Bada (singer)

Bada
Background information
Birth name	Choi Sung-hee
Born	February 28, 1980 Bucheon, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Genres	K-pop, R&B, dance
Occupation(s)	Singer, musical actress
Years active	1997—present
Labels	SM Entertainment (1997-2002) *Woongjin (2003-2004) 知人 Management (2005-2006) Raemon Entertainment (2007-2008) PL Entertainment (2008-2009) Frog Muzik Company (2009-2012) The Pro Actors (2012-2013) Sea Cultural Landscape (2013-present)
Associated acts	S.E.S. SM Town

Stage name
Hangul	바다
Revised Romanization	Bada
McCune–Reischauer	Pada
Birth name
Hangul	최성희
Hanja	崔盛希
Revised Romanization	Choe Seong-hui
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'oe Sŏng-hŭi

Choi Sung-hee (Hangul: 최성희, born February 28, 1980), better known as Bada or Sea, is a South Korean singer and musical actress. She was a member of K-pop girl group S.E.S.. Bada has currently released four solo albums and four singles. Bada won Best Actress at the 3rd The Musical Awards and has starred in ten musicals to date.^[1]

Early life

Choi Sung-hee was born February 28, 1980, her father is Choi Sae-wol, a faceless trot singer with a background in Korean pansori.^[2] Due to financial struggle during her childhood, especially after her father fell ill, she lived in a container home provided by a local church for nine years until her debut.^[2] In a recent series of lectures for youth, she has addressed her beginning and has encouraged students to not let their background become an obstacle in obtaining their dreams.^[3][4]

Bada was scouted by Lee Soo-man and entered SM Entertainment. She debuted as the leader and lead vocal of S.E.S., the first successful female K-pop idol group.

Bada studied theater at Dankook University.^[5]

Music Career

S.E.S.

Bada made her debuted with S.E.S. in 1997. S.E.S enjoyed tremendous success, becoming the top-selling K-pop girl group to date. The group broke up at the end of 2002 after Bada and Eugene parted ways from SM Entertainment, while Shoo stayed with SM Entertainment until 2006.

In 2014, Shoo & Bada made a special reunite on the 410th episode of Infinite Challenge ("Saturday for Singers"), performing two songs ("I'm Your Girl" & "I Love You") with Girls' Generation member Seohyun. Eugene could not join the others due to her pregnancy but stated wishing "she could have been there".^[6]

Solo career

Bada moved from SM Entertainment to sign with WoongJin entertainment.^[7] Bada release her debut solo album, A Day of Renew, has sold approximately 130,000 records, according to the Music Industry Association of Korea. Her second album Aurora, in comparison, sold approximately 23,000 copies. In 2006, her third album, Made in Sea, was a big success. In 2009, Bada released a new album called See the Sea which featured both Korean rap group Untouchable and 2PM's Ok Taecyeon.

Bada appeared as a vocalist for the song "City Life" on American electronic musician Brian Transeau's electronic dance music album A Song Across Wires.^[8][9]

Musical career

Bada became the first Korean idol singer to venture onto the musical stage in 2003 with the musical Peppermint, a love story about a singer named Bada.^[10] It was written for her by creator and producer Lee Yuri, who is also responsible for other musical projects such as Typhoon, Mother and Winter Sonata.^[11]

In 2007, Bada was cast in the role of Denise in the Korean version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tell Me on a Sunday.^[12] Right afterward, she took on the role of Esmeralda as a part of the original Korean cast of Notre-Dame de Paris.^[13] Her widely praised portrayal of Esmeralda gained her acceptance as a musical actress and won her the Best Newcomer Actress award and others at The Musical Awards and the Korea Musical Daesangs in 2008; she reprised the role in 2009.

The following year, 200 Pounds Beauty, a musical based on the popular movie of the same name, cast Bada in the titular role of Kang Hanbyul, an overweight ghost singer who aspires to become a star and undergoes extensive plastic surgery.^[14] Bada's turn as Kang earned her the Best Actress honor at the third The Musical Awards. She was recast in 2011 for the project.

In 2010, Bada played Peggy Sawyer in Broadway on 42nd Street^[15] and Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.^[16] During Legally Blonde, her mother died.^[17] Despite the loss, Bada continued performances for the musical until its final run and famously sang Secret Garden's "You Raise Me Up" on KBS's Open Music Concert just two days after her mother's death.^[18] She has since stated that this loss was the reason for her relative inactivity in both her music and musical career from 2011 to mid-2013.^[19]

In 2012, she briefly took on the role of Mozart's wife, Constanze, in Mozart!,^[20] and in 2013 she was cast as Marguerite in the first Korean adaptation of Frank Wildhorn's The Scarlet Pimpernel.^[21]

