Eun Jiwon

Early life

Eun attended Hawaiian Mission Academy, from Grade 9 to 12. He was schoolmates with fellow Sechs Kies member, Kang Sunghun.

His granduncle is former South Korean president Park Chung-hee; his aunt from his father's side of the family is now-impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the daughter of the late President Park. His mother used to be part of a girl group called, "Lily Sisters".

Eun Jiwon's nickname in Sechs Kies was "Soy Sauce" (깜시) because of his dark skin. "Eun Choding" ("Kid Eun") was a later nickname on the reality-variety show Happy Sunday: 1 Night 2 Days because of his childish behavior.

1997–2000: Sechs Kies

Eun Jiwon and Kang Sunghun were discovered by a Daesung Entertainment's president, Lee Ho Yeon, who was vacationing in Hawaii. Lee formed a six-member group in which Eun became the leader, main rapper and sub-vocalist.

The group debuted in 1997, and disbanded in 2000. Eun described his time with Sechs Kies as hectic, recalling that members would retreat to their parents' homes to avoid the demanding schedule. He said the group's record label planned many of their media appearances without consulting the members. During this time, the group's popularity rivaled that of H.O.T.

On May 18, 2000 Sechs Kies announced their departure from the K-pop scene at a press conference, where a few members were tearful. Lee Jaijin later said that the group originally intended to leave their record label without disbanding. After the press conference a last music video, "Thanks", was released after their final concert. He said he had not seen bandmate Ko Ji Yong for seven years; Ko moved to the United States to study, and has not returned.

Although Sechs Kies disbanded in 2000, in 2002 Eun performed with former member Kang Sunghun and J-Walk Kim Jaeduck and Jang Suwon. In 2007, he performed with J-Walk on a number of music shows, including KBS' Yoon Do Hyun's Love Letter (where they performed the Sechs Kies song, "Couple") and Music Bank (performing Eun's "Adios" and J-Walk's "Light Storm"). Eun and J-Walk performed "Couple" at Lee Soo-geun's wedding on March 2, 2008. Eun was featured on the third J-Walk album's title track, "My Love" and in its music video.

2000-2004: Solo Debut & Breakthrough

After Sechs Kies disbanded Eun began his solo career in 2000 with an EP including "A-Ha" on October 27, 2000. He wrote all the songs on his first solo album, G Pop, which was released on March 29, 2001. After his successful first album, Eun refined his style and experimented with his music on his second album, Heavy G.

Hip Hopper Eun Jiwon changed his management to Waltz Music Entertainment in 2003. Eun's third album, Drunk on Hip Hop (with the single "Drunk on Melody"), was released on September 6, 2003. He later reissued his third album, including a "winter version" of "Mikasaro" and "Never Ever" from his first solo album. "Drunk on Melody" won Eun the Hip Hop Award at the 2003 SBS Gayo Awards and the KMTV Korean Music Awards. He has performed the song twice on stage with Tiger JK of Drunken Tiger on KBS' Yoon Do Hyun's Love Letter.

2004-2006: Screen debut & Hip-Hop Crew

Eun starred in the romantic comedy Marrying a High-School Girl (여고생 시집가기) with Lim Eun-kyung by first-time director Oh Deok-hwan, which was released on December 23, 2004. He played Park Ondal, a transfer student to the school attended by Pyung-gang (Lim). The film was about a high school girl who must marry a boy named "Ondal" before her sixteenth birthday, and have a baby within a year; otherwise, she would die.

Eun went on hiatus from the industry in mid-2006, but appeared once again when The Movement (무브먼트) (a group of rappers and hip-hop artists throughout Korea) staged a concert on May 13, 2006. Many Movement artists have been featured on Eun's albums including Drunken Tiger, Tasha (Yoon Mi Rae), Dynamic Duo and Bobby Kim.

