Lena Park

Park Jung-hyun (; born March 23, 1976), also known as Lena Park , is a South Korean and American singer who debuted in 1998 with the album, Piece. She is also widely known in South Korea as her nickname "national fairy" due to her petite body and powerful singing voice.

Early life and education Born in Los Angeles, California, Park began singing as a child in the choir of her father's church. She won several singing contests before recording an amateur gospel album in 1993 when she was 16 years old.

Park attended UCLA for one year before beginning her singing career in 1998. She later transferred to Columbia University School of General Studies, where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature in 2010, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Career

1998–2002: Piece, A Second Helping, Naturally and Op.4 Park released her first Korean album, Piece, in 1998. The album sold more than 500,000 copies. She did not speak Korean very well at the time, which made it hard for her to connect with fans. In 1999, A Second Helping was released. It also was well received by both fans and the critics. Park's third album, Naturally, was mixed in both South Korea and the United States.

After a yearlong break from singing because of her studies in the United States, she came back in 2002 with her album called Op.4. More comfortable with the media, she became much more accessible for talk shows and performances. In 2002, her song "" (In a Dream) was a big success and enabled her to enter foreign markets, such as Singapore. The South Korean government select Park to represent South Korea in the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. At the end of 2002, a "best of" album was released and she played a series of concerts. Live recordings from these concerts were compiled into her first special live album in CDs and DVD. Park, along with Brown Eyes (band), Chemistry (band), and Sowelu, formed the special unit conveniently called "Voices of Korea/Japan" and made the title song for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Official Album – Songs of Korea/Japan. The Korean version of Mulan uses her song "Eternal Memory". She later debuted in the Japanese music industry where she received moderate success.

2005–2009: On&On, Come To Where I Am and 10 Ways To Say I Love You She is especially proud of her fifth Korean language album, On & On, because she felt that she was finally comfortable and confident singing and composing in Korean. It took her about two years to make the album and, during that time, she became very involved with the production and creative work behind the album; she helped with many of the song arrangements, played the piano and guitar for some of the tracks, and composed four of the songs on the album. In 2007, she performed the opening theme of the Japanese anime television series Romeo x Juliet, which is a Japanese cover of Rolf Løvland and Brendan Graham's song You Raise Me Up. The single also includes a cover of the English version. Her sixth Korean album, Come To Where I Am, was released on December 11, 2007. All songs were written and produced by herself. On February 27, 2009, she released her seventh album titled 10 Ways To Say I Love You with nine new tracks and "Secret" as lead track. On June 6, of the same year, she released a repackaged edition to include another title track, "Flood of tears" .

2012: Parallax After announcing the release of her eighth studio album, videos of her with composers she was working with for her album introducing her songs were released online. Shortly after, on June 19, 2012, her album Parallax was released with the title track, "Sorry" (Korean: 미안해), being a remake of the Spanish language song Mientes by Mexican pop band Camila. After that, in July she featured for the Psy song What Would Have Been(;ottessulkka), that sold over 2.000.000 digital copies in 2012. At the end of the year she released the Christmas song White Winter with Kim Bom-soo and the special album Gift, with a reboot of Parallax album songs and where she sings again the songs of I Am a Singer program.

2013–present: Mainstream success In 2013 she released the cover of Atlantis Girl , originally sung by BoA, for hwangseongje project superhero 1st Line up, the O.S.T My Everything for the variety show We Got Married and the O.S.T. My Wish/Only In My Heart for The Heirs drama. On September 18, 2013, she won the special episode of I Am A Singer - Best 10 ( Best 10), beating Insooni for only three votes.

In 2014 she started the project Syncrofusion with Next Year and the M/V of Double Kiss, closing it in October with "Syncrofusion ) 2nd Lena Park + Brand New Music" and a cover of her song Sweet (; feat. Verbal Jint) as lead track. She participated twice in the program Immortal Songs 2 , for the first time for Lee Sun-hee special, singing Turning the Pages of Memories , the second time for Michael Bolton singing Completely. In December she collaborated with Dynamic Duo for "SsSs" digital single.

In September she became an English-speaking DJ for the newest KBS radio show, One Fine Day, on KBS World Radio New. In December, Park officially signed a management contract with LOEN Entertainment (now kakao M)'s indie sub-label "Mun Hwa In".

