Cho Yong-pil is a South Korean pop singer who is considered one of the most influential figures in Korean popular music. He debuted as a member of the rock band Atkins in 1968 and made his solo debut with the hit single "Come Back to Busan Port" in 1976. Cho has released 19 solo albums and has remained consistently popular during his 50-year career.
Biography
Early years: 1950–1968
Cho Yong-pil was born in Hwaseong, South Korea. When he was seven, he happened to listen to Ray Charles playing the harmonica, and this inspired the young Cho to play music. Thus, he commenced music career as a guitarist, but he became successful as a great pop singer in East Asia.
In 1971, Cho joined the band, Kim Trio, which motivated him to perform rock music. Members of Kim Trio were Pa Kim, Dan Kim and Sun Kim.
Commercial success: 1980–1992
His first single, "," brought him national attention when it was released in 1975, later becoming a hit in Japan. Cho then made a Japanese-language version of the song, and sang live in Japan. His first album, Chang bakkui yeoja 창 밖의 여자, was released in 1980 and has been followed by many others. In 1980, he had a concert at Carnegie Hall in the city of New York, the first Korean singer at Carnegie Hall. With a total of 19 albums, he has received numerous awards such as the KBS and MBC Best Artist Award, Ampex Golden Reel Award and the CBS-Sony Golden Disc Award.
Commercial decline and concerts: 1992
His commercial success declined after the appearance of the renowned group, Seo Taiji and Boys and many other young musicians. His studio albums released after 1992 were not so successful. Noticing this, he announced that he would stop appearing on television, concluding that he would hardly make any hits. Subsequently, he focused more on concerts and music performance. In 1993, his Busan concert attracted an audience of 1 million, a record for South Korea. In 2005, Cho performed a concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, an extremely rare event for a South Korean singer. He performs over thirty concerts per year. However, he attempted to compose diverse kinds of pop music, including rock music. In the end, he composed a great hybrid album based on pop and classical music, which revealed his inherent ultimate musical sense, comparable to that of famous western musicians. Such gifted musical talent is a major driving force to maintain great live tours at the World Cup Soccer Stadium in South Korea, even at the age of over 60.
19th album "Hello": 2013
In April 2013, Cho released his 19th album titled "Hello," which debuted at #1 on the Korean pop charts eclipsing Psy's "Gentleman" On 25 April 2013, he came back to TV via the showcase 'Hello'. This show was also broadcast live on YouTube. The album ranked number 1 in GAON Album Chart for the week of April 21–27, 2013. Two songs from the said album also managed to grab top spots in Korean Music Shows. Hello was on top spot in MBC MusicShow Champion on May 1. "Bounce" on the other hand, grabbed the top spot over Roy Kim's "Spring Spring Spring" and Psy's "Gentleman" in KBS Music Bank on May 3 and another one over SHINee's "Why So Serious?" on May 10. MBC Show! Music Core also gave the top award for the same song on May 4.
