Park Back on Stage as a Singer
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Top Korean music producer Park Jin-young has made a successful comeback on major television shows as a singer with his newly released album.
Park appeared on the 2007 Mnet KM Music Festival on the cable music channel on Saturday and on SBS Popular Song on Sunday.
Park, clad in black and red sang his provocative song ``Kiss,'' and performed ``The House Where You Live'' with rising actress Song Ji-hyo in a musical-like performance on the SBS show.
The 35-year-old singer showed off his powerful dancing undaunted by his age and more stable vocals.
His comeback and his seventh album, ``Back to the Stage,'' comes six years after working as a producer for stars such as Rain.
Park made his debut as a pop singer in 1994 with the hit song, ``Please Don't Leave Me.'' One of the most successful singers in the 1990's, Park established his own entertainment company JYP Entertainment.
Since then, the CEO of JYP Entertainment has widely become known as a producer with the Midas touch. He devoted the ensuing years to producing albums for other new stars, such as g.o.d. and Lim Jeong-hee.
He is recently getting fresh attention for his talented production of ``Tell Me.'' The song, sung by an all-girl group Wonder Girls, was produced by Park and is gaining explosive popularity for its retro music and dancing.
Earlier this year, he officially opened JYP USA, a company that helps aspiring Asian singers debut in the U.S.
Park is renowned for helping many Korean singer Lim Jeong-hee to debut in the U.S. Lim will work with Grammy-winning hip-hop group Outkast on an album.
Park has already written and produced tracks for American singers and groups such as Lil' Kim, Omarion, Outkast, Will Smith, Nick Carter and Jojo. He was the first Korean producer to have had a song enter the U.S. Billboard charts last year, when he produced ``When Your Body is Talking'' by R&B singer Cassie.