Choi Dong-wook

Choi Dong-Wook

Choi Dong-Wook (born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name Se7en, is a South Korean pop/R&B singer. He began training under a management agency YG Entertainment at the age of fifteen. After four years of training in voice and dance, he made his debut in 2003.

Career
Seven has traveled throughout Asia, particularly Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, and Hong Kong. He has also performed a few times in the United States, specifically Los Angeles (Grand Olympic and Hollywood Bowl), New York City (Madison Square Garden), and Washington DC (DAR Constitution Hall).
In addition to performing, he has been featured on game shows in South Korea and Japan, and commercials for Samsung's Anycall, Baskin Robbins, Coca Cola, LG Telecom, Sprite (directed by David Fincher) and most recently, K-SWISS and KTF. He has held a total of five concerts in Japan: one held in 2005 at Yokohama, and for the year 2006, two held in Tokyo and two in Osaka. He held a total of three concerts for his "24/SE7EN" album promotion June 2006 in Seoul, South Korea. He won an award for the Most Popular Korean Singer in the MTV Asia Awards 2006 at Bangkok, Thailand, and the MTV Best Buzz Asia Award 2006.

On April 7, 2007, his 747 concert was held at Seoul's Olympic Park Stadium, which was his last activity in Korea for 2007. He is currently working on his oversea activities in Japan and the United States. He has held another Japanese tour called '7rhythm' in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya in early July. Seven was preparing for his U.S. debut, which was scheduled in 2009.
He made a comeback in 2010 with his mini-album "Digital Bounce." It has been popular online and offline music charts since its release in mid July.

American Debut
Seven and YG Family (including Big Bang, 2NE1, Jinusean and Gummy) have made an appearance on MTV K, followed by 3 concerts in Washington DC, New York City, and Los Angeles, to celebrate YG Family's 10th Anniversary and to help promote Seven before his American debut. The MTV K documentary aired on December 11, 2006.

Seven is a featured guest on Amerie's Take Control on her album, Because I Love It, which was released in May 2007. This remix is available on Asian versions of the album.

Yang Hyun Suk, (CEO of YG Entertainment) had announced that Fabolous will be featured in Seven 's first U.S. single. However, due to a leak in March 2007 of his US debut song, "This is My Year" featuring Fabolous, which is produced by Rich Harrison and Lionell Davis, on Myspace and YouTube, this caused some changes in Seven's U.S. debut.
Seven has been working with former CEO of LaFace Records, Mark Shimmel and Grammy-winner Rich Harrison and Richcraft producer Lionell Davis on his first American album. A new production team called Noize Trip, who produced The Black Eyed Peas' Disco Club has also contributed some work. It was also reported that Teddy from 1TYM has produced a song for Seven's American album and possibly will make more songs. Darkchild has also joined the team and produced songs for Seven. It was also reported from Far East Movement's blog that they, as well as Three 6 Mafia will also participate in his upcoming English album.

YG Entertainment and Seven also took necessary steps to ensure his debut such as trademarking his name in America.

Seven began promoting his English songs through a U.S. album preview party tour with his first stop at the Hiro Ballroom in New York City on March 14, 2008 (produced by Swerve Media and Base NYC). Three of his U.S. album tracks were played at this preview party. He is currently holding other album preview parties across the U.S. and Canada. Verizon Wireless has been sponsoring his preview parties and autograph signings by Seven for a charitable cause.

On March 10, Seven 's first single "Girls" featuring Lil' Kim was released through digital stores such as iTunes and Amazon MP3. The music video for "Girls" was also released on Myspace that same day.

Seven 's "Girls" music video premiered on BET 106 & Park on June 2, 2009.

Acting career

Seven accepted the lead role for the Korean drama Goong S, a spinoff of the drama Goong. The first episode of Goong S premiered on January 10, 2007 on MBC; the average nationwide rating for the entire series was 9.7%.

Goong S was the most searched and rewatched drama online; it ranked higher than its competition: KBS2 Dal Ja's Spring and SBS Surgeon Bong Dal Hee. The drama has also gained a wide variety of support from international fans in the U.S., Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil, Australia, and Singapore.

Se7en has stated an intention to continue acting in the near future. Seven had said that even though the drama was not of much of a success, he does not ever regret accepting the role of his character in the drama. It even helped Seven to sing with more emotion during performances. He also mentioned that he was thankful to have a chance to work with the drama crew and take his career to a new level by acting.

Voice
Seven 's vocal range can be classified in the tenor range. His voice can be described as smooth, mellow, and sometimes mildly abrasive (see vocal belting) when songs, such as "Crazy," "La La La," "Hikari" and "I Know," call for it. He often sings with a vibrato in his voice that American R&B singers are known for, and also incorporates beatboxing into many of his songs such as "Passion." Seven maintains an adamant belief that he should not lipsync during his live performances.

Birth name :
Choi Dong-Wook
Born :
November 9, 1984 (1984-11-09) (age 26)[1]
Origin :
South Korea Seoul, Republic of Korea
Genres :
K-pop, J-pop, R&B, Hip hop, Pop
Occupations :
singer, dancer
Years active :
2003–present