SHINee Taemin and Minho on english esquire magazine

SHINee MAYPOLE

Lee Taemin

Lee Tae-Min, known as Taemin, is a South Korean singer, dancer, and actor. He is most famous for being one of the vocalists and the main dancer of the contemporary R&B and pop quintet boy band, SHINee, under the label of SM Entertainment.

Career

Taemin was discovered and recruited by his current label agency, SM Entertainment, at the "2005 S.M. Open Weekend Audition Casting."

After training for three years at his label company SM Entertainment, Taemin became a member of a contemporary R&B and pop quintet boy band, Shinee
The group debuted on May 25, 2008 on SBS's Inkigayo with their promotional single, "Noona Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)" ("누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay)," lit. "Older sister, you're so pretty (Replay)." Since then, they have released two albums and three mini albums in South Korea that were commercial successes. Since their debut, Shinee has won numerous awards. The group has starred in various shows as guests as well as in their own reality shows like Mnet's Shinee's YunHaNam and KBS's Hello Baby Shinee has also endorsed and promoted numerous commercial products like Smart,^[korean cosmetic company Nana's B,^[ and ReebokThe group has also recorded songs for OSTs of various films and dramas. Taemin and his band mates also participated in tours of SM Town - including the sold out SMTOWN in Paris (June 2011) - as well as in their own concert, Shinee World, held in Tokyo (2010) and Seoul (2011). Shinee signed a contract with EMI Music Japan for their Japanese debut in 2011.
Acting
Taemin debuted as an actor as Lee Junsu in the sitcom Taehee-Hyegyo-Jihyun! (Korean: "태희혜교지현이!").^[
Other Activities

Taemin has appeared on television shows such as Idol Maknae Rebellion as a guest star alongside his SHINee group mates Key, Jonghyun, and Onew in several episodes. He appeared together with other idol group members, including Dongho from U-KISS, Shorry J from Mighty Mouth, Jinwoon from 2AM, Yunhwa from T-Max, Seunghyun from F.T. Island, and Mir from MBLAQ.

Choi Minho

Minho (born Choi Minho; Hangul: 최민호, Hanja: 崔珉豪; born December 9, 1991), is a South Korean singer, rapper, dancer, actor, model and host. He is most famously known as a member of the contemporary R&B and Pop quintet boy band, SHINee, under SM Entertainment.

 Biography

Minho was born on December 9, 1991 in Incheon, South Korea. He graduated from Konkuk University's affiliated high school on February 10, 2010. After taking the college admissions test the previous year, he was admitted to the year 2010 of Konkuk’s part-time admittance for the arts and culture film major where he is currently attending. His father, Choi Yun-Gyeom, is a well-known South Korean ex-soccer coach. He also has a mother, and a older brother named Choi Minseok.

 Career

 SHINee

Minho is known as Flaming Charisma Minho and he was casted in the 2006 S.M. Casting System. He is the main rapper of the group. He has also written rap parts for some of SHINee's songs, such as "Get it".

 Other activities

Before debuting with SHINee, Minho modelled for Ha Sang Baek's Seoul Collection F/W 08-09 in March.^[
In 2008 he was the 3rd Youth International Video Festival "the aura" Goodwill Ambassador with fellow SHINee member, Key. Minho has been appointed as the ambassador of Konkuk University 2010. On May 23, 2011, he was named Honorary ambassador for Youth 2011He then received a name plate at the Youth Week celebration held in the COEX auditorium.
Minho hosts MBC's Music Core, alongside fellow SHINee member, Onew But do to oversea schedules, they are on temporary leave.^[ He is a permanent cast member in KBS's Let's Go Dream Team! Season 2. He is often dubbed as the "Ace" of the show, having won the challenges at numerous occasions. He was also a permanent cast member in the KBS program Oh! My School, also known as 100 Points Out of 100 ,
Minho was featured in Girls' Generation's first live album The 1st Asia Tour: Into The New World Album in the song "1, 2, Step" with Girls' Generation's Kwon Yuri.

