Jang Woo Hyuk Biography
Jang Woo Hyuk was born in Daegu, South Korea on 8 May 1978 – his zodiac sign is Taurus and he holds South Korean nationality. He is a singer and a rapper, who gained recognition after he became a member of the boy group H.O.T. in 1996.
Early life, family and education
Woohyuk was raised as an only child in Daegu by his father who was a businessman, and his mother who was a secretary. He became interested in dancing at a very early age, and attended a dance school at which he practiced ballet, contemporary and later break-dancing. He attended a local high school at which he began rapping with his peers, while he continued to work on his dance skills.
At that time, Woohyuk was physically very active as he played soccer for the school’s team, and also practiced basketball and tennis with his friends.
He matriculated in 1996, and in the same year launched his singing career, thus deciding not to attend college and pursue a degree.
Career as a singer
It was announced by SM Entertainment in 1996 that it had created the boy band H.O.T., made up of Woo hyuk, Moon Hee-joon, Kangta, Lee Jae-won and Tony An, and that they would be debuting later that year.
Their debut album “We Hate All Kinds of Violence” came out in September 1996, and was a huge hit as it sold over 1.5 million pieces – the initial success won the boys a Golden Disc Award for Best New Artist.
Their second album, “Wolf and Sheep” followed in July 1997, selling over one million copies in several days, and winning H.O.T. awards at the Seoul Music Awards as well as at the Golden Disc Awards – its lead single “We Are the Future” was nominated for a 1998 MTV Music Award for International Viewer’s Choice.
Their debut Chinese album came out in the same year, and helped the boys survive through the Asian financial crisis. Their new album was released in September 1998 entitled “Resurrection”, and it won the boys a Grand Prize at the Seoul Music Awards, however, H.O.T. was accused of plagiarism, because the album’s lead single “Line Up!” resembled Rage Against the Machine’s song “Killing In The Name”.
In April 1999, H.O.T. released their greatest hits album and was invited to perform at Michael Jackson’s concert in Seoul on 25 June, together with the girl group S.E.S.
Their next album came out in September 1999 entitled “I Yah!”, and in the same month the boys became the first K-pop group to sing at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium. They made their debut Chinese performance in February 2000, and in September, their fifth album “Outside Castle” was released, followed by in the same year making their debut movie appearance when they starred in the science fiction film “Age of Peace”, but which failed to attract much attention.
In May 2001 the group disbanded, after Woo hyuk, Jae-won and Tony rejected an extension of their contracts with SM Entertainment, which paid them only $10,000 for each one million album copies sold.
The trio then decided to found the new group JTL – the name is the first letters of their first names. They debuted with their single “A Better Day” in 2001, and on 21 December of the same year released their debut extended play (EP) “Enter The Dragon” which topped the Gaon Music Chart. On 18 December 2002, they released their second EP – “Love Story” which peaked at #5 on the same chart, and their final EP “Run Away” came out on 14 August 2003 peaking at #17.
The group then disbanded after having problems with promoting their songs, because of Lee Soo-man, founder of SM Entertainment, who continuously sabotaged them.
Woo Hyuk then started working on his solo career, and founded his own dance academy, Newest Entertainment. On 12 September 2005, he released his debut solo studio album “No More Drama”, which peaked at #8 on the Gaon Music Chart, and on 24 October 2006, his second studio album came out entitled “My Way” which peaked at #5 on the same chart.
He collaborated with Kang Hyeon-jeong from the group Bubble Sisters on his debut single “Rain Man” which was released in 2010 and which peaked at #39 on the Gaon Music Chart and in 2011 released his new single “Weekend Night (Electro Remix)”, which made it to #70.
The year 2011 also saw the release of his two EPs – “I Am the Future” came out on 25 May and reached #12 on the Gaon Albums Chart, while “Back to the Memories” was released on 18 November, and peaked at #9 on the same chart. His final single before retiring from music was released in 2012, entitled “Don’t Go (Secret Angel Edit)”.
Woo hyuk then launched his acting career – he made his debut performance in “The Secret Angel” in 2012, and in 2015 portrayed a supporting character in the movie “Love in the Office”.
Love life and girlfriend. Is he married?
Woo hyuk prefers to keep his personal matters to himself, which is why he hasn’t commented on the rumors regarding him being married to popular South Korean actress Fueki Yuko. The two started dating back in 2006, but kept it hidden because they didn’t want their relationship to affect their careers in a negative way.
It was revealed in 2014 that the two had been dating for over seven years, and had been seen while vacationing together in Guam – several pictures of the two were taken by a paparazzi and uploaded onto the internet, but Woo hyuk still refused to talk about his and Fueki’s relationship.
As of August 2020, Woo hyuk seems to still be in a relationship with Fueki, but hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
Woohyuk was interested in finishing military service – he joined the army in 2008 and completed his service on 18 December 2009. He had lost around 15kgs during service, but made a promise to his fans that he would get back on his feet, and that it shouldn’t be hard as he loves to eat food.
Jang Woo Hyuk / WHWORLD (Photoshoot).
Posted by Doramamusic on Friday, June 8, 2018
He has been very sporting since then, and has been having several training sessions at the gym each week.
Woohyuk’s main hobby is travelling, and he’s been all around Asia, while he’s also visited several European countries such as England and Italy, and has also been to the US on several occasions. In his spare time, he likes to watch Hollywood movies, and his favorite actor and actress are Robert Downey Jr. and Angelina Jolie, while some of his favorite movies are “Ironman”, “The Avengers” and “Mr. and Mrs.Smith”.
Net worth
Woohyuk’s age is 42. He has brown hair which he has dyed in various colors including blonde, blue and red: his eyes are brown as well and he weighs around 143lbs (65kgs) and is 5ft 9ins (1.76m) tall.
As of August 2020, his net worth has been estimated at over $100,000.
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