Hwang Chi yeul

Early life

Hwang Chi Yeul was born and grew up in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea on 3 December 1982, the youngest of three children (with an older sister and brother) born to Hwang, an engineer and Park. As a teenager, he was obsessed with dance(B-boying, a street dance). However, he always wanted to become a singer.

When Hwang was little, he was so smart and his mother wanted and expected him to become a lawyer. One day a famous exorcist visited and predicted, "Chiyeul will become a singer in the future." She was very upset with what the exorcist said. At that time, Hwang's mother thought, nothing was correct what she said, (MBC, I live alone, ep136).

When Hwang was a dancer in Gumi, used to dance at the shopping mall, he was 22 years old but already a leader of Dance Team, 'Swing' and very popular in his hometown Gumi. They even held a concert only for 'Swing', (MBC, I live alone, ep136).

On 24 September 2004, he moved to Seoul from Gumi to become a musician, (Our singers, ep7,). In 2007, he made his official debut, releasing two albums and appeared in some TV and radio shows for about a year but had to stop all the activities since his previous management company closed the business due to financial difficulties. He spent his twenties working part-time jobs and taught at music schools as a vocal coach for a living. The students that he taught, there were Idol bands such as Infinite, After School, Lovelyz, NU'EST, Hello Venus (Our singers, ep7,).

In those days, he couldn't afford many things. Even when a kneecap dislocation occurred, he didn't want to spend money since he had already experienced a same trouble before. At that time, he had to go to emergency room and spent WON120,000 (apprx. equivalent to USD103). Thus, when it happened again he fixed a dislocated kneecap himself using his fist tapping on the knee. Even at present, he can hardly dump stuff since he wouldn't like to waste things, always tries to keep most of stuff and picks the dump furniture in the streets (MBC, I live alone, ep126).

When Hwang moved to Seoul, he needed the piano the most for accompanying to practice songs, one day he got a 49 key piano from someone for free. He didn't know about the chords or anything, went to the book store to get a book but he couldn't even afford WON10,000(apprx. equivalent to USD9) book. Thus, he secretly shot the video for the chords with his phone then he got back home and wrote all the chords on a notebook, practiced with it, (MBC, I live alone, ep126).

Hwang recalled, "I can even eat meat now, in the past, I couldn't afford it. One day, when I was eating out, I checked the price it was WON8,000 (apprx. equivalent to USD7 for one portion). I couldn't afford it since it was way too expensive, (MBC, I live alone, ep126)."

As soon as he moved to Seoul, he started living in a 'semibasement house: in between ground floor (1st floor in the United States) and the basement' sharing with some other hometown friends. And the next place was a place that was weird, like a cave. After these places, he moved to a rooftop house, (MBC, I live alone, ep126). Generally speaking, a semibasement or rooftop house is not environmentally good to live in S. Korea. Rent is lower than other places, people that have no better options usually live there,. Furthermore, 85 percent of his neighbours have already moved out of the town since Seoul City designated his town as the 'reconstruction area', (MBC, I live alone, ep126).

Other names

TEN2, yori, 7102

(TEN2, yori)

TEN2 is derived from his name Chi Yeul, in Korean pronunciation, Ten(number 10)is 'Yeul' and 2 is 'Yi', thus, ten2 will be 'Yeulyi'. 'Yi' is just a word(without any particular meaning)that comes after names as post-position(Preposition and postposition). In English, they have preposition that comes 'before' words. In Korean, they have postposition that comes 'after' words. 'Yi' is also a word that comes after words.

In Korea, the way they address people is that they usually add some particular words after names. Those words would be varied depends on names or who's calling whom. They would not call people by names only. It's far more formal when younger people address elderly people (Korean postpositions).

'TEN2(Yeulyi)' is one of Hwang Chi Yeul's nicknames. 'Yeulyi' is sometimes pronounced as 'yori' that people would recognize as a cuter name.

(7102)

Korean pronunciation of 'number 7' is 'chil' that is similar to 'Chi' as in 'Chi Yeul'. 7102 is derived from 7(Chi) 10(Yeul) 2(Yi),.

Thus, Hwang Chi Yeul is frequently called by these three nicknames: TEN2, yori, 7102.

Awards

The winner of Immortal Songs2

1. Ep 199 (16 May 2015), 'Family Special', with the song 'Father (아버지)', a score of 425.
2. Ep 212 (15 August 2015), 'Super Rookie Special', with the song 'You are only in a place slightly higher than I (나보다 조금 더 높은 곳에 니가 있을 뿐)', a score of 430.
3. Ep 227 (28 November 2015), 'Baek Ji-young Special', with the song, 'Burden (부담)', a score of 432.

Others

Hwang Chi Yeul has been appointed as a campaign ambassador on 31 October 2015 for 'Taking a break' from mobile (cell) phone.

Hwang Chi Yeul has been appointed as a cultural Goodwill ambassador in order to promote cultural exchanges between S. Korea and China and foster friendship for the people between the two countries,.

Duration: 24 March 2016~23 March 2017

Hwang Chi-yeul won The most powerful singer of the year at KU Music Asian Music Awards (酷音乐亚洲盛典), held in Guangzhou, China on 29 March 2016,.

Hwang Chi-yeul won Overseas Multitalented Entertainer (海外全能艺人) and Overseas The most popular singer (海外最受欢迎歌手), at Music Radio Chinese Top Music Awards (Music Radio 中国 TOP 音乐盛典), held in Beijing, China on 7 May 2016

Activities in China

Hwang had an Interview with Entertainment Weekly (KBS), on 13 February 2016 and mainly talked about the activities in China.

Hwang is happy to see his name take 1st place on the list of recent hottest topics in realtime search on the websites in South Korea and China. 'I am a singer, season4, China' contacted him to participate in the show around September in 2015. These last 2~3 months (approximately from November 2015 to January 2016) have been so busy to prepare for the show.

About 'Bang Bang Bang'

The reason he chose Bang Bang Bang for the episode 8 of I am a singer, he wanted to select some common points between Korea and China since Big Bang is very popular in China. According to Hwang in the interview, he found difficulties preparing for the Bang Bang Bang performance particularly Rap. Besides that, he was anxious about how Big Bang's fans would assess his Bang Bang Bang, performance.

Chinese fans

When he arrived at Changsha airport in China for the first time on 4 January 2016, he only had one Chinese fan there but recently so many Chinese fans wait at the airport to welcome him. It was the first official visit to China, he unofficially visited Beijing on 21 December 2015 prior to the official visit to Changsha.

Income

Hwang said that it's true he earns more than before, however it doesn't mean that he could make good money.

Being stinge (one of Hwang's nicknames is Scrooge)

The interviewer asked Hwang if he turns the heating system on while he stays at home. MBC TV show, in 'I live alone', Hwang has shown how he lives saving electricity and on heating as much as possible. He said, one day when he was signing an autograph for a Chinese fan in China and she all of a sudden, shouted in Korean "Turn the boiler on!" Boiler is a Korean heating system. He asked her if she was Korean in Korean language but she said in Chinese "I don't understand." She only memorized that sentence in Korean.

What he hopes

First of all, he hopes to survive until the last episode of I am a singer and around March 2016, release the new album in South Korea and China simultaneously.