Lee Hye-ryeon (이혜련), later name changed to Heo Yun (허윤), (May 3, 1981 – January 21, 2007) best known by her stage name as U;Nee () was a South Korean singer, rapper, dancer and actress, she made her debut as a singer with their first album U;Nee Code.
U;Nee died by suicide on January 21, 2007, at age 25.
Early life and acting career
U;Nee was born Lee Hye-ryeon (이혜련) in South Korea. She had a difficult childhood and was born to an unwed mother. Her father died when she was young and she was raised by her grandmother as result.
As a child, she was known to be a very good student during her elementary school years, but later in high school, U;nee showed interest in acting and, in general, in show business, thus forming her dream of one day appearing on television and being a star, which her mother opposed. However, U;Nee secretly attended acting classes in academies and participated in numerous castings.
Her debut as an actress was in 1996, getting a role in the KBS teen series called "New Generation Report, Adults Don't Know", (hangul: 신세대 보고 - 어른들은 몰라요) where she played a narcissistic teenager. Despite playing a villain, her performance received criticism due to the self-centered nature of the character.
After her debut, U;Nee (then Hye Ryeon), went on to appear in Korean entertainment programs such as "Super Sunday" on South Korea's KBS2, which helped her gain moderate attention. However, the roles U;Nee received were self-centered and narcissistic like the one in her debut, which formed a negative image on her by people who did not know how to separate the acting from the person.
After these criticisms and added to her role in the movie "Seventeen" which according to her mother had a great impact on her mentally, U;nee decided to take a break from acting and thus set in motion her dream of becoming a singer, taking advantage of the hiatus to take singing and dancing lessons.
Music career
2003: Debut and U;Nee Code
On June 12, 2003, U;Nee debuted as a singer with the song 'Go (hangul: 가)' from her first studio album 'U;nee Code'. The song was included in games such as 'Pump It Up: Exceed' and 'Pump It Up NX2'. Throughout this time U;Nee was busy promoting the song along with her other song 'Double Trick' (hangul: 두번째 트릭) on music programs as well as appearing on variety programs. However, this song contrasted with U;Nee's personality, which was shy and quiet. This made her receive malicious comments calling her 'fake' and 'exaggerated'.
U;Nee participated in MBC's 'Kang Ho-Dong: Match Made in Heaven', in which the male contestants did a popularity vote in which she received 0 points, making her cry, causing a bad reaction on the internet. Rumors of plastic surgery would begin to appear on internet forums, comparing photos of when she was an actress and a child. At this time, a survey of singers who had no talent was made, in which singer Lee Hyori came in first place and U;Nee came in third place, proving that the internet hatred towards U;Nee was severe.
However, U;Nee also received good comments for singing live in her performances, even if the choreography of the song was very difficult. This caused U;Nee to form a moderate fan base.
2005: Image transition, Call Call Call and Passion & Pure – EP
After concluding the promotions of her first album, U;Nee decided to start working on her second album. During the preparation process, she took the initiative to keep in touch with her followers and fans by creating a personal page on 'CYWORLD'. By uploading a photo of herself, netizens noticed the change in appearance of U;Nee, who had undergone plastic surgery on her nose, chin and breasts. This caused her personal page to be filled with hateful comments and mockery about her surgery and appearance. U;Nee responded in the form of a post that the hateful comments affected her and she could not reply to the supportive comments but still appreciated them.
When U;Nee announced her second album 'Call Call Call' (also known as 'Passion&Pure' and 'U;Nee 2nd Album'), news comments were filled with hurtful remarks such as "don't come back" and comments related to her physical appearance and surgery.
In February 2005, U;Nee released the music video for her song (which has the same name as the album) 'Call Call Call', which managed to get a lot of attention for its horror concept and the sexy concept of the song. The song achieved some success in the music charts like 'Melon' but this would not be enough to boost the album and its sales due to the hate from netizens.