An early Slipped Disc star is dead at 27
mainWalking down Abbey Road one summer’s morning in 2011, I found the the studios besieged by a thousand teenaged girls in scenes unseen since the Beatles.
Back at my desk I shared this pop phenomenon – a South Korean band called SHINee – on Slipped Disc. Withing an hour, the site surged with new readers.
It is with great sadness that I learn that Kim Jonghyun, the group’s lead singer, was found dead today in his apartment in the Gangnam district of Seoul. He had reportedly been suffering from depression.
May his soul rest in peace.
Boy bands are massively popular in South Korea and the rest of Asia, but the pressure on the members is enormous. Once a group is put together, it takes at least two years of strenuous rehearsing before they start performing. In this period most will be forced to have plastic surgery to ensure all fit the required ‘look’. Their performances and tours are then not just physically draining, the members have absolutely no lives of their own. Asian media are now quoting police reports that this young man took his own life after sending a final text to his sister which starts, “Please let me go.”. Sadly, the outpouring of grief now shown by his huge fan base is unlikely to result in any change to the lives these young artists are forced to lead. RIP.