This is Biography Lee Taemin was born on July 18, 1993, in Seoul, South Korea. From an early age, Taemin dreamed of becoming a pilot until he discovered dance at the age of 10 (during the 6th year of Korean elementary school). One of his biggest inspirations has always been the “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson. It was because of him that Taemin decided to become a full-fledged dancer. Later, his parents noticed his talent for dance and encouraged him to audition for SM Entertainment during the 2005 SM Open Weekend Audition Casting which he passed immediately. He then went on to train with the agency, befriending current EXO member Kai. He also attended Hanlim Multi Art School for artists.
After three years of training, in 2008 he was chosen as a member of the group SHINee, a five-member boy band (Onew, Key, Minho, and Jonghyun) that debuted on May 25, 2008, during the program Inkigayo, at the age of 14, filling the role of ‘maknae’, being the youngest member of the group, on September 19, 2012, Taemin releases his first soundtrack, U, for the drama Areumda-un geudae – ege.
On October 16, it was announced that he, along with fellow member Eunhyuk, Henry Lau of Super Junior-M, Hyoyeon of Girls’ Generation, and Kai and Luhan of EXO would be singing the song Max step for the album PYL Younique Volume 1, a collaboration between SM Entertainment and Hyundai, a teaser video of the song was shown at the PYL Younique Show on October 17, 2012.
In April 2013, SM Entertainment revealed that Taemin would take part in the reality show “We Got Married” (at the age of 19) with Son Na-Eun as his partner, replacing the previous couple Kwanghee and Sunhwa. In the same year, Taemin appeared in three episodes of the drama Dating Agency: Cyrano as idol singer Ray/Yang Ho-Yeol. In June 2013, he appeared in Super Junior-M’s Henry’s solo song “Trap” along with Super Junior’s Kyuhyun.
In addition to his work as a singer, Taemin made his acting debut in 2009 in MBC’s comedy “Tae Hee, Hye Kyo, Ji Hyun” as Junsu. Years later, in January 2012, Taemin became a voice actor for the Korean animated film The Outback as the main character, Johnny.
On July 25, 2014, MS announced Lee Tae-min’s debut as a solo artist. The music video for the song Danger is released on August 15, while the EP Ace, containing six songs, is released on August 18. The same year, he played Prince Lee Shin in the musical based on the serial Gung. The choreography of “Danger” was created by American choreographer Ian Eastwood and the directing team SM Beatburger.
Taemin to learn the choreography went to the dance studio in Los Angeles. On February 3, 2015, he was confirmed for a role in the cast of the first season of Match Made in Heaven Returns. On April 14, 2015, Taemin was also a cast member of the JTBC program Off to School along with other celebrities.
On June 1, 2015, he released the song “That Name” in collaboration with Jonghyun (partner in Chinee), for the soundtrack of KBS2’s Who Are You: School 2015. The song debuted at number 36 on the Gaon Digital Chart. On February 23, 2016, he released the song “Press Your Number,” contained within his first album Press It, which was also released in Japan the following July 27 within the first Japanese EP Sayonara Hitori.
Participated in the production of some songs, the American singer-songwriter, Bruno Mars, well known for his hit songs of those years “Treasure” (2013) and “Marry You” (2011). During an interview at SMTOWN Coex Artium (in Gangnam-gu Seoul), with Minho, he reveals to reporters.
After the release of my EP, I performed with Shinee but still spent a lot of time preparing for my next solo album, I took a lot of private lessons for voice and dance and studied my past songs well. I want to say that I have become a stronger artist. In June 2016, she announced her Japanese debut happened with the mini-album Solitary Goodbye included in her 23rd birthday showcase.
The album was released on July 27 and includes four new songs and the Japanese version of “Press Your Number.” In June 2016, Taemin has confirmed for the cast of Mnet’s dance program Hit the Stage. He performed together with his dance partner Koharu Sugawara, who is the choreographer of his Japanese debut song “Solitary Goodbye”. He wins first place in the second episode here. Taemin’s turn in her career as an artist.
In July 2017, he released a new song in Japanese, “Flame of Love”, for which there is a performance video and an official video, held his first solo concert in Japan at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo at which 28,000 spectators were present. Taemin held his first Korean concert, titled “Off-Sick” at the end of August for three days with a total audience of 12,000. Encore concerts of his ‘Off-Sick’ shows were announced on September 7 and took place on October 14 and 15 at Jamsil Gymnasium, which holds twice as many people as the previous hall. The two nights attracted 20,000 fans.
