Ryeo Wook's Profile

Birth name: Kim Ryeo-wook ( 김려욱 ) (金丽旭)

Stage Name: Ryeowook (丽旭)

Born: June 21, 1987 (age 21)

Origin: Seoul, Republic of Korea

Genre(s): K-pop, Mandopop, R&B

Occupation(s): Singer, dancer, actor

Instrument(s): Singing, piano

Voice type(s): Tenor

Years active: 2005–present

Label(s): SM Entertainment

Associated acts: SM Town
Super Junior
Super Junior-K.R.Y
Super Junior-M

Kim Ryeowook (born June 21, 1987), more commonly credited as Ryeowook, is a Korean singer, dancer, occasional actor, and the third youngest member of Super Junior. He is recognized by his fellow members as the "eternal magnae" (eternal youngest) of the group, as well as one of the three most vocally powerful in the group (Super Junior-K.R.Y.). Even before Kyuhyun's addition to the group in May 2006, Ryeowook commonly called himself the youngest despite being a few months older than Kibum. Ryeowook is currently studying at Inha University. He is also one of the first Korean artists to appear on Chinese postage stamps.

Pre-debut years

Kim Ryeowook was discovered through the CMB Youth ChinChin Festival in 2004 and signed a contract with SM Entertainment soon afterwards after impressing judges with his singing talent. Trained in areas of singing, dancing, and acting, Ryeowook placed particular efforts into his vocal training and music composition as he was most concerned in those areas.

2005–present: Super Junior
Further information: Super Junior

Ryeowook was the last to join Super Junior before Kyuhyun, and did not join the group until several weeks before the group's official debut in 2005. His late addition was rumored to be a replacement of a previous SM trainee that was supposed to debut as a member of Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.

On November 6, 2005, Ryeowook along with eleven other members of Super Junior 05, officially debuted on SBS's Popular Songs performing the first single "TWINS (Knock Out)." The group released their full studio album a month later, and the album debuted as #3 on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts.[2] As the group's second single, "Miracle", came to an end, his talent agency was about to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation, Super Junior 06, with Ryeowook staying as an undergraduate member. However, plans changed when the company added in a thirteenth member, Kyuhyun, and the company declared that future Super Junior generations were rumors.[citation needed] The group dropped the suffix "05" and became officially Super Junior. The new group hit big after they released their first CD single "U" the following summer in 2006, which became Super Junior's most successful single in the music charts, leading Super Junior to set #1 records in their music career since then. A year later in the fall of 2007, the group released their second official album, Don't Don, which became Super Junior's best-selling album and Korea's second best-selling album of the year.[3]

In late 2006, Ryeowook became a member of Super Junior's first subgroup, Super Junior-K.R.Y. The trio debuted on November 5, 2006 on KBS's Music Bank.[4] In early 2008, Ryeowook was placed in another Super Junior subgroup, Super Junior-M. The subgroup specializes in singing Mandarin songs, including Mandarin versions of Super Junior's Korean songs, bringing the K-pop influence into the Chinese music industry. Super Junior-M is the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of both Chinese and Korean descent.[5] The seven-member group debuted in China on April 8, 2008 at the 8th Annual Music Chart Awards with the release of their first single music video, "U". The subgroup released their first Chinese-language studio album, Me on May 2, 2008. The album debuted on Taiwan's G-music combo charts as #2 and #1 on many of China's and Thailand's music charts.