Kim Dong-ryul

Kim Dong-ryul (; born March 15, 1974) is a South Korean singer-songwriter. He composes, arranges, writes lyrics, produces, and performs his own music. He has been active since 1993.

Career Exhibition era (1993–1997) As an architectural major in Yonsei University, Kim Dong-ryul formed the duet Exhibition with his close friend, Seo Dong-wook. Dong-ryul composed their songs and played the piano while Dong-wook played bass guitar.

The duet became famous through an MBC University Song Festival in 1993. They emerged champion and won the special prize with the song "In Dreams" which Seo wrote and Kim composed. From then onwards, Kim began his career of singing, composing, and writing lyrics.

Exhibition's self-titled first album, which famous singer Shin Hae-cheol produced and featured on, was released in May 1994. Even though the duet were new figures in the world of popular music, they did the composing, piano, bass, and computer programming themselves. The album received positive reviews and climbed onto the top ten chart, going on to sell over 600,000 copies.

In 1994, Kim and Seo enlisted in military service together. Upon release, the duet released their second album Strangers in 1996. The album was also produced by Shin Hae-cheol, and instrumentalists Yi Byeong-woo, Kim Se-hwang, and Jeong Won-young participated in it. Strangers also received positive reviews from critics, but there was a plagiarism dispute regarding "A Testament", a song on the album. The song came under suspicion because of its similarity to "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky", from the soundtrack in Studio Ghibli's animated film Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Experts decided that the main melody and ways of using instruments were similar, so "A Testament" became a dishonourable song for the duet.

In 1997, the duet decided to return to normal school life. They then released their last album Graduation with five songs which had special personal meanings for them.

Carnival era After disbanding, Seo Dong-wook became a normal student. But Kim Dong-ryul said, "The only thing I can do is music." He created the project group Carnival with Lee Juck, with whom he became close with through the Jam concert of a popular radio program, At Starry Nights. Both of them were 24, singers and composers. But their music styles were very different. Kim Dong-ryul's songs were still slightly naive and mostly standard classical ballads, while Lee Juck's songs were poignant and heretical.

The two decided to collaborate and their music was of the funk genre. They worked with world-famous brass session team, Jerry Hey, and Korean singer and jazz pianist, Kim Gwang-min; subsequently they released the album Carnival in 1997. It had a retro theme, and was a great success for them. They won the Golden Disc Award. Critics wrote that he had managed to create a new ballad style which featured classical and polished melodies.

After graduating top of his class, Kim returned to Korea and released his fourth solo album Exposing in 2004. The song "At Long Last" from this album topped the KBS charts in April. Kim had tried to incorporate some new music styles in Exposing, such as bossa nova, samba, and pop-opera. His music became more comprehensive and mature. Especially, song arrangements were more refined than before.

Kim Dong-ryul held his second solo concert in Seoul and Busan in August 2004 and released the live recording album Invitation in 2005. He put his music and experience of the past ten years into this recording album. From 2005 to 2007, he hosted the TV music program Kim Dong-ryul s For You and the radio program Kim Dong-ryul s Music Island. A 'Best-Of' compilation album was released in 2007. Most songs from the album became very popular among all generations.

After this breakthrough, Kim held three concerts in 2008. All the advance tickets were sold out in less than 20 minutes. The concerts were designed to be full-scale in every way and Kim rearranged his songs to be accompanied by an orchestra.

In January 2018, Kim released an EP, Reply, after a three-year hiatus which sold 14,374 copies in the first month of sales. In September of that year, he released a single titled "Song", which is an extension of his latest EP Reply.

Solo discography

Studio albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales KOR(MIAK) KOR(Circle) USWorld Shadow of ForgetfulnessReleased: September 22, 1998 Label: Daeyoung A/V Formats: CD, cassette 5—— KOR: 203,657 Hope Released: August 16, 2000 Label: Daeyoung A/V Formats: CD, cassette 4—— KOR: 190,758 Homecoming Released: October 26, 2001 Label: Daeyoung A/V Formats: CD, cassette 10—— KOR: 267,828 Outpouring Released: March 9, 2004 Label: EMI Formats: CD, cassette 222— KOR: 129,261 MonologueReleased: January 25, 2008 Label: Music Farm Formats: CD, LP 134— KOR: 112,662 Walking With Released: October 1, 2014 Label: Music Farm Formats: CD, LP, digital download 23 KOR: 57,435

Live albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales KOR(MIAK) 2004 The Second Concert "Invitation"Released: February 18, 2005 Label: EMI Formats: CD 16— KOR: 12,509 2008 Concert "Monologue"Released: May 18, 2009 Label: Music Farm

Label: Music Farm Formats: CD, digital download6 KOR: 7,728 Live 2019 An Old Song Released: September 30, 2020 Label: Music Farm Formats: CD, LP, digital download18

Extended plays Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales KOR(Circle) USWorld Reply Released: January 11, 2018 Label: Music Farm Formats: CD, LP, digital download 67 KOR: 14,374

Singles

Band discography

Exhibition

Exhibition (1994) Exhibition 2 (1996) Graduation (1997)

Carnival

Carnival (1997)

Verandah Project

Day Off (2010)

Awards and nominations Award Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. Cyworld Digital Music Awards 2008 Song of the Month – April "Like a Child" (아이처럼) Gaon Chart Music Awards 2015 Song of the Year – October "How I Am" (그게나야) Golden Disc Awards 2008 Album Bonsang Monologue Album of the Year Digital Song Bonsang "Like a Child" Popularity Award Kim Dong-ryul 2015 Digital Song Bonsang "How I Am" Korean Music Awards 2005 Best Pop Album Outpouring 2009 Monologue Album of the Year Musician of the Year Kim Dong-ryul Best Pop Song "Departure" (출발) MAMA Awards 2008 Lyricist Award "Let's Start Again" (다시 시작해보자) Best Male Artist Best Ballad/R&B Performance Album of the Year Monologue 2014 Best Vocal Performance – Male "How I Am"