In August 2017, Taemin’s first Japanese drama, Final Life: Even If You Disappear Tomorrow, was announced. The crime drama directed by Masatoshi Kurakata and Takeshi Maruyama is a Japanese original work by Amazon Prime Video and was released in September. It stars Taemin and Shota Matsuda. The drama’s soundtrack, “What’s This Feeling” is also sung by Taemin.
Taemin’s second studio album, Move (contains tracks such as Love, Rise, the Korean version of Flame Of Love, and others), was released in October 2017 in which the hit single “Move” was released. The album debuted at number two on the Gaon Album Chart, and number three on the Billboard World Albums Chart. In December, he released Move-ing, which from the title may be misleading and seem to be the deluxe version of the previously reported album, however, it only contains new tracks, such as I’m Crying, of which there is also a Japanese version, Day And Night, of which an official video was released.
That same month, he was scheduled to perform at the annual KBS Song Festival but withdrew a week after the death of fellow Shinee, Kim Jong-hyun.
On November 5, 2018, he released the self-titled ‘Taemin’, his third Japanese version album that contains the tracks Sayonara Hitori, Eclipse, and Mars, while including new ones such as Under My Skin, Better Man, and Holy Water.
On February 11, 2019, a new mini-album called ‘Want’ is released, in Korea, the choreography for the title song of the same name was also created by Sugawara Koharu, The EP ranked on various Billboard charts, including fourth on Billboard World Albums, making it Taemin’s fifth award-winning release to date, a new record for the artist.
On August 4, 2019, Taemin digitally released his third Japanese EP ‘Famous’, with a physical release on August 28, 2019, through EMI Records Japan and Universal Music Japan. The lead single and title track ‘Famous’ were released on July 26, 2019, along with a music video.
On his 26th birthday, he adopted a dolphin through WWF. On August 7, 2019, it was announced that Taemin would become a member of SuperM (with other members such as Baekhyun, longtime friend Kai of EXO, Taeyong, Mark of NCT, Ten, and Lucas of WayV), a k-pop supergroup created by SM Entertainment in collaboration with Capitol Records. The group’s promotions are scheduled for October and have been targeted at the American market. SuperM’s self-titled debut EP was released on October 4, 2019, with the single ” Jopping.” The intention was to debut the artists in America, which was well successful as the band performed at the Capitol Records Tower to great acclaim and sang their songs live for the first time.
In April 2020, with SuperM, they participated in the first live online concert by an SM Entertainment band – jointly organized by SM Entertainment and Naver, as part of the first dedicated Beyond LIVE online live concert series.
In their April 26 concert, they performed songs from their debut mini-album and new tracks giving unannounced news of a new release, playing to a live audience of over 75,000 real-time viewers from more than 109 countries. The proceeds from this online concert, from pure ticket sales, excluding merchandise, were estimated at $2 million.
In early 2020 he announces that he will return with a new Korean album that was scheduled to be released around February and March. Also announced is his first solo tour postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through his Instagram page, he reveals the release dates for his third Korean studio album, titled Never Gonna Dance Again. The album has been split into two parts, including a final one with all the singles (2 KIDS, Criminal, and IDEA), and the tracks designed for it (including Be Your Enemy, along with Red Velvet’s Wendy, Pansy, and Identity).
On August 4, 2020, the promotional single was released, titled “2 Kids”, the single served as a prologue to the album: the first part of the album was released on September 7, with “Criminal” as the lead single, – the second part of the album was released on November 9, with “Idea” (理 想) as the lead single, also in August, the group SuperM announced its debut album, Super One, which was released in September 2020. The album’s release was preceded by a pre-release single, “100,” released on August 14.
With SuperM making their American TV debut with the morning show, via video call (not in-person due to the ongoing health emergency, COVID-19), on Good Morning America on August 20 with a performance of their single “100, in December 2020 they participate in the ABU TV Song Festival 2020.
Taemin’s personal life is a Catholic Christian, in March 2011 he was transferred from Chungdam High School to Hanlim Multi Art School due to work requirements related to Shinee’s debut in Japan. He received his diploma in February 2012 but was unable to attend the graduation ceremony due to the group’s activities. Today, he is attending the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts at Myongji University.
Discography
2016 – Press It
2017 – Move
2017 – Move-ing
2018 – Taemin
2020 – Never Gonna Dance Again (Act 1 | Act 2)
2014 – Ace
2016 – Sayonara Hitori
2017 – Flame of Love
2019 – Want
2019 – Famous
2020 – Never Gonna Dance Again
2021 – Advice
