Lee Sang-min (singer)

Lee Sang-min (born June 24, 1973) is a South Korean singer, songwriter, record producer and television personality. He is a former member of the hip hop and dance group Roo'ra. He is also best known for being a cast member of the variety shows Knowing Bros and My Little Old Boy.

Early life
Lee Sang-min was born on June 24, 1973. Circumstances regarding his living situation made his family unable to record him on the South Korean family register for two years—his birthdate there was officially registered as February 3, 1975. When Lee was six years old, his father died, and his mother worked various odd jobs to make a living. Lee first started thinking about becoming a singer after graduating high school, when he saw singers in person for the first time at a club called Moon Night. Dreaming of a singing career, he rented out a practice room and trained his skills with Shin Jung-hwan, an acquaintance who would join Roo'ra with him. He graduated high school in 1991; in 1995, he took the Korean CSAT, aiming to study music theory at college. He was admitted to Seoul Institute of the Arts in 1996 with a major in film, as he wanted to learn about film music.

Roo'ra
Lee started his career as a member of the Korean pop group Roo'ra. He was the leader and rapper of the group, and his shouting rap made him popular. In 1996, when several songs from Roo'ra's third album were accused of plagiarism, Lee was reported to have attempted suicide. The injury did not put his life in danger, but he was admitted to the hospital and had his arm stitched. One of the songs accused of being copied was one Lee had written in memory of Kim Sung-jae, who had died a few months before—this was cited as the reason for Lee's attempt. Lee later confessed that it was not a suicide attempt, and that Roo'ra's manager had seen him punching a mirror and mistook it for a suicide attempt.

Producing and business ventures
Lee's first producing work was with the group Sohodae in 1997, where he participated as a producer on their first album. The next year, he put together the duo Country Kko Kko, composed of soloist Tak Jae-hoon and former Roo'ra member Shin Jung-hwan. Lee stated in 2013 that he earned 4 billion won per year during his heyday as a producer, overseeing artists such as Diva and Chakra. In 2000, he founded the production company Sangmind, which represented artists such as Kim Ji-hyun, Baek Ji-young, and Green Area.

In 2004, Lee opened the first branch of Gimme Five, a restaurant that combined drag shows, music performances, MMA matches, and various other forms of entertainment. The restaurant saw success in its first year; monthly sales averaged at 1 billion won, while 300,000 customers had visited by December. He was kicked from his spot as CEO in February 2005 after he refused to put a gambling machine in the establishment, and plans for a second branch were dropped after the death of a fighter. The restaurant's failure landed Lee in debts of 6.9 billion won (US$6,200,000).

Return to entertainment
Lee returned to the entertainment industry in 2012 with the mockumentary The God of Music, which centered around Lee forming an idol group under his company LSM Entertainment. On July 4, 2012, he released the project album "The God of Music — The First", and the following day he performed its lead single "As Time Goes" on M Countdown.

On April 3, 2017, it was announced that Lee would join the reality show My Little Old Boy, replacing film critic Heo Ji-woong. His first appearance on the show was on April 16, 2017.

On March 27, 2018, MBC Every1 announced that Lee would be joining the cast of Weekly Idol as a host, following a revamp to the series.

On April 11, 2018, Mnet announced that Lee was going to join the upcoming music TV program The Call as a host.

On December 18, 2021, Lee, along with the rest of the My Little Old Boy team, won the Grand Prize (Daesang) at the 2021 SBS Entertainment Awards.

In April 2023, it was announced that Lee would return to the panel of the reality TV show Heart Signal after three years of the series being off air.

Personal life
On June 19, 2004, Lee married actress and singer Lee Hye-young, whom he met in the U.S. in 1996 and dated for seven years. However, on August 8, 2005, the couple divorced, stating personality differences. In August 2006, Lee was sued by his ex-wife for fraud charges and taking about 2.2 billion won prior to their marriage and until their divorce. In the suit, Lee Hye-young claimed that her ex-husband bought a Volvo worth 80 million won and a BMW worth 100 million won under her name, for which he did not repay the installment debt and caused money to be seized from her broadcasting payment and bank account. In the suit, Lee also claimed that her ex-husband forced her to pose as a nude model for business purposes, taking 50 million won (~$50,000) for the contract and 30 million won (~$30,000) worth of benefits from the project. On November 28, 2006, Lee Hye-young dropped the charges against her ex-husband.

In December 2006, the police arrested Lee on the suspicion of operating a gambling website and receiving 210 million won in proceeds. In 2009, he was sentenced to one and a half years in prison. However, Lee appealed the ruling, and was then sentenced to 3 years in probation, 160 hours in community service, and 210 million won in fines.

In 2019, Lee was investigated and accused of embezzling 1.23 billion Won ($1,082,756.82 USD) in fees in 2014. In 2021, he denounced the accusations as a "malicious threat" and was never charged.

Discography

 * Blues Along the Way (2018)

Ambassadorship

 * Busan's footwear industry ambassador (2022)