Kim Jonghyun

Kim Jonghyun (김종현), also known monomously as Jonghyun, is a South Korean singer, songwriter and dancer He is most famous for being a member of the quintet contemporary R&B and pop boy band, Shinee and project ballad group SM The Ballad, both under the SM Entertainment label in South Korea. He is known for his strong and powerful vocals, as Shinee's main vocalist, the sole reason for his being part of SM The Ballad.

 Career

Jonghyun was discovered by his label company, SM Entertainment, at the "2005 S.M. Casting System" Before debuting, Jonghyun sang a duet, "Wrongly Given Love" (交错的爱), with Zhang Liyin for her debut Chinese album, I Will.

 Shinee

Main article: Shinee

After training for three years at his label company SM Entertainment, Jonghyun became a member of the five member contemporary R&B and pop boy band, Shinee. The group debuted on May 25, 2008 on SBS's Inkigayo with their promotional single, "Noona Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)" ("누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay)", lit. "Older Girl, You're So Pretty (Replay)"). Since then, they have released two albums and three mini albums in South Korea that were commercial successes. Since their debut, Shinee has won numerous awards. The group has starred in various shows as guests as well as in their own reality shows like Mnet's Shinee's YunHaNam and KBS's Hello Baby\Shinee has also endorsed and promoted numerous commercial products like Smart,Korean cosmetic company Nana's B, and Reebok.The group has also recorded songs for OSTs of various films and dramas. He and his band mates also participated in tours of SM Town as well as in their own concert, Shinee World, held in Tokyo (2010) and in Seoul (2011). Shinee signed a contract with EMI Music Japan for their impending Japanese debut in June 22, 2011 with a remake of their Korean debut single, "Replay".
He had written songs such as "Juliette" in Romeo, "Yok (Obsession)" and part of "Up & Down" in Lucifer.

 SM The Ballad

Main article: SM The Ballad

In November 2010, it was revealed by SM Entertainment that Shinee's Jonghyun along with TRAX’s Jay, Super Junior’s Kyuhyun, and rookie singer, Jino, have formed a project group, SM The Ballad, under their label. The group focuses more on ballad rather than pop and R&B themes. The group released their debut album, "Miss You", on November 29, 2010. They debuted on November 28, 2010 on SBS's Inkigayo with their lead single, "Miss You." They also promoted another single from the album, "Hot Times."

Other activities

In October 2010, Jonghyun was one of 20 idols from various South Korean groups that recorded the song, "Let's Go," for the purpose of increasing public participation in the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit. He provided vocals along with labelmates Sungmin, Seohyun and Luna.
He was also a cast member in KBS's Immortal Song 2 for two episodes with fellow labelmate Yesung.

In June 2011, Jonghyun recorded a song titled "So Goodbye" for drama series City Hunter. The song for ‘City Hunter OST Part 2' was released June 3.

Lee Jinki (Hangul: 이진기; born December 14, 1989), better known by his stage name Onew (Hangul: 온유; Hanja: 温流), is a South Korean singer, host and actor. Debuting in 2008 as the leader of K-pop quintet boy group Shinee under the label of SM Entertainment, he has since branched out into musicals and MC-ing.
Career
Onew was discovered at the 2006 S.M. Academy Casting Shinee
Onew is the leader and one of the main vocalists of the K-pop group SHINee. After training for two years, he became the leader of SHINee, who debuted in 2008 with the song "Noona Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)" ("누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay)", lit. "Older Sister, You're So Pretty (Replay)"). Since then, they have released two albums and three mini albums in South Korea that were commercial successes.

other activities

The singer contributed to singles for Lee Hyeon-ji (for "Vanilla Love Part 2") and Girls' Generation member Jessica for the song "One Year Later" in the Tell Me Your Wish (Genie) mini-album.^[

Onew also starred in various musicals starting in 2010, debuting in the musical Hyeongjeneun Yonggamhaetda (형제는 용감했다, "Brothers were Brave") alongside singer Lee Ji-Hoon. He then starred in the Korean production of Rock of Ages playing the lead role, Drew.

