SS501(Double S 501 /Double S Oh Gong lL)
S: Super
S: Superstar/Singer
5: 5 members
0: Forever
1: United as 1
Under DSP Media Entertainment
Official Fanclub: Triple S
Debut
SS501 debuted in 8 June 2005 with their first single “경고” (“Warning”), with a second single “Snow Prince” released in late 2005. The group was inactive in Korea for most of 2006, although they had a fan meeting in Japan in April. The hiatus was due to Heo Young Saeng’s throat condition which required surgery, thus resulting in a need for time to fully recover. In mid-2006, they held their first concert, “Step Up Concert” in Osaka, Japan. In late 2006, they returned to Korea in order to promote their first full album, which was released on November 10 called S.T.01 now. Singles from the album included “Unlock” and “Four Chance”. As well as promoting the album on various variety and music shows, they also filmed a show on MNet called SOS. On their 600th day (January 28th,2007), they won the Mutizen award from SBS Inki Gayo for their song “Four Chance”.
Entering Japan
Later in 2007, the group debuted in the Japanese market. A Japanese fanclub has been established with the name of “Triple S Japan”; it officially debuted on March 27, 2007, when SS501 had their first official meeting with the group. In Korea, their fan club members number around 41,700 Korean guys. The group had a Japanese single “Kokoro”, which had multiple versions, including one with all members and five others featuring the members individually. The single debuted at #5 on the Oricon chart,and jumped to #3 the next day. A full album was released later in the year.
Comeback to Korea
In 2008, SS501 returned to Korea with their single Deja Vu released on March 8, 2008. The title track was the first song to be promoted, and they started their comeback on music channel M.Net’s M Countdown. After success with their single “Deja Vu”, they began to promote their second single, “A Song Calling For You”. They performed their Goodbye Stage on Music Bank on June 6, 2008, to return to Japanese activities.
Boys Over Flowers
On October 2, 2008, an official announcement confirmed Kim Hyun Joong as part of the cast for the Korean version of Hana Yori Dango, also known as Boys Over Flowers, which is scheduled to be broadcast via KBS 2TV in the first half of 2009 with a total of 25 episodes. According to an official from Group Eight, the production house in charge of the drama, Kim Hyun Joong was selected to play Hanazawa Rui, or Yoon Ji Hoo (Korean ver.). He was the only flower boy who was selected without going for any auditions. After the show, SS501 gained even more fans and Triple S started forming and expanding, both in Korea and overseas.
Subgroup
Due to two of the members’ busy schedules, Jung Min performing in a Korean production of the musical “Grease” and Hyun Joong filming the Korean version of Hana Yori Dango, also known as Boys Over Flowers, SS501′s album, originally due for release in late 2008, was to be pushed back to July 2009. Instead, a subgroup SS501 was formed. They initially wanted to use Triple S as their group name but gave up the idea because they think that they are 5 members always as 1 no matter what, so they continued to release a special project album U R Man (released on November 25, 2008) under the name of SS501.
The three (members of the subgroup) also had a cameo in the fourth episode of Boys Over Flowers as performers in a club, singing “U R Man”. Finishing their promotional activities for ‘U R Man’, they went on to promote ‘내 머리가 나빠서 (Because I’m Stupid)’, a song they sang for the OST of ‘Boys Over Flowers’. This song is very well-received due to the success of the drama. They won the “Song of the month (Feb)” award with this song at the 32nd Cyworld Digital Music Awards (28 Mar 09) with about 110,000 downloads for BGM at www.cyworld.com.
2009:
Solo collection, second mini album and first Asian tour
They released their official second Japanese album on May 13, 2009 titled All My Love and had a promotional tour in Japan in support of the album. The group also released their Solo Collection, consisting of the individual members’ songs.
After concentrating on their individual activities, the group made a comeback and released their second mini album titled Rebirth, with the limited edition being released on October 20, 2009 and the normal edition on 22 October. The limited special edition album included two posters and a 100 page photo diary. Their comeback song “Love Like This” was well received, winning two Music Bank awards and one Inkigayo Mutizen in November. The group ended promotions for the album on November 29, 2009.
On August 1, 2009, the group started their first Asia tour,visiting Seoul, Tokyo, Taiwan, and Shanghai. The group will also hold a concert in Hong Kong and Thailand.
2010
Third Mini Album
The group held a concert in Thailand, February 2010 before holding their final concert in Seoul to conclude the tour. They were initially going to release a new mini album on May 1, 2010, however the date was later on pushed back because of the need to “add the finishing touches.”
On May 22nd, SS501 was one of many popular groups that performed at the 2010 Dream Concert. And being that Kim Hyun Joong was still recovering from his injuries, they only sang ballad songs.
A day after their performance at the Dream Concert, one of their mini-album tracks titled “Love Ya!” was leaked onto the internet. Not long afterwards, the teaser for the comeback track was released. On May 24th, 2010, due to the leaks, DSP Media decided to release SS501′s new mini-album, Destination online, which contains six tracks in total.
Credit: 5 Superstar United As 1
Wikipedia + Baidu + Youtube + (Chinese to English translation) rainaftershine.wordpress.com