Joo Hyun-mi

Joo Hyun-mi was born on September 27, 1961 in Gwangju, South Korea to a South Korean mother and a father from Shandong, China.^[2][8] When she was a child, her parents moved to Taiwan to try to improve the family's financial situation, leaving Joo and her three younger siblings in the care of their grandmother.^[9] Following her grandmother's death, Joo raised her younger siblings alone, relying on money her mother sent from Taiwan.^[9] Joo was a citizen of Taiwan until adulthood when she became a South Korean citizen.^[10]

Joo attended Seoul Chinese Primary School and studied pharmacy at Chung-Ang University.^[11][8] While in university, she received an award for competing in the MBC Riverside Song Festival. After graduation, she worked as a pharmacist in Seoul.^[8]

Joo debuted as a singer in 1984 with the trot medley album Couple's Party, which sold 3 million copies, primarily through cassette tape sales at highway rest stops.^[12][13] The following year, in 1985, she released her first album of original songs, featuring the single "Rainy Yeongdong Bridge", which became one of her signature songs.^[14] That year, she won awards for Best New Artist at both the KBS Music Awards and MBC Gayo Daejejeon.^[15]

Over the next few years, Joo released several hit albums, including 1988's That Man in Shinsadong. The album and its lead single of the same name swept the year-end music awards shows, garnering Joo awards for Album of the Year at the Golden Disc Awards, the Grand Prize at the KBS Music Awards, and the two top awards for Most Popular Song and Most Popular Singer at the MBC Gayo Daejejeon.^[16]

In 1988, Joo married singer and guitarist Lim Dong-shin (임동신), who performed on Cho Yong-pil's album Cho Yong Pil and the Great Birth.^[17][8] They have two children.^[18]