Singer Wheesung (43, real name Choi Wheesung) passed away on the 10th. According to the Gwangjin Police Station in Seoul, Wheesung was found dead at his home in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul at around 6:29 p.m. on that day. Wheesung’s agency, Tajo Entertainment, said, “Today, our artist Wheesung left us,” and “The bereaved family, fellow artists, and staff of the agency are all mourning the deceased with heavy hearts at the sudden sad news.” 2025.03.10 Newsis

Singer Wheesung (real name Choi Wheesung), who impressed the public with the R&B genre in the 2000s with songs like “Can’t I?” and “With Me,” passed away suddenly on the 10th. His voice, which had been showing the true face of a “talented vocalist” with its appealing voice and soulful sensibility since his early 20s, will now be left behind as his last work.

Singer Wheesung ⓒWheesung Instagram

Born in 1982, Wheesung is also considered a representative self-made singer in the entertainment industry. His father was a taxi driver, and he spent his childhood in a single room in Myeonmok-dong, Seoul. It is said that his family suffered from a series of misfortunes and their financial situation was so difficult that they had difficulty even paying for college tuition. However, Wheesung never gave up on his dream of music. He worked as a backup dancer for the dance team ‘ING’ since middle school, and debuted as a member of the four-member idol group ‘A4’ in 1999, but disbanded the following year. He was also active in the famous black music club ‘SNP (Show N Prove)’ on the PC communication service Naunuri. At the time, Defconn and Verbal Jint were also members of SNP.

Singer Wheesung. 2017.08.29. (Photo = Provided by Real Slow Company) Newsis

His emotional singing ability, which was so emotional that some even called him an overseas singer, was by no means innate. After A4 disbanded, he enrolled in a vocal academy and sang for 10 hours a day for 6 months as a “practice bug.” Wheesung once recalled, “I thought my skills were inferior to Lee Young-hyun (Big Mama) and Lim Jeong-hee, who went to the academy with me, so I devoted myself to practicing more.” After that, he appeared in the 2000 Riverside Song Festival and was selected by judge Lee Sang-woo, and he once again walked the path of a singer.

Wheesung was different from the beginning, starting with his first solo album “Like a Movie” released in 2002 when he was 20 years old. The title song “Can’t I?”, which sings of a sad breakup with a lover, is considered to have shown the essence of R&B ballads. He received much love even amid the Korea-Japan World Cup fever that year, and he was also noted as “a singer who Seo Taiji highly praised” for his excellent vocal skills.

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Singer Wheesung (Dong-A Ilbo DB)

The title song “With Me” from his second album “It’s Real” released in 2003 was a song that showcased his sophisticated sensibility and appealing voice. At the time, it sold over 400,000 copies and ranked first on terrestrial music programs for six consecutive weeks. The third album “For the Moment” released in 2004 was an album that showcased Wheesung’s heyday as a vocalist. The title song “Incurable Disease” maintained his existing tone while also showing off his excellent technique in high notes. Since then, every song he released, including “Insomnia” and “I Thought About Marriage,” has become a hot topic.

Singer Wheesung ⓒNews1

He has also achieved a lot as a lyricist and composer. He wrote lyrics for unique yet popular songs such as Younha’s “Password 486,” T-ara’s “Crazy Because of You,” and Orange Caramel’s “Magic Girl.” Lyn’s “Breakup Life” and Ailee’s “Singing Increased” are songs composed by Wheesung. He was also famous as a vocal trainer. Big Bang, Beast’s Jang Hyun-seung, and Girls’ Generation’s Sunny are Wheesung’s “students.”

Popular music critic Kim Do-heon said, “Wheesung is a singer who proved that domestic singers can also digest the R&B grammar, which was previously considered a “foreign sensibility.” He contributed greatly to the popularization of Korean R&B,” and “In terms of his consistent efforts to nurture younger generations, he deserves to be recognized as a “good role model in the music industry.”