Jonghyun (Kim Jong Hyun)

종현    김종현

SHINee

Born April 8, 1990 ..... Became A Member For Eternity December 18, 2017

In 2008, Jonghyun was chosen as a member of the group Shinee. The five member boy group debuted on May 25, 2008, on SBS's Inkigayo. In 2009, Jonghyun debuted as a songwriter and began penning lyrics for his group Shinee, writing the Korean lyrics to their fourth Korean single, "Juliette", which was featured on the groups second mini album, "Romeo". Jonghyun wanted to write about a romance story that "will make everyone interested but also a story which everyone can identify with" and he was inspired by the classic movie, Romeo and Juliet.

In October 2010, Jonghyun was one of twenty idols from various South Korean groups that recorded the song "Let's Go" with the purpose of increasing public participation in the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit. He provided his vocals along with other labelmates, such as: Super Junior's Sungmin, Girls' Generation's Seohyun and f(x)'s Luna. In November 2010, Jonghyun, along with TRAX's Jay, Super Junior's Kyuhyun, and rookie singer, Jino, participated in SM the Ballad, a new project group of S.M. Entertainment with the focus on releasing songs from the ballad or the R&B ballad genre. The group released their debut mini album, 'Miss You', on November 29, 2010.

In June 2011, Jonghyun joined KBS's 'Immortal Songs 2', where singers render their own versions of old songs from music legends and winners are selected by voting. Jonghyun won the first round and defeated his senior and fellow labelmate Yesung but he left the show after the first episode due to his busy schedule.

In April, 2013, Jonghyun was involved in a car accident, causing him to injure his nasal bone. It was reported by his agency that he had received surgery on the injury. Jonghyun sat out most of his groups promotions for their third full-length album to focus on recovery, though he rejoined for the final week

After four years of hiatus, SM the Ballad returned on February 4, 2014, with a new line-up; Jonghyun being the only member from its original line-up. Jonghyun also participated in a duet with Girls' Generation's Taeyeon called "Breath," which they promoted together. In July 2014, Jonghyun debuted as radio host for the MBC's radio program "Blue Night". He was chosen by the radio network because of his dedication to music-related activities and passion for music. He is replacing the former host, singer Ahn Jung-yeop of Brown Eyed Soul, who had been the host for more than three years.

Jonghyun also contributed with the production for Taemin's first mini album, 'Ace', composing and writing the track called "Pretty Boy", released in August 2014.

On January 2, 2015, it was confirmed that Jonghyun would be making his solo debut on January 12, 2015, with his first mini album, "Base". Though the title track was originally the more upbeat "Crazy (Guilty Pleasure)", which Jonghyun wrote the lyrics to, the pre-released track "데자-부 (Déjà-Boo)" was named as a second title track after it charted incredibly well on the digital charts.

Déjà-Boo was co-composed by Jonghyun's close friend, Zion.T and Jonghyun's debut mini album met much acclaim and drew attention not only because he participated heavily in the creation process, but because of the multiple collaborations with artists outside of S.M. Entertainment, including: rookie rapper Iron, Younha, Wheesung and Zion.T.

The album ended up peaking at first place in its physical release on both the Billboard's World Album chart and the Gaon Album Chart. On January 10th, it was revealed that Jonghyun would be participating in Mnet's entertainment program "4 Things Show" to promote his solo album. His appearance was not only marked as the first episode of the second season, but the first episode of the new year. Taemin, Davichi's Minkyung and Zion.T appeared as Jonghyun's friends during the episode.

In August 2015, Jonghyun held his first solo concert "The Story by Jonghyun" as a part of S.M. Entertainment's concert series "The Agit". Jonghyun performed songs from his first mini-album, and also released a new compilation album for each of his songs that were recorded in his radio show.

The compilation album, "Story Op.1", was released on September 17, 2015. Jonghyun did not promote the album on music shows, but did participate in three free busking concerts to promote it. Following the release of the album, Jonghyun performed a total of 12 sold-out shows, titled "The Story by Jonghyun", at the SMTOWN Coex Artium SMTOWN Theatre from October 2-4, October 8-11, and October 16-18. Each concert featured a different guest, including Shinee′s Onew and Taemin, IU, Zion.T, Jung In, Lim Kim, Oksang Dalbit, Coffee Boy, Nine, Lee Ji Hyoung, Soran and poet Ha Sang Wook.

On April 24, 2017 Jonghyun released his 2nd special album entitled "The Collection: Story Op.2" along with his music video for "Lonely," filmed in Los Angeles, California. Though Girls' Generation's Taeyeon features in the song, she does not make an appearance in the music video. Including "Lonely," Jonghyun's new album contains a total of 10 tracks, all composed and written by the SHINee member himself.

Jonghyun was found at a residence in the neighborhood of Cheongdam and was taken to a nearby hospital, but was sadly pronounced dead on the evening of December 18, 2017. SM Entertainment stated, "Jonghyun was the best artist, who loved music more than anyone else and always did his best for his performances. We are even more heartbroken to have to convey this sad news to the fans who have loved Jonghyun."