Yoo Seung Jun

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Yoo.

Yoo Seung Jun
Birth name	Yoo Seung Jun
Also known as	Steve
Born	December 15, 1976 (1976-12-15) (age 31)
Origin	Seoul, Korea
Genre(s)	K-pop, R&B, Dance, Urban, Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper, singer, Dancer, Model
Years active	1997-2002, 2006-present
Label(s)	DreamBeat (2006-present)

Korean name

Hangul	유승준
Hanja	劉承俊
Revised Romanization	Yu Seungjun
McCune- Reischauer	Yu Sŭngjun

Steve Seungjun Yoo or Yoo Seung-Jun was a popular South Korean pop star until 2002 for controversies around his military service.^[1] He was noted for his high-energy dancing style, badass image, rapping, and singing ability.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Deportation Controversy
4 Post-Deportation
5 Discography
- 5.1 Albums
6 References
7 External links

Early life

Yoo Seung-Jun was born on December 15, 1976, in Seoul, South Korea. When he was 6 years old, he began to dream of becoming a star. He enjoyed listening to music from Michael Jackson. His family moved to the America when he was 13 and resided at Buena Park, California. ^[2] He attended Sunny Hills High School, where he experienced discrimination and did poorly as a result of gang activity and drugs. Yoo eventually overcame his problems, and started singing in a church choir.

He discovered he had a knack for singing and dancing, so he began to video tape and make demos of his rap and dance moves. At 20 years old, he worked hard to get his name known in the Korean music industry, sending out demo tapes to various korean music agencies displaying his variety of talents: rapping, dancing, swimming, playing tennis, roller blading, playing basketball, body building, and Tae Kwon Do. For a while, no one responded, but when Steve Yoo finally received a response, he left California to start his singing career. ^[3]

Career

In 1996, he started filming himself singing and dancing, and sent these videos to Brothers Entertainment where he was scouted. He was sent to Korea and debuted as a singer in 1997. His first album West Side was an instant hit with the song debuting with Gawi translated as Nightmare. With the hit of Gawi and I love you noona, He was awarded The Best Rookie of the Year in most of year end event. Yoo gained the big popularity with the specific dance move of the song Gawi. The move that shake the legs while body goes down and up and few people line up diagonally to perform same dance move became the signature of Yoo. The summer of 1998, he released 1998 V2 for SALE with the single Na Na Na, the song and the music video for Na Na Na topped charts ^[4] and his popularity grew even more. 2nd album is consider as the most successful album of his career which award him The Best Artist of the Year on multiple award ceremony. In 1999, He went on to release his 3rd album Now Or Never with single album passion. In this time, He started to expand his singing activity to China and Taiwan. Working with Taiwan singer Yuki, He release the single can't wait in the China and Taiwan and gained big popularity which helped him later on his life. In 2001, he released his single Wow. He continues to release album and single in Korea until 2002. From late 1990s to early 2000s, because of success of group idol like H.O.T and Shinhwa, Most korean entertainment company continue to produce group singers and Yoo seung jun is known as the best solo artist of that era.

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (July 2008)

Deportation Controversy

In South Korea, all males must serve 24 months in the military. Yoo said time and time again on Korean television that he would fulfill his duty. But in 2002, just before he was to be drafted, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen and appeared to the government with a U.S. passport. ^[5]^[6] As a result, the South Korean government considered his action an act of desertion, and deported him to the U.S, permanently banning him from entering Korea. The Korean public was also shocked at his action, and his fame plummeted. Yoo was later allowed to visit Korea for a short period to attend his father-in-law's funeral.

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (June 2008)

Post-Deportation

Yoo resides in Los Angeles, California, with his wife and childhood friend Christine Oh and they have a child. ^[7] He also has a music career going on in China. It was apparent that he has desires to return to Korea when he showed up on Korean TV begging the Korean public to forgive him ^[8] he even showed up on Korean TV channel tvN, to talk about the reasons for his actions, with no success.

On 2007, he released his 7th album Yoo Seung Jun Vol. 7 - Rebirth of YSJ produced specifically in mind for his longtime fans who have stood by him throughout the highs and the lows of his career. The album was produced under the collaborated efforts from production teams from the U.S., China, and Korea. ^[9] He released various singles such as Missing U, Breakin' Love, One For Me, and Fireworks. It has also shown that he has become much more muscular since the days of Na Na Na and has improved on his English rapping. ^[10]He has also earned a role in an untitled Taiwanese drama that will be loosely based on Bret Easton Ellis' famous novel Less Than Zero. In June 2008, Steve Yoo signed 15 year contract with Jackie Chan's entertainment management company and looking forward to expand his career to acting and singing in the United States. Currently Yoo is in the china, continuing his singing career and attending Jackie Chan's stunting school to become an actor.