Terra Nova Blogs: Lee Hong Ki

Lee Hong Ki/Lee Hong Gi (born March 2, 1990), is a Korean idol, Singer, Actor and MC. He is the lead singer of popular Korean band F.T. Island, a South Korean rock band, is well known for his powerful and versatile voice. He is the elder sibling in his family, and has a younger sister who currently still lives with her parents. He has been attending Kyung Hee University since March 9, 2009, majoring in Drama and Theater. Before Hongki debuted as a singer with the band FT Island, he was first a child actor and made his acting debut in 2002 in KBS2 TV series Magic Kid Masuri as Masuri's friend. This sitcom gained popularity among elementary school students. He was also featured in Kangsooni, where he played the lead character of Kang Soo Bong, and sang for the sitcom's OST. In 2008, he was offered the lead actor rol in Master of Study, a Korean remake version of a Japanese drama Dragon Zakura which should have aired in the beginning of 2009. However, due to issues relating to filming production, the drama was postponed to the beginning of 2010 which led F&C to refuse Hongki's role because of his busy schedule with FT Island. Hongki later played the role of Lysander in a musical stage Korean version of A Midsummer Night's Dream where he showed and excelled in his hidden skills in singing, acting and dancing.

In 2009, he made a comeback in acting after a 5 years break and took the role as Jeremy, one of the main characters in the drama You're Beautiful. He also sang solo OST songs for this drama "(Promise and Still/As Ever)", which played a bigger role in terms of drama promotion. He achieved an SBS New Star Award for his role in the drama. Hongki is going to star in an upcoming Japanese Drama, ' Muscle Girl ' to be aired in April 2011 on SBS and MBC . He will film a 90 minute Korean-Japanese drama titled 'Noriko Goes to Seoul' alongside famous Japanese actress Takashima Reiko starting on the 10th of August to be aired on KBS on the 10th of September. He plays a young teenager aspiring to be a singer and meets an older woman who inspires him through hardships to achieve his dream. In 2007. Hongki debuted with the band F.T. Island as the lead singer. His strong and powerful voice is easily recognized by netizens and the media. Other than FT Island songs, he can also rap and beatbox. Hongki decided to leave acting and pursue a career in singing when he played the lead role in the drama Kangsooni, where he sang the OST song. At the end of the drama, he performed the song live on stage.

He was just 13 years old at that time. Impressed by his powerful vocal ability, a few people approached him, not wishing to waste his talent for singing. After competing with a selection of others, young label company F&C Music managed to grab Hongki and fully train him to become the lead singer of their first band, FT Island. During 2008 SBS Gayo Daejun, due to FT Island's extremely tight concert schedule, Hongki fell very sick and was losing his voice due to exhaustion. Despite his sickness, he still pushed himself to sing live onstage to avoid the disappointment of fans. After the performance, he collapsed and was hospitalized for a few days over the New Year. He received lots of love and full support from his family, all FT Island members, F&C Music. The biggest support came from Primadonna, FT Island's official fanclub. Because of the incident during the SBS Gayo, F&C decided to make a subgroup of FT Island, called FT Triple, which consisted of just 3 out 5 members in the band (without Hongki). The formation of FT Triple was to avoid their lead singer, (Hongki) from overstraining his voice and allow him to rest for a few minutes while on stage or during a concert.

Another reason for the existence of this subgroup is due to Hongki's tight schedule with variety shows, filming, recording and other individual activities. The band sometimes has to appear and perform in shows without him. Besides singing, Hongki can also play the drums due to his role as a drummer in You're Beautiful, and he currently has a big interest in playing the guitar. Besides the band/group activities, Hongki appeared the most among the band members in lots of shows due to his popularity after FT Island's debut in 2007. Hongki appeared as the youngest 'daddy' among 5 'daddies' in the Good Daddy 2008 show together with Kim Hee Chul of Super Junior, Kim Gun Mo, Yoo Se Yun and Kim Hyung Bum. In the show, despite being the youngest 'daddy', he showed his caring and sweet side which made him the favourite 'daddy' to both 'daughters'. Because of his closeness with Kim Heechul after the Good Daddy show, they were chosen to appear in the Save Energy campaign together. Both still maintain their close relations until now and their tandem is quite popular among idols for bringing a fun and happening atmosphere. Hongki is popular among the fans for having lots of close friends due to his easy going and fun attitude. In 2009, Hongki took part in MNet Scandal where he had to date a girl chosen by MNet for one week. The person that he dated was Kim Yeo Hee, otherwise known as Apple Girl who released her first singles My Music on 27 May 2010. Hongki also became one of 3 MC/Hosts in Music Inkigayo show together with Eun Jiwon and Yu Seul Ah from the beginning of 2009 to July 2009. He attended and appeared in many other variety shows countless times as a guest, which led to the shows receiving high ratings from his fans.