She returned as Esmeralda in the 2013 production of Notre-Dame de Paris.^[22] She then signed on to depict Carmen in the first Korean production of the musical Carmen.^[23]

Concerts

• Showman aLIVE (2006)^[24]
• Varacon (2009)^[24]
• Varacon Encore Concert (2010)^[24]
• Varacon X-MAS Special (2010)^[24]
• Alive Show Vol.1 (2014)^[24]

Musicals

Year	Musical	Role
2003	The Peppermint	Bada
2007	Tell Me on a Sunday	Denise
2007, 2009, 2013	Notre-Dame de Paris	Esmeralda
2008, 2011	200 Pounds Beauty	Kang Hanbyul
2010	Broadway on 42nd Street	Peggy Sawyer
2010	Legally Blonde	Elle Woods
2012	Mozart!	Constanze
2013	The Scarlet Pimpernel	Marguerite
2013	Carmen	Carmen
2014	Gone with the Wind	Scarlett O'Hara

Television

Year	Program	Dates
2006	X-Man	21 May 2006 26 Nov 2006 [25]
2009-2012	Infinite Challenge	31 October 2009 30 January 2010 30 April 2011 7 May 2011 11 June 2011 18 June 2011 25 June 2011 2 July 2011 7 January 2012 [26]
2012	Golden Fishery Radio Star	14 June 2012[27]
2012	Saturday Night Live Korea	7 July 2012[28][29][30]
2013	Adrenaline 2	16 April 2013[31]
2013	All The K-Pop	16 April 2013, 23 April 2013[32]
2013	QTV's Handsome Boys of the 20th Century	11 June 2013[33]
2013	tvN's My One Fantasy	10 July 2013[34]
2013	Immortal Songs 2	20 April 2013[35] 4 May 2013[36] 1 June 2013 - won[37] 8 June 2013[38] 15 June 2013 - won[39] 22 June 2013[40] 6 July 2013[41] 13 July 2013[42] 27 July 2013 - won[43] 3 August 2013[44] 10 August 2013[45] 24 August 2013[46] 31 August 2013 - won[47] 7 September 2013[48]

Solo discography

Albums

• A Day of Renew (2003)
• Aurora (2004)
• Made in Sea (2006)
• See the Sea (2009)

Singles

• "Start" (2006)
• "Queen" (2007)
• "With Me" (2011)
• "Precious" (2014)

Soundtracks

• I'm Sorry, I Love You O.S.T. - "One Day Passes" (2004)
• Spring Waltz O.S.T. - "Rainbow" (2006)
• Famous 'Seven' Princesses O.S.T. - "Start Again" (2006)
• I Love You O.S.T. - "My Destiny" (2008)
• Baker King Kim Tak-goo O.S.T. - "Only One Person" (2010)
• A Thousand Kisses O.S.T. - "Sweet My Love" (2011)
• Glass Mask O.S.T. - "It Hurts and Hurts" (2012)
• Goddess of Marriage O.S.T. - "Stay" (2013)

Musical soundtracks

• Notre Dame de Paris O.S.T. - Original Korean Cast Recording (2009)
• Carmen O.S.T. - "If I Could" (2013)

Featuring

• Rain's Bad Guy - "Like You" (2002)
• Dynamic Duo's Enlightened - "Dream" (2007)
• Windy City's Think About' Chu - "Think About' Chu" (2008)
• Infinite Challenge's Seo Hae-An Highway Music Festival - "A Song Only I Can Sing" (2011)
• BT's A Song Across Wires - "City Life" (2013)
• ZoPD's Golden Goose Part.1 - "Candy" (2015)

Awards

• 21st Korean Best Dresser Award - Female Artist (2004)^[1]
• Mnet KM Music Video Festival - PD Special Award (2005)^[1]
• 13th Korean Arts Awards - Female Dance Artist (2006)^[1]
• 4th Korean Fashion World Awards - Best Dressed Artist (2006)^[1]
• Korean Model Awards - Popular Artist (2007)^[1]
• 2nd The Musical Awards - Popular Female Actress (2008)^[1]
• 14th Korea Musical Daesang - Popular Star (2008)^[1]
• 14th Korea Musical Daesang - Best Newcomer Actress (2008)^[1]
• 3rd The Musical Awards - Best Actress (2009)^[1]
• 15th Korea Musical Daesang - Popular Star (2009)^[1]

Honorary ambassador

• Yeosu Expo Sea Love (2007)^[49]
• City of Seoul (2008)^[50]
• Save the West Coast (2008)^[51]
• We Start Recreation Headquarters (2008)^[52]
• Catholic Life Committee (2009)^[53]
• 3rd The Musical Awards (2009)^[54]
• Tour de Korea (2013)^[55]

References

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External links

• Bada's Official Site (Korean)
• Bada on Twitter