2007-2010: Return after two-year hiatus & GYM Entertainment

Eun returned with a single, "Adios", after a hiatus from the music industry; his album Love, Death, Introspection (사랑 死랑 思랑) was released on October 30, 2007 with four new tracks and an instrumental version of "Adios". Mr. Tyfoon, Baek Ji-young and Sat Byul (샛별) were featured on the album. "Adios", a Latin hip-hop song, was composed by Keeproots with lyrics by Mr. Tyfoon. Tiger JK from Drunken Tiger, Mr. Tyfoon and Eun produced the album. Eun is part of 13 Creative Unit, a subsidiary of Eyagi Entertainment (which also produces singer Hwang Bo and actress Park Si Yeon).

In mid-2007, Eun appeared on the KBS reality-variety show Happy Sunday: 1 Night 2 Days. He replaced Kim Jong Min (who left for military service) on MBC's Come To Play (놀러와). Eun was a cast member of SBS' Jihwaza (작렬! 정신통일) before the show's cancellation in September 2007.

For his fifth album, Eun selected 20 of over 100 songs. In 2007, he performed at the DKNY Party. Eun appeared on Starship Entertainment label-mate Moon Ji-eun's debut EP (released on April 10, 2008), rapping on "Fox" and appearing in its music video after Moon appeared in Eun's 2003 music video for "Suddenly" (문득). In June 2008, Eun collaborated with J-Walk (Kim Jaeduck and Jang Suwon, formerly of Sechskies) on a song for J-Walk's album, "My Love". Later that year Eun released G Code; its single was "Dangerous", a sample of Kardinal Offishall featuring Akon's version of "Dangerous".

In early 2009 Eun left CH Entertainment and started his own company, GYM Entertainment. The first artist to be released in his company was singer-rapper Gilme; Eun appeared on Gilme's debut song, "Love Cuts", and has performed the song on stage with her.

After a year's hiatus from the music scene Eun released his fifth full-length studio album, Platonic. The lead track, "Siren", is an electronic dance song with hip-hop rhythms. Eun collaborated with Mr. Tyfoon, Gilme and 2 Days & 1 Night member Lee Su-geun on the album. The album was jointly released by GYM Entertainment and Starship Entertainment.

2011- : Clover project

On March 31, 2011, Eun, Gilme and Mr. Tyfoon formed Clover, which received much attention as Eun Jiwon's new group after 10 years since Sechs Kies' disbandment. They performed "La Vida Loca", from their mini-album Classic Over, on a number of musical shows. "La Vida Loca" was well-received, topping the Cyworld Music Chart even two weeks after the release.

On September 29, 2011, Clover released another digital single, "A Guy Who I Know (아는 오빠)". In January 2012, Clover received Hip-Hop/Rap Award at the 21st Seoul Music Awards.

On August 14, 2012, Clover released its second digital single, "Pork Soup (돼지국밥)". On November 18, 2013, Clover's third digital single, "Trickling (주르륵)" was released.

2013- : HotSechgodRG project

In 2013, Chun Myung Hoon, Tony An, Moon Hee-joon, Eun Jiwon, and Danny Ahn appeared on a new show on QTV, "Handsome Boys of the 20th Century".

"Handsome Boys of the 20th Century" was created by Moon Hee-joon who invited five members of the 1st generation idol groups to start a reality show version of the TV series "Reply 1997". He presented the idea that they would reflect on their idol days and where they are now. The show starred H.O.T.'s Moon Hee-joon and Tony An, NRG's Chun Myung Hoon, Sechs Kies's Eun Jiwon, and g.o.d's Danny Ahn. The five members named themselves HotSechgodRG — a combination of each member's previous idol group names.

The first season was aired from April 16, 2013 to July 9, 2013. The show received much attention, and HotSechgodRG appeared on many entertainment programs both mainstream and cable, such as “Immortal Songs 2”, “Happy Together” and “Hwasin – Controller of the Heart(화신)”. The second season of the “Handsome Boys of the 20th Century” was aired from August 27, 2013 to November 19, 2013. HotSechgodRG announced that they were preparing for a Christmas concert (Legend Back). Unfortunately, Tony encountered some legal trouble and had to withdraw from the group and the public eye. The concert was canceled as they felt they could not go on without Tony. The third season was aired from November 26, 2013 to December 26, 2013 under the name "Handsome Boys Communication (미소년 통신)". The program consisted of "EunHee Clinic (은희상담소)" starring Moon Hee-joon and Eun Jiwon and "DJ GodRG (DJ 갓알지)" starring Danny Ahn and Chun Myung Hoon.