Discography

Studio albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales KOR Korean PieceReleased: February 1, 1998 Label: DMR Formats: CD, cassette A Second HelpingReleased: March 26, 1999 Label: DMR Formats: CD, cassette 5 KOR: 300,522 NaturallyReleased: October 17, 2000 Label: DMR Formats: CD, cassette 3 KOR: 299,857 Op.4Released: June 13, 2002 Label: T Entertainment Formats: CD, cassette 2 KOR: 296,126 On & OnReleased: February 3, 2005 Label: T Entertainment Formats: CD, cassette — KOR: 44,375 Come To Where I AmReleased: December 11, 2007 Label: T Entertainment Formats: CD, cassette 8 KOR: 17,983 10 Ways To Say I Love YouReleased: February 26, 2009 Label: T Entertainment Formats: CD, digital download ParallaxReleased: June 19, 2012 Label: T Entertainment Formats: CD, digital download — The WonderReleased: July 18, 2019 Label: Mun Hwa In Formats: CD, digital download 45 KOR: 991 Japanese Another Piece (アナザー・ピース)Released: November 25, 2004 Label: United Asia Entertainment

Label: United Asia Entertainment Formats: CD CosmoramaReleased: June 21, 2006 Label: United Asia Entertainment Formats: CD

Other albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales KOR Released: May 7, 2001 Label: DMR Formats: CD, cassette 22 KOR: 30,336 The Romantic Story OfCompilation album Released: October 10, 2002 Label: DMR Formats: CD, cassette 18 KOR: 24,695 Op.4 Concert Project 4th MovementLive album Released: July 9, 2003 Label: T Entertainment Formats: CD, cassette The Immortal Masterpiece (불후의 명작)Compilation album Released: November 7, 2009 Label: Vitamin Entertainment Formats: CD, digital download 19 KOR: 5,825 Cover Me Vol. 1Remake album Released: November 18, 2010 Label: T Entertainment Formats: CD, digital download — Diva ProjectExtended play Released: August 24, 2011 Label: Monster World Formats: CD, digital download 37 GiftCompilation album Released: December 11, 2012 Label: T Entertainment Formats: CD, digital download 6 KOR: 2,718 Syncrofusion Lena Park + Brand New MusicExtended play Released: October 21, 2014 Label: Blueprint Music Formats: LP, digital download 14 KOR: 516

Singles Title Year Peak chart positions Sales Album KOR JPN Korean"My Day" (나의 하루) 1998 — Piece"P.S. I Love You" —"I'll Write You a Letter" (편지할께요) 1999 —A Second Helping"A Person In My Dream" (몽중인)(夢中人)"You Mean Everything to Me" 2000 —Naturally"I Can't Say Anything, Do Anything" (아무말도, 아무것도) —"Let's Get Together Now"2002— JPN: 200,000 The Official Album of the 2002 FIFA World Cup: Korea/Japan Edition"In Dreams" (꿈에) 18 KOR: 498,631 Op.4"Love Come Back" (사랑이 올까요)— "Lost Child" (미아)2005 11 KOR: 584,496 On & On"Moon" (달) — "Against All Odds" 2006— "Precarious Story" (위태로운 이야기) —"Love Made of Tears" (눈물빛 글씨) 2007 —Come To Where I Am"Sweet" (달아요)—"Miracle" (기적) 2008 — "No Break"— "Winter Kiss" (윈터키스)—"Secret" (비밀) 2009 —10 Ways To Say I Love You"A Flood of Tears" (눈물이 주룩주룩) —"You Mean Everything to Me" 2010 94Cover Me Vol. 1"Winter Dream" (꿈의 겨울) 2011 62 KOR: 158,650 "Good Night to You" (잘자요 그대) 61 KOR: 190,702 I Am a Lyricist "Person, Love" (사람, 사랑) 6 KOR: 810,617 "Mermaid" (인어공주) 33 KOR: 260,864 Diva Project "Peace Song" — "Arrivée" (도착) 2012 59 KOR: 120,434 Monthly Project 2012"Sorry" (미안해) 21 KOR: 221,191 Parallax"White Winter" (하얀 겨울) 7

Other charted songs

Web shows Year Title Role 2022 Take 1 Participant

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref. 1999 Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Female Artist "A Person in My Dreams" (몽중인) 2002 Golden Disc Awards Popular Music Video"In Dreams" Mnet Asian Music AwardsBest R&B Performance 2005 Mnet Asian Music Awards "Moon" (달) 2011 MBC Entertainment Awards Popular Singer Award I Am a Singer Melon Music Awards Top Ten Artists Style Icon Asia Style Icon (Singer) 2013 Korean Music Awards Female Musician of the Year (Netizen Vote)