Sung-Bong Choi
| Sungbong Choi | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 최성봉 崔聖奉 |
| Born |
February 18, 1990 Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | Vocal, Popera, Classical crossover |
| Occupation(s) | Artist, author |
| Labels | Sony Music Entertainment, Bongbong Company |
| Website | www |
| Choi Sung-bong | |
| Hangul | |
|---|---|
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Choe Seongbong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Ch'oe Sŏngbong |
Sungbong Choi (崔聖奉, born in February 18, 1990) is an artist of the Republic of Korea. After passing qualification examinations for elementary school and middle school, he graduated from Dae-Jeon Art High School, and made his famous debut on June 4 on Korea’s Got Talent 2011. He was the first runner-up of the talent show.
Sungbong Choi was born in Seoul, and was abandoned at an orphanage when he was three. He ran away from the orphanage to escape physical abuse, took a bus to Daejeon, and started living in the red light districts. His approach to Jeong-So Park for a music lesson was a life-changing event. Jeong-So Park agreed to teach him for free and got him more support from the church and ChildFund Korea.
After passing elementary school and middle school through qualification examinations, Choi graduated from Dae-Jeon Art High School, and he is currently studying at the Department of Cultural Art Management at Kyung-Hee Cyber University.
During his troubled youth, Choi claims he hid at a night school when he was 14 to escape area gang members. He learned how to read and write and applied for qualification examinations to pass elementary and middle school and enter high school. With hopes of learning music and spending his school years with friends, he entered Dae-Jeon Art High School. To earn school tuition fee and private lesson fees, he worked at a delivery service, but he suffered a grave injury while working the night shift. Choi seriously thought about dropping out of high school, and his music teacher testified that he was often absent because of the underprivileged surroundings. He gained admission to Hanyang University, but due to financial difficulties, was unable to pursue undergraduate education. Instead, he spent his days working as a day laborer.
On 6 June 2011, Choi's performance of Ennio Morricone's "Nella Fantasia" on Korea's Got Talent moved judges and audience members to tears. He introduced himself as a manual laborer who had made a living selling gum and energy drinks for ten years. All three judges, Kolleen Park, Jang Jin and Song Yun-ah, were impressed with his vocal talent. Choi advanced to the finals of the competition, finishing second by only 280 votes.
Choi's performance clip was posted to YouTube and triggered a worldwide Internet sensation, receiving praise from pop stars Justin Bieber, BoA, Jung-Hwa Um, several hundred thousand fans on Facebook and also political figures including South Korea's former president Lee-Myung-Park. One version with English subtitles has triggered international press interest and a worldwide view that Choi was "the next Susan Boyle". The video itself has received over 168,201,756 views as of May 31, 2017, and the number is still rising.
...
Wikipedia