In May 2014, it was announced that HOTSechgodRG would return for a new show in July. Moon Hee-joon, Eun Jiwon, Danny Ahn, and Chun Myung Hoon starred in a new show called "W.I.S.H. (Where is My Super Hero?)", which was aired on ONSTYLE from July 19, 2014 to August 9, 2014.

On July 31, 2016, Danny Ahn, Tony An, and Chun Myung Hoon, appeared on Eun Jiwon's program, "Planman". The program showed four members going on a trip to Jeju island and was aired on TRENDY and tagTV.

Reunite As SechsKies

On May 11, 2016, Sechs Kies signed a contract with YG Entertainment after their reunion on Infinite Challenge, except for Ko Ji Yong. SechsKies held a comeback concert on September 10 and 11 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena. After Infinite Challenge aired, Sechs Kies earned many more fans, and their comeback concert tickets were sold out in only 5 minutes.

On October 7, Sechs Kies released a new digital single "Three Words (세 단어)" which topped all 8 major music charts shortly after release, achieving all-kill status. It also ranked high in Asian music charts and global iTunes in Taiwan and is among top tracks on iTunes charts in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and others.

On August 19, Eun joined SBS's variety show 'Flower Crew' with fellow Sechs Kies member, Lee Jaijin. However, they left Flower Crew to focus on group promotions.

On November 23, YG announced that SechsKies' new album will be released on December 1, 2016. The new album "2016 Re-ALBUM" contains 10 past hit songs of SechsKies that were rearranged and remastered by YG producers, and is prepared a special gift for fans.

SechsKies continued the Yellow Note concert tour on December 10 in Daegu and on December 24–25 in Busan. On October 31, all SechsKies tour concert seats for December were sold out within a few minutes.

On December 16, YG announced SechsKies is to hold a "Yellow Note Final in Seoul" concert on January 21 and 22 at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium. On December 22, all 13,000 tickets were sold out within three minutes.

On February 16, 2017, TvN announced Eun Ji Won will be joined their new variety show “Cooperation 7”.

2010: Marriage

In February 2010 Eun announced that he would marry his first love, a woman three years his senior. They knew each other since 1994 in Hawaii, but broke up later when Eun returned to South Korea to start Sechs Kies. Eun and Lee Sooyeon were reunited 13 years later, and engaged in a steady relationship. Eun's fiancée was sister-in-law by marriage to soccer player Lee Dong-Gook. On April 7 Eun left for Hawaii to prepare for the wedding ceremony, scheduled for April 20. Although filming for 1 Night 2 Days was postponed due to the ROKS Cheonan sinking, Eun and his parents returned to South Korea on April 22 and he was interviewed on SBS's One Night’s TV Entertainment; he said it was like filming a commercial with his wife. On April 29 the first photo of the wedding ceremony was leaked to the public, in which the couple is walking down the aisle with family and friends congratulating them.

2013: Divorce announcement

On February 28, 2013, Eun announced that he and his wife divorced in August 2012. A statement from his management said, "Eun Jiwon wed his wife Ms. Lee Sooyeon in April 2010, but the two decided to part ways in August 2012. They decided to go their separate ways so that they could lead new lives following difficulties in getting along due to differences in personality".

Criticism

Eun is the only member of Sechs Kies to face criticism since the disbandment for changing his musical genre from pop music to hip hop and rap. Former boy band member Moon Hee-joon of H.O.T also changed genres, becoming a rock instead of a pop singer after going solo (Sechs Kies was a musical rival of H.O.T.).

Clover discography

Radio career

Eun was the first DJ on MBC FM4U (친한 친구), from 2002 to 2003.