Cho Yong-pil

Cho Yong-pil was born in Songsan-myeon, Hwaseong, South Korea, on March 21, 1950[8][9] and spent part of his childhood in Seoul. He and actor Ahn Sung-ki were schoolmates at the now-defunct Kyungdong Middle School in Seoul and remained friends even though they attended different high schools.[10][11] When Cho was seven, he happened to listen to Ray Charles playing the harmonica, and this inspired the young Cho to become a musician.

Cho began his music career as a guitarist in various bands. In 1968, he formed a rock band called Atkins and played for the United States Army.[3][12] Later, he founded Five Fingers, which played music by black artists. In 1971, Cho joined the band Kim Trio,[5] which motivated him to perform rock music. Members of Kim Trio included Pa Kim (guitar), Dan Kim (drum) and Sun Kim (keyboard).

Cho's debut single as a soloist, "Come Back to Busan Port", brought him national attention when it was released in 1976, later becoming a hit in Japan.[5][13] Cho then made a Japanese-language version of the song, and sang live in Japan. He was accused of smoking marijuana the following year and was banned from performing until 1979.[5] His first album, Woman Outside the Window (창 밖의 여자), was released in 1980 and has been followed by many others. In 1980, he held a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, the first Korean singer to perform there.[5] In 1988, he became the first South Korean singer to perform in China, before the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.[5]

His commercial success declined after the rise of the group Seo Taiji and Boys and many other young musicians. His studio albums released after 1992 were not so successful. Noticing this, he announced that he would stop appearing on television, concluding that he would hardly make any hits. Subsequently, he focused more on concerts and music performance. In 1993, his Busan concert attracted an audience of 1 million, a record for South Korea. The following year, he became the first South Korean singer to surpass 1 million record sales. In 2005, Cho performed a concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, a rare occurrence for a South Korean singer.[5]

In April 2013, Cho released his 19th album titled Hello, which debuted at number one on the South Korean charts, eclipsing Psy's "Gentleman".[14] On April 25, 2013, he returned to television with the showcase "Hello". This show was also broadcast live on YouTube.[15]

The album ranked number one on the Gaon Album Chart for the week of April 28 – May 4, 2013.[16] Two songs from the album won first place on South Korean music shows: "Hello" and "Bounce".[17][18] Following the success of Hello, Cho reissued 14 of his old albums.[19] He later released a Japanese version of the album.[13]

In 2018, Cho held a series of concerts to mark his 50th anniversary as a singer.[4]

Cho released the single album Road to 20-Prelude 1 on November 18, 2022. To promote the album, he released a 30-second teaser video on his official YouTube channel on November 15. The video contains the titles of the new songs "Moment" and "Like Serengeti". He will hold a solo concert, 2022 Cho Yong-pil and the Great Birth, at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul on November 26–27 and December 3–4.[20]