official DVD would be taped in either Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia or in Manila, Philippines.

Members

• Alexander (born July 29, 1988)

Full name: Alexander Lee Eusebio (Hangul: 알렉산더) Height: 182 cm Weight: 63 kg Blood Type: O Alexander grew up in Macau. He is half-Korean, quarter-Portuguese and quarter-Chinese from his Portuguese-Chinese father and Korean mother. He has an older sister. He studied in America and is from De Anza college, California. He then returned to Hong Kong wanting to be an MC, but moved to Korea to debut under U-KISS. Alexander is also known for his ability to speak 7 languages at varying degrees.

• Soohyun (born March 11, 1989)

Full name: Shin Soo Hyun (Hangul: 신수현) Height: 181 cm Weight: 67 kg Blood Type: A Soohyun is known as the ‘Power vocal’ of U-kiss. Also, he is known having the best abs in the group. He has an older and younger sister. Soohyun was once a JYP trainee and Good Entertainment trainee before he transferred to NH Media and made his debut under U-KISS.

• Kibum (born December 29, 1990)

Full name: Kim Ki Bum (Hangul: 김기범) Height: 179 cm Weight: 65 kg Blood Type: O He is the younger brother of SS501's Kim Hyung Joon, and a former member of XING together with Kevin.

• Kiseop (born January 17, 1991)

Full name: Lee Ki Seop (Hangul: 이기섭) Height: 180 cm Weight: 61 kg Blood Type: A Ki Seop joined the group in 2009. He is a former ulzzang on Ulzzang Shidae. He appears on the second season of Uljjang Shidae. He has an older sister and he does Tae Kwon Do.

• Eli (born March 13, 1991)

Korean name: Kim Kyoung Jae (Hangul: 김경재) Height: 181 cm Weight: 70 kg Blood Type: O girl type: pretty that has a great personality Eli grew up in the States, was born in Los Angeles and moved to Washington, D.C. He has an older and younger sister. He has practiced Taekwondo for 12 years and went to China to train to become an actor, where he learned martial arts and mandarin.

• Kevin (born November 25, 1991)

Korean name: Woo Sung Hyun (Hangul: 우성현) Height: 181 cm Weight: 56 kg Blood Type: O Kevin grew up in the States and is from San Francisco. He was formerly from the boyband, XING, and was the last original member to leave the group. He has an older sister. Kevin is also known for his ability to speak English fluently.

• Dongho (born June 29, 1994)

Full name: Shin Dong Ho (Hangul: 신동호) Height: 178 cm Weight: 60 kg Blood Type: B Dongho is the youngest member of the group. He once mentioned in ‘Kiss the Dream’ that although people expect him to act like a grown-up, he likes his self as a kid. He has the largest connection between artistes among the members.

NH, Media, Research: Click on Profile Section for more information on U-KISS, retrieved 25 August 2010

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Information
2010	Only One Released: February 3, 2010 Language: Korean Label: NH Media

Mini albums

Year	Information
2008	N-Generation Released: September 5, 2008 Language: Korean Label: NH Media
2009	Bring It Back 2 Old School Released: February 11, 2009 Language: Korean Label: NH Media
	Conti Ukiss Released: November 5, 2009 Language: Korean Label: NH Media

Soundtracks

Year	Information
2010	Call of the Country OST part.2 Released: May 31, 2010 Language: Korean Label: NH Media

Other Singles

Year	Information
2010	Hero Challenge (Kim Sooro, Yang Sangchul, U-Kiss) Released: June 4, 2010 Language: Korean

Awards

Year	Awards
2008	5th Asia Song Festival: Best New Artist

External links

• Official website Template:Ko icon
• Daum fancafe Template:Ko icon
• Recognized Philippine Fan Community Template:Ph icon
• U-KISSTHAILAND
• U-Kiss Malaysian Fan Forum