In addition to music, Onew became an MC on two programs — KBS's Yahaengsung^[6 and MBC's Show! Music Core.^[Onew have also started becoming a fixed panel regular in new — SBS's Show 'Dalgona
Recently, he has also showcased his acting skills via television having a cameo role of a clumsy doctor in the drama Dr. Champ. He appeared in the drama's final episode.

Kim kibum (key)

Key (born Kim Ki Bum Hangul: 김기범) also known as Almighty Key is a South Korean singer, rapper and dancer. He is most famous as being one of the members of the contemporary R&B and pop quintet boy band, SHINee, under the label of SM Entertainment.

 Career

[ SHINee

Main article: SHINee

Key debuted with SHINee in 2008 with the song "Noona Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)" ("누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay)". He serves as a singer, rapper and dancer in SHINee; hence being the "triple threat" and also gaining the title 'Almighty' Key. Key is often referred to as the most fashionable member of SHINee, and being known for his unique talent of learning girl group dances and performing them perfectly, he is also known as "Diva Key" because of those traits. Alongside those nickames, Key is also known as the Umma (mother) of SHINee due to his caring and sometimes even scolding, motherly personality.

 Pre-debut

Key was born on September 23, 1991, and raised in Daegu. He was a varsity water-skier in Dae Gu Young Shin Middle School. He was discovered at the "2005 S.M. National Tour Audition Casting". Prior to his debut, Key appeared in Super Junior's Wonder Boy music video as an extra dancer.
On November 18, 2010, Key took his college entrance exam. At that point he had already graduated from high school, and was taking the exam a year late as he had been unable to take it the previous year.
Key is also known for his multilingual talents. Since he spent six weeks on an exchange in America, out of his fellow band members, Key has the strongest fluency abilities in English. He also is fluent in Japanese, as SHINee prepares for their Japanese debut.
He is also known to be the most sociable member with the most celebrity phone numbers. He is known to be close to 2AM's Jin Woon and Kara's Nicole. In April 2010, Key and Nicole were spotted walking in Apgujeong-dong. It was assumed that Nicole was in the middle of a study session with Key as a textbook was in her hands. It was later revealed by DSP Media that "Nicole is currently studying for the high school exit exam. However, she is not studying for the national Korean exam but is prepping for the American high school exit exam." While SM Entertainment added “Key and Nicole are so close that they fool around even on camera. To our knowledge, the two meet often to talk and drink tea.”
 Other activities
Key featured in label-mate Xiah's solo performance of "Xiahtic" in TVXQ's concert, 2009: The 3rd Asia Tour Mirotic, in Seoul. In 2010 Key was featured in the song "치유 (Healing)" on TRAX's mini album "Trax Mini Album Volume 1".
Later, it was also announced that Key would have a small part in Girls' Generation's song "Hwaseongin Virus (Boys & Girls)" (Korean: "화성인 바이러스 (Boys & Girls)") on their second studio album Oh!.
Key has also appeared on television shows such as Idol Maknae Rebellion as a guest star alongside his SHINee group mates Taemin, Jonghyun and Onew in several episodes. Together with other idol group members: Dongho from U-KISS, Shorry J from Mighty Mouth, Jinwoon from 2AM, Yunhwa from T-Max, Seunghyun from F.T. Island and in the later part, Mir from MBLAQ. Key was part of the cast of the show Raising Idol, also known as Keydol by his fans.
Key also participated as a DJ alongside labelmate Super Junior member Leeteuk to fill the other members in errand for the group's radio program Super Junior Kiss the Radio (SuKiRa).
Key featured in Girls' Generation's first live album The 1st Asia Tour: Into The New World Album in the song "Barbie Girl" with Girls' Generation's Jessica Jung
He had performed a duet with singer IU for MC Mong's song "Love Letter For You (Neoyege Sseuneun Pyeonji) as a rapper.