User:Dckewon5131/이철 (1903년)

Lee Chul (June 9, 1903 – June 20, 1944) was a Japanese-era businessman, musician, lyricist, composer, saxophonist and trumpet player. A child's name is Lee Eok-gil. While attending Yeonhui College, he faced a crisis due to an affair with Hyun Song-ja, who was Hyun Young-woon's second daughter, but succeeded when he entered the music business through Hyun Song-ja's connections. His hometown was Jeonju, Chungcheongnam-do.

An unfortunate early year
Born in Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do, he lost his father at the age of 19 and became the adopted son of Lee In-gyu, who is the age of a relative. After graduating from Baejae High School, he goes to the commercial department of Yeonhui College.

Although his family was in financial difficulties, he went to Yeonhui College with the full support of his adoptive father, Lee In-gyugoHe met Yoon Shim-deok and became close, and then met Kim Sung-heum, who later became his brother-in-law. The two worked together in a band specializing in performances, and Lee Chul also served as the leader of the band.

However, after dropping out of Yeonhui, he took advantage of his hobby of playing musical instruments and worked as a musician who played saxophone and trumpet in movie theaters from 1924.

While working as a musician, he also ran Baekjangmisa, which specializes in publishing music books, and ran a record wholesaler with his wife. Lee Chul's wife is Hyun Song-ja, the second daughter of Bae Jeong-ja's first husband, Hyun Young-un.

Affairs and opportunities
Hyun Song-ja, Hyun Young-woon's daughter, married Yoon Chi-oh, who served as the director of undergraduate affairs during the Korean Empire, but was expelled from the church after being divorced due to an affair with Lee Chul.

Lee Chul first met Hyun Song-ja as a member of the same church just before entering Yeonhui College. Hyun Song-ja was the daughter of a high-ranking official of the Korean Empire, the wife of the Yoon family, who had considerable social influence to produce the last Empress of Emperor Sunjong, and was also a famous social figure at the time based on her outstanding beauty and experience studying in Japan.

It is not known in detail how Hyun Song-ja and Lee Chul, who have a husband four years older, came to feel as reason rather than friends, but the secret love between the two was eventually known to the public in 1930. Both Lee Chul and Hyun Song-ja faced a lifetime crisis of being kicked out of church and school.

But Hyun Song-ja ran a bar called Troika, and she remarries Lee Chul. Later, she actively helped Lee Chul, who became her new husband, in the music business.

Lee Chul created the opportunity with the power of Hyun Song-ja. Considering Lee Chul's music-related career, Hyun Song-ja mobilized all her connections when she was studying in Japan to arrange for him to run a record company branch, and as a result, Lee Chul's Okerecord appeared in the world in 1933.

The music business
In the 1930s, the Ministry of Gyeongseong established Oke Records, a record production company, and although it was related to the Japanese Imperial Phonographic Society, it is regarded as the first record company established and operated independently by Koreans. Kim Sung-heum also participated in Oke Records with technical help.

In the early days of Korean pop art history, Lee Chul played an important role in entertainment management by establishing and operating the Joseon Music Theater Company so that artists can be used for performances as well as releasing albums. He is known to have discovered numerous popular singers, composers, and lyricists, including Ko Bok-soo, Son Mok-in, Lee Nan-young, Kim Jung-gu, Nam In-soo, Lee Hwa-ja, Jang Se-jeong, Lee In-kwon, and Cho Myung-am. In 1935, the project was successful with Lee Nan-young's "Tears of Mokpo" and other outstanding sense of box office success.

A later life
In 1936, Japan's Imperial Phonograph Co., Ltd., the headquarters of Oke Records, deprived Lee Chul of his position as the branch manager and demoted him to the head of the literature and arts department. With this incident, he withdrew from the production of the album and devoted himself to the operation of the performance group by operating the Oke Grand Show Company, the Joseon Music Theater Company, and the new orchestra.

At the end of the Japanese colonial period, when the music industry sang and performed exhibition songs to support the Pacific War, Lee Chul's band, which included popular singers from Okerecord, also became popular by touring Joseon, Manchuria, and Shanghai. He also served as the second representative of the Lee Dong Theater Company organized by the Joseon Theater Culture Association for the local tour of pro-Japanese theater and performances. In 1944, he died after returning to Korea due to poor health during a performance in Manchuria.

After death
It was included in the music section of the "Pro-Japanese Life Dictionary" released in 2008, and was also included in the list of 705 pro-Japanese anti-ethnic activities announced by the "Pro-Japanese Anti-ethnic Act" committee in 2009.

Family

 * Wife: Hyun Song-ja
 * Father in low : Hyun Young-woon
 * Mother in low : Bae Jeong-ja

See more

 * Okerecord
 * Hyun Young Woon
 * Hyun Song-ja
 * Yoon Chi-oh
 * Bae Jeong-ja
 * Bae Gu-ja
 * Kim Sung-heum
 * Kim Jung-gu

Reference

 * Lee Jun-hee, "The Hands of Midas, Lee Chul" and "Bobodam"
 * Lee Jun-hee, "The Hands of Midas, Lee Chul" and "Bobodam"
 * Lee Jun-hee, "The Hands of Midas, Lee Chul" and "Bobodam"