Lee Tzsche

Infobox Korean name
hangul=이상은
hanja=李尙恩
rr=I Sang-eun
mr=I Sangŭn
hangulstage=리채
rrstage=Richae
mrstage=Rich'ae

Lee-Tzsche (born March 12, 1970) is a South Korean female singer-songwriter. She has a mysterious and exotic mood with a delicately female sense. During the 1990s she played mostly in Japan.

Biography

She debuted singing another composer's song at the MBC Collage Music Festival (1988). Her unisex image was cool and she quickly became an idol, but she grew disenchanted with the entertainment business and went to Japan and the USA to study art.

Her real career as a musician began with 'Slow day' (1991), a short but impressive album with adolescent girl's feel to it. 'Begin' (1992) was a transitional album - it had an R&B or house sound with the producer Kim Hong-soon, but only few fans appreciated the change.

The 5th and self-titled album 'Lee Sang-eun' (1993) shows her musical maturity. While studying abroad she felt solitude, but it made her music universal. Soon she went to Japan and cooperated with Japanese musicians, most of all Takeda Hajimu (竹田元). She made her 6th album 'GongMuDoGaGa(公無渡河歌)' (1995) as a perfect music director. With an exotic and mysterious mood, she received wide name recognition and was regarded as a real artist rather than just an idol. The rich and overlapped sound production shows her ambition as a music director. She returned to simple sounds in the 7th album 'OiRobGo UtGin GaGe' (1997). With her back-band, the Penguins (with Takeda Hajimu) she became a troubadour with a serene mood. It was the most brilliant era of her musical life, until now.

From the 8th and self titled 'Lee Tszche' (1997), she released albums aimed at the world-wide market with Toshiba EMI. Half of the tracks were English versions of her old numbers, and the other half new tracks in English. It led to the second English album 'Asian Prescription' (1999).

She is becoming more popular in Korea.

Discography

The Idol Era
* (1989) Happy Birthday
* (1989) SaRangHalGgeoYa

As Lee Sang-eun
* (1991) Slowdays
* (1992) Begin
* (1993) Lee Sang-eun
* (1995) GongMuDoHaGa
* (1997) OiRopGo UtGinGaGe

As Lee Tzsche
* (1997) Lee-Tzsche
** English version compilation
* (1998) Give it All OST
* (1999) Asian Prescription
** English version compilation
* (2000) She Wanted OST
* (2001) Endless Lay
* (2003) SinBiCheHeom
* (2005) Roman Topia

ee also

* Contemporary culture of South Korea
* List of Korean musicians

External links

* [http://www.leesangeun.com Lee Tzsche] - official site and biography, in Korean
* [http://www.mizzk.com/lee-tzsche Mizz] - unofficial site partly in English
* [http://koreanrock.com/kr.pl?LeeSangEun koreanrock.com] - reviews in English