Dawon – early days
Lee ‘Dawon’ Sang Hyuk was born in Ilsan, South Korea on 24 July 1995 – his zodiac sign is Leo and he holds South Korean nationality. He is a singer and a dancer, perhaps best known for being a member of the boy group SF9.
Childhood and education
Dawon was raised as an only child in Ilsan by his father who is working as a janitor at a local elementary school, and his mother who is a cashier at a local market. Being an only child Dawon was allowed to do many things such as watch TV late at night and stay outside longer than other children.
He became interested in singing while attending fifth grade, and although his parents wanted him to attend college and obtain a degree, they still allowed him to practice singing and pursue his dream of becoming a K-pop star. Dawon attended a local high school in Ilsan but was mostly focused on working on his acting skills. Upon matriculation in 2013, he decided not to enroll at a college, but to dedicate his time to music.
Singing career and the group SF9
Prior to their debut, the 11 boys performed in Japan on 11 December 2015, and in May 2016 were invited to perform as the dance group NEOZ Dance in the music show “Dance or Band” in which they competed against NEOZ Band – the boys won the show with their single “K.O.”, then in August 2016 they were renamed to SF9.
SF9 is FNC Entertainment’s first boy dance group, and debuted on 5 October 2016 with the release of their single album “Feeling Sensation” and its title track “Fanfare” – the album reached #6 on the Gaon Albums Chat. A day later, the boys began promoting their new album in the music show “M Countdown”, and in only a few days, the music video “Fanfare” peaked at #6 on the Yin Yue Tai Weekly Chart, as well as at #7 on their monthly chart. SF9 finished promoting the album on 6 November, when they sang in the show “Inkigayo”. They ended the year 2016 with the release of their music video “So Beautiful” which was a gift for their fans – the song also served as the original soundtrack (OST) for the TV series “Click Your Heart”.
On 6 February 2017, the boys released their debut extended play (EP) “Burning Sensation”, which peaked at #6 on the Billboard World Albums Charts. To prepare for their debut in Japan, they sang at their first showcase on 7 April for which the tickets were sold in just a few minutes. The boys released their new EP “Breaking Sensation” on 18 April with its lead single “Easy Love”, and the EP peaked at #2 on the USA K-pop Albums Chart. They finally debuted in Japan on 6 June with their single “Fanfare”, and it topped the Tower Records Chart and peaked at #4 on the Oricon Chart.
Following this success, and ending the year on a very positive note, they performed at both KCON New York and KCON Los Angeles. On 12 October, SF9 released their new EP “Knights of The Sun”, and in November performed in three USA cities: Dallas in Texas, Seattle in Washington State, and Boston in Massachusetts. The boys’ debut Japanese full-length album was released in December entitled “Sensational Feeling Nine”.
On 26 February 2018, SF9 released their fourth EP – “Mamma Mia!” – while its Japanese version was released on 23 May – to promote the Japanese single, they went on the “SF9 ZEPP Tour 2018 MAMMA MIA!”, performing in Tokyo, Aichi and Osaka.
During August, the boys toured around South America, attending their fan meetings. Their new EP was released on 31 July entitled “Sensuous”, with the song “Now or Never” its lead single. Their two following fan meetings were held in Mexico City’s Auditorio Blackberry, and at Sao Paulo’s (Brazil) Tropical Butanta on 23 and 25 August, respectively – another fan meeting was held in Taipei on 22 September. The boys’ first domestic concert was held on 27 October at Yes24 Live Concert Hall entitled “Dreamer”.
SF9 released their new EP “Narcissus” on 20 February 2019, and the song “Enough” was the title track. A month later their new Japanese album came out entitled “Illuminate”, followed by the boys’ tour around Japan called “SF9 2019 ZEPP TOUR ILLUMINATE”.
They then embarked on their American-European “2019 SF9 USA – Europe Live Tour ‘UNLIMITED” during which they performed in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles (America), and in Moscow, Warsaw and Amsterdam in Europe. The boys sang at KCON 2019 Japan on 15 May, and on 17 June, their seventh EP and its eponymous lead single were released entitled “RPM”. On 7 July, SF9 sang at KCON 2019 New York.
On 7 January 2020, the boys released their debut Korean full-length album “First Collection”, with the song “Good Guy” as the lead single – nine days later, they competed in the music show “M Countdown”, winning it with their single “Good Guy”, and a day later they won another show “Music Bank” with “Good Guy” as well.
Most recently on 6 July, the boys released their new EP “9loryUS”, with “Summer Breeze” as its lead single.
Love life and boyfriend
Dawon hasn’t mentioned any girls he might have dated, and this is believed to be because his agency doesn’t allow him (nor other SF9 boys) to date as this has proven in the past to have a negative effect on groups – many girls and boys were let go from their groups because they broke their agency’s dating rule.
Dawon has still talked about his ideal type of a woman/girl, stating how she would have to be sexy and cute, would have to be shorter than him (but not too short) and have long hair. It would be a plus if she would have big eyes, and she has to be kind to him as well as to other people.
Dawon has also stated how one of his hobbies is ‘to steal hearts’, and there are numerous girls who are secretly, even openly in love with him.
It is widely believed that Dawon is yet to be in a long-term relationship, and as of August 2020 he is single, hasn’t married, and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
According to Dawon, his main hobby is eating, and he likes to taste various cuisines but his favorite is fast food such as hamburgers and pizza.
He likes to dress up for his performances and is also keen on doing cosplay and attending Halloween events.
He is keen on travelling, and has been all around the world to perform with his group, but has only once or twice travelled solely for pleasure.
appreciation post for dawon's hair highlights ♡@SF9official #DAWON pic.twitter.com/A3Bq6odGob
— hi yeom, it's ash (📚) (@rowoonlonglegs) August 26, 2020
He is physically active as he has three training sessions at the gym every week, and he also plays a variety of sports such as soccer and tennis.
Dawon likes to watch movies in his spare time, and his favorite actor and actress are Lee Min-ho and Song Hy-kyo, while some of his favorite movies are “The Grandmaster”, “My Girl and I” and “The Crossing”.
Age and height
Dawon’s age is 25. He has brown hair and brown eyes, is 5ft 10ins (1.79m) tall and weighs around 145lbs (65kgs). He is a fan of tattoos and has four inked onto his skin: the first reads ‘Grazioso’, the second is Roman numbers, third is Michael Jackson, and the fourth is a crown.
As of August 2020, his net worth has been estimated at around $150,000.
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