Biography:

Sungbong Choi (崔聖奉; 18 February 1990 – 20 June 2023) is a South Korean singer. After passing qualification examinations for elementary school and middle school, he graduated from the Dae-Jeon Art High School, and made his famous debut on the 2011 season of Korea’s Got Talent. He was the first runner-up of the talent show.^[1]

Early life

Sungbong Choi was born in Seoul, and was abandoned at an orphanage when he was three. He ran away from the orphanage to escape physical abuse, took a bus to Daejeon, and started living in the red light districts.^[2] His approach to Jeong-So Park for a music lesson was a life-changing event. Park agreed to teach him for free and got him more support from the church and ChildFund Korea.^[3][4]

Education

After passing elementary school and middle school through qualification examinations,^[5] Choi graduated from Dae-Jeon Art High School, and went on to the Department of Cultural Art Management at Kyung-Hee Cyber University.^[6][7]

During his troubled youth, Choi claims he hid at a night school when he was 14 to escape area gang members. He learned how to read and write and applied for qualification examinations to pass elementary and middle school and enter high school. With hopes of learning music and spending his school years with friends, he entered Dae-Jeon Art High School. To earn school tuition fee and private lesson fees, he worked at a delivery service, but he suffered a grave injury while working the night shift. Choi seriously thought about dropping out of high school, and his music teacher testified that he was often absent because of the underprivileged surroundings. He gained admission to Hanyang University, but due to financial difficulties, was unable to pursue undergraduate education. Instead, he spent his days working as a day laborer.

Career

Korea’s Got Talent

On 6 June 2011, Choi’s performance of Ennio Morricone‘s “Nella Fantasia” on Korea’s Got Talent moved judges and audience members to tears. He introduced himself as a manual laborer who had made a living selling gum and energy drinks for ten years. All three judges, Kolleen Park, Jang Jin and Song Yun-ah, were impressed with his vocal talent. Choi advanced to the finals of the competition, finishing second by only 280 votes.

YouTube sensation

Choi’s performance clip was posted to YouTube and triggered a worldwide Internet sensation, receiving praise from pop stars Justin Bieber, BoA, Jung-Hwa Um, several hundred thousand fans on Facebook and also political figures including South Korea’s former president Lee-Myung-Park. One version with English subtitles^[8] has triggered international press interest ^[9][10] and a worldwide view that Choi was “the next Susan Boyle“. The video itself has received over 168,201,756 views as of May 31, 2017, and the number is still rising. As of September 24, 2020 the video has 175,078,474 views.

Controversy

On 4 June 2011, after his first appearance on the show, some people accused him of concealing the fact that he had graduated from art high school although he was rarely able to attend classes due to his financial situation and was said to have received his diploma out of pity.^[11]

The KGT production team explained that “It was cut from the film during editing. He stated that he’d graduated from art high school at the second local tryout, and the judges, crews and hundreds of audience members heard that.” KGT later broadcast the re-edited version including the statement.

Entertainment

After his appearance on KGT, other major entertainment companies tried to persuade Choi to sign contracts with them and he signed up with Sony Music Korea Inc. but cancelled the contract in December 2011. He is currently with Bongbong Company.^[12]

Health issues

Choi revealed in January 2021 that he was suffering from cancer and was fundraising money to support his latest album. On October 29, 2021, Choi admitted to faking his cancer illness. In an apology released to Korean media, Choi stated, “…I am not currently suffering from cancer and I admit that I am not suffering from colon, prostate, thyroid, lungs, brain, and heart cancer.”^[13]

Death

Choi committed suicide on 20 June 2023, after having left a farewell message on his online channel.^[14]

Credits:

Wikipedia