Lee Tae-min

Lee Tae-min (born July 18, 1993), better known by the mononym Taemin, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor and dancer. He debuted at age 14 as a member of the group Shinee in May 2008, and his success and artistic impact have led him to be called the "Idol's Idol". He began his acting career in 2009 with MBC's comedy "Tae-Hee, Hye-Kyo, Ji-Hyun" as Junsu.
Lee began his solo career in 2014 with his first extended play, "Ace". It peaked at number one on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart and its lead single "Danger" reached number 5 on the Gaon Weekly Digital Chart. His first studio album, "Press It" (2016), charted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart. In July 2016, Lee made his solo debut in Japan with the release of his second extended play, "Sayonara Hitori".
In 2017, Lee released his second full Korean album, "Move"; the title track gained attention thanks to its distinctive choreography. "Move-ing", the repackaged album, followed on December 10, 2017 with the self-written "Day and Night" as the lead single. In 2018, Lee released his first Japanese studio album, "Taemin", which coincided with his first tour in Japan. In February 2019, Lee released his second Korean mini album, "Want", with a title track of the same name. He became a member of SM Entertainment's supergroup SuperM in 2019.
Career.
2008–2013: Career beginnings.
Lee Tae-min was born on July 18, 1993. With a talent for singing and dancing, in 2008 he was chosen to debut as a member of Shinee at the age of 14. The group officially debuted on May 25, 2008, in the program SBS' "Inkigayo". Additionally to his work as a singer, Lee made his acting debut in 2009 in MBC's comedy "Tae Hee, Hye Kyo, Ji Hyun" as Junsu.
On September 19, 2012, Lee released his first OST, "U", for the drama "To The Beautiful You". On October 16, 2012 it was announced that Lee, alongside Super Junior's Eunhyuk and Super Junior-M's Henry, Girls' Generation's Hyoyeon, and Exo's Kai and Luhan would participate as a six-member dance team for the Veloster theme song, "Maxstep", the collaboration album between SM Entertainment and Hyundai. A video teaser of the song was shown at the PYL Younique Show on October 17, 2012.
In April 2013, SM Entertainment revealed that Lee would be taking part in the reality variety show "We Got Married" with Son Na-eun as his partner, replacing the previous couple Kwanghee and Sunhwa. In the same year, Lee made three-episode appearance on the drama "" as idol singer Ray/Yang Ho-yeol. In June 2013, he featured in Super Junior-M's Henry solo song "Trap" alongside Super Junior's Kyuhyun. In December of that year, he participated in the soundtrack of the series "Prime Minister & I", "Footsteps", the first track to be previewed on the series at the end of its third episode, was composed and arranged by Kim Jung-bae with the vocals by himself.
2014–2016: "Ace", "Press It" and "Sayonara Hitori".
On August 18, 2014, Lee made his solo debut with the release of his first extended play "Ace". The six-song EP peaked at number one on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart while its lead single "Danger" reached number five on the Gaon Weekly Digital Chart. The music video for "Danger" was released on August 16—its choreography was created by American choreographer Ian Eastwood and SM's performance directing team BeatBurger. Lee traveled to Los Angeles to learn the routine.
On February 3, 2015, Lee was confirmed for the cast of the first season of "Match Made in Heaven Returns". On April 14, 2015, Lee was also a cast member in JTBC's program "Off to School" alongside other celebrities. On June 1, 2015, he released the song "That Name" in collaboration with Jonghyun, for the soundtrack of KBS2's "". The song debuted at number 36 on the Gaon Digital Chart.
Lee released his first full album "Press It" on February 23, 2016; the album contained a total of ten songs, including the lead single "Press Your Number". Bruno Mars, who is well known for his hit songs "Treasure" (2013) and "Marry You" (2011), participated in the song's production. Lee told reporters at a media showcase hosted by fellow Shinee member Minho at the SMTOWN Coex Artium in Gangnam-gu, Seoul: "After my EP, I did perform with Shinee but I also spent a lot of time preparing my next solo album, […] I took a lot of private lessons for voice and dance, and looked over my past songs. I want to say that I’ve become a stronger performer."
In June 2016, Lee's Japanese debut was announced with the mini album "Sayonara Hitori", including a showcase on his 23rd birthday. The album was released on July 27 and included four new songs and the Japanese version of "Press Your Number". In June 2016, Lee was confirmed for the cast of Mnet's dance program "Hit the Stage". He performed together with his dance partner Koharu Sugawara, who is the choreographer of his Japanese debut song "Sayonara Hitori". He took first place in the second episode.
2017–2018: "Flame of Love", "Move", and "Taemin".
In July 2017, Lee held his first solo concert in Japan at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo and released a new Japanese song, "Flame of Love", ahead of the concert, which attracted 28,000 fans. Lee held his first Korean concert, Off-Sick, at the end of August for three days with a total of 12,000 audience members. Encore concerts of Off-Sick were announced on September 7 and took place on October 14 and 15 at Jamsil Gymnasium, which holds twice as many people from the previous hall. The two-night shows brought out 20,000 fans.
In August 2017, Lee's first Japanese drama, "Final Life: Even If You Disappear Tomorrow", was announced. The crime drama directed by Masatoshi Kurakata and Takeshi Maruyama is an original Japanese work of Amazon Prime Video and was released in September. It stars Lee and Shota Matsuda. The soundtrack for the drama, "What's This Feeling" is also sung by Lee.
Lee's second studio album, "Move", was released in October 2017 and spawned the hit single "Move". The album debuted at number two on the Gaon Album Chart and number three on the "Billboard" World Albums Chart. On December 10, a repackaged edition of "Move" was released, under the title "Move-ing". It added four new songs to the tracklist, including the lead single "Day and Night". That same month, he was scheduled to perform at the annual "KBS Song Festival", but pulled out a week after the death of fellow Shinee member Kim Jong-hyun.
On November 5, 2018, Lee released the self-titled "Taemin", his third overall and first Japanese studio album. 
2019–present: "Want", "Famous", SuperM, "Never Gonna Dance Again", "Advice", and military service.
Lee released his second Korean EP, "Want", on February 11, 2019. The choreography for the title song of the same name was created by Sugawara Koharu. The EP ranked on various "Billboard" charts, including number four on World Albums, making it Lee's fifth entry to date and number five on Heatseekers Albums, which is a new peak for the artist.
On August 4, 2019, Lee digitally released his third Japanese EP "Famous", with a physical release on August 28, 2019, through EMI Records Japan and Universal Music Japan. The lead single and title track "Famous" was released on July 26, 2019, along with a music video.
In August 2019, Lee became a member of SuperM, a "K-pop supergroup" created by SM Entertainment in collaboration with Capitol Records. The group's promotions began in October and were aimed at the American market. SuperM's self-titled debut EP was released on October 4, 2019 with lead single "Jopping". 
His third Korean studio album, "Never Gonna Dance Again", was released in two parts, in September and November 2020.
On April 19, 2021, Lee announced during his V Live that he would enlist for his mandatory military service on May 31, 2021.
Before his enlistment, Lee released his third Korean EP, "Advice", on May 18, 2021. The album features five songs, including the lead single of the same name.
Personal life.
In March 2011, Lee transferred from Chungdam High School to Hanlim Multi Art School to accommodate his hectic schedule during Shinee's Japanese advancement. He graduated in February 2012, but was unable to attend the ceremony due to the band's activities. Lee has been majoring in Film and Musicals at Myongji University since 2013. He is Roman Catholic.