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BIOGRAPHY

Hyori Lee
	BIOGRAPHY | GALLERY | GOSSIP | BLOG

Hyori Lee, born on May 10, 1979, is a popular South Korean singer and actress. She started off as part of the successful K-pop girl group Fin.K.L, but has since become a solo artist. Her first album was very successful, winning many "Daesangs" (a Korean award equivalent to "Artist of the Year") for that album.

Her second album, due to a plagiarism controversy, was not as successful. She has since become the highest-paid female singer in South Korea.

Lee started her career as part of the Korean pop girl group Fin.K.L. Lee Hyori, who would become the group leader as she was the oldest member, was discovered while taking sticker pictures with her friends and was actually the last to join the group, just before their launch in January 1998. Fin. K.L. debuted officially on May 22, 1998 with their first single "Blue Rain." It was received quite well, but it was not until their second release from their first album: To My Boyfriend, that Fin. K.L. truly proved their popularity. "To My Boyfriend" became the first of their numerous number one hits. Fin K.L. became one of the most popular and successful Korean groups of all-time and rivalled with fellow popular girl group S.E.S..

Following Fin K.L.'s fourth album Forever, Lee branched out into television, becoming an MC for Time Machine and Happy Together; she is still a part of Happy Together: Friends to this day. Her solo album was released at the end of 2003, and was titled Stylish... E. The singer nearly swept the 2003 Daesangs, the most prestigious South Korean music award, winning more than seven of them, including three of the four main ones. Stylish... E sold over 153,590 copies in South Korea alone, according to the Music Industry Association of Korea[1]. Her popularity in her various activities eventually was dubbed as the "Hyori Syndrome" in South Korea, and the Korean Media nicknamed 2003 "The Year of Hyori" as she was rarely out of the news all year.

Lee Hyori has also appeared as the lead female actress in the SBS drama Three Leaf Clover co-starring opposite Ryu Jin, Kim Jung Hwa, Kim Kang Woo and Lee Hoon. However, the ratings were continually low, and it ended after 16 episodes. On August 8, 2005 she co-hosted the annual Korean Music Festival for the second year running.

In February 2006, Hyori released her follow up album, Dark Angel. The first single, "Get Ya", featured heavy choreography and sexually suggestive attire, which has become Lee's trademark. However, there was controversy over the single as the songwriters of Britney Spears' single "Do Somethin'" accused the "Get Ya" songwriters of plagiarism (Lee did not contribute to the song). After media attention increased, Lee and her record company quickly stopped all promotion for the single, taking a short break to prepare for "Shall We Dance", her followup single. Due to the negative attention, both the single and album were not successful, and promotions were stopped. "Straight Up" was released as a final single, but it was not promoted by Lee.

In November, it was revealed that Lee has verbally agreed to sign with M-Net Entertainment for 1.5 billion, becoming the highest paid female singer in South Korea A third album is expected sometime in 2007.

Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo has said that Lee will be appearing in a new drama, some two years after Three Leaf Clover. In their editorial, they criticized Lee, saying that she should downplay her oversexed image as she is "facing an image crisis".