Kim Kyu-jong (; born February 24, 1987) is a South Korean entertainer, actor, and a member of boyband SS501.
He made his musical debut in Goong: Musical, playing the lead role of Lee Shin, and debut as a solo artist in September 2011 with his mini album Turn Me On.
Career
Early life
Kim Kyu Jong was born on February 24, 1987, in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea. His family consists of his parents and a younger sister, Kim Eun-ah.
He studied at Baekje Arts College, and applied music.
2005-2009: SS501 Debut
Kim Kyu Jong debuted as a member of SS501 on June 8, 2005, along with their debut album entitled Warning. Their second mini album, Snow Prince was released in late 2005, five months after their debut. During this time, they already established their official fan club name, "Triple S", and its color, pearl green. The group earned popularity right away as they won many rookie awards after their debut.
He started his acting career with a role in Mnet hip-hop music drama Break on May 11, 2006. Kim, along with the members of SS501, except for Heo Young-Saeng who was recovering from surgery, lent their voices to the Korean version of the 2006 animated film Pi's Story.
On August 21, 2006, when fellow member Heo Young-Saeng left the radio programme SS501's Youngstreet on Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) due to a throat condition requiring laryngeal surgery, he took over being the DJ, and continued to host the programme with fellow member Park Jung-min.
SS501 soon promoted their first studio album S.T 01 Now. In late 2007, they expanded their activities in the Japanese market to challenge themselves outside Korea with the release of their Japanese single Kokoro, along with the establishment of "Triple S Japan". After the single debuted at #5, they had 2 more successful releases in Japan entitled Distance and SS501. In around one year in Japan, they received the Newcomer Award by Japan Gold Disc Award in January 2008; this was the first time for Korean artists to receive this award.
Having built their foundation as artists in both countries, they continually released singles and albums back-and-forth such as Deja Vu in Korea and Lucky Days in Japan, both released in 2008. However, they stopped their activities as a group for a period of time as Park Jung-Min and Kim Hyun-Joong were given solo projects for Grease musical and Boys Over Flowers series respectively. Yet, the three remaining members, with Heo as the leader, continued to promote, dubbed as the SS501 Project Group. They released a project album named U R Man in November 2008, with high tempo dance title track "UR Man". They also contributed to the Boys Over Flowers soundtrack with "내 머리가 나빠서" (Because I'm Stupid), and appeared as a cameo in episode four, performing their track "U R Man". The track won Song of the Month for February at the 32nd Cyworld Digital Music Awards on March 28, 2009, as well as the Best OST of the year during the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
On November 21, 2008, Kim joined as one of the regular hosts on MBC's God Of Cookery Expedition. In 2009-2010, SS501 released All My Love, Solo Collection, Rebirth, and Destination consecutively before their contracts ended. Kim wrote the lyrics for his solo track, "Never Let You Go", as well as the lyrics for his part of "완.두.콩." (Green Peas), a song written for their fans.
2010-2011: Leaving DSP Media and solo debut
In June 2010, upon the expiration of SS501's contract with DSP Media, Kim along with fellow band member Heo, signed with B2M Entertainment, the agency of former DSP Media singer Lee Hyori, to embark on his solo career. Later on, Kim and Heo held a joint fan meeting, Kyu Jong & Young Saeng Story In Seoul on December 4, which continued in Hong Kong, Japan and countries across Asia.
Kim made his musical theatre debut in Goong: Musical (뮤지컬 궁), a spin-off of the television drama, in Korea. He took over the role of male lead Lee Shin, from U-Know Yunho of TVXQ. He performed this musical at Minami-za in Kyoto, Japan from June 11 to July 1, and subsequently in Seoul, Korea in September 2011.
On September 27, 2011, he released his debut solo mini album, Turn Me On with "Yesterday" as its title track It features a rap part by Heo Young-saeng in the dance track "My Love", and Yang Jiwon of Spica in the Yesterday music video. The teaser video for "Yesterday" was released on September 22.