Sungmin's Profile

Sungmin (born January 1, 1986), real name Lee Sung-min, is a Korean pop singer and actor. He is one of the four lead vocalists of the South Korean boy band Super Junior.

Biography

Sungmin was born in the Hogae district of Anyang, Gyeonggi. He has a younger brother, Lee Sungjin. He entered the 2001 SM Youth Best Contest and jointly won first place for the Best Outward Appearance award with future band mate Donghae. Together, they signed a contract with SM Entertainment and began to receive training in singing, dancing, and acting. Among the members, he is the second richest, as his family owns the company Send Bill, with Choi Siwon as the richest.
In 2002, Sungmin was briefly placed in a project R&B group with Xiah and future band mate Eunhyuk. Along with Typhoon, Rose and Attack, the six of them made their first television appearance in a show called Heejun vs. Kangta, Battle of the Century: Pop vs. Rock Moon Hee-jun taught Typhoon, Rose and Attack on how to properly sing rock while Sungmin, Xiah, and Eunhyuk were taught other singing techniques by Kangta. The six trainees quickly separated a year later, however, when Typhoon, Rose, and Attack debuted as member of rock band TRAX and Xiah debuted as a member of TVXQ. Both Sungmin and Eunhyuk joined ten other trainees and formed the group Super Junior 05, being the first generation of the rotational boy band Super Junior.

Super Junior 05 officially debuted on November 6, 2005 on SBS's music program Popular Songs, performing their first single, "TWINS (Knock Out)". Their debut performance attracted over 500 fans and also garnered oversea viewers from both China and Japan. A full studio album was released a month later, which debuted at #3 on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts.
In March 2006, SM Entertainment began to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation. However, plans changed and the company declared a halt in forming future Super Junior generations. The group dropped the suffix "05" and became officially credited as Super Junior. The re-polished group hit big after they released their first CD single "U" the following summer, which became Super Junior's most successful single in the music charts until the release of "Sorry, Sorry" in March 2009.
During his career with Super Junior, Sungmin has been put into three subgroups, smaller groups that are branched off of the larger main group. In February 2007, Sungmin was placed in the trot-singing Super Junior-T. A year later, he became a member of Super Junior-Happy. In 2011, he was also placed as one of the two new members of Super Junior-M along with Eunhyuk.