| Kim Woo-sung | |
| Native Name: | 김우성 |
| Birth Date: | 25 February 1993 |
| Birth Place: | Wonju, Gangwon, South Korea[1] |
| Years Active: | 2017–present |
| Label: | Woolfpack, Transparent Arts |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul: | 김우성 |
| Rr: | Gim U-seong |
| Mr: | Kim Usŏng |
Kim Woo-sung (Korean: 김우성, born February 25, 1993), also known as Woosung and Sammy, is a Korean-American singer–songwriter, composer and producer, best known as vocalist and electric guitarist of South Korean band The Rose. He made his solo debut on July 25, 2019, with the extended play Wolf.[2] [3]
Woosung was born in Wonju in South Korea and spent his childhood in the United States.[4] [5] He had aspired to play American football, until suffering a shoulder injury in ninth grade.[6]
See main article: The Rose (band). In 2011, he auditioned for the South Korean reality TV competition series K-pop Star.[4] [6] After being eliminated, he took a break from music and taught English in Korea.
He debuted on August 3, 2017, as a vocalist and electric guitarist of rock band, The Rose which consists of members Kim Woosung (English name: Sammy), Park Dojoon (English name: Leo), Lee Hajoon (English name: Dylan), and Lee Jaehyeong (English name: Jeff).[7] [8] He was the last member to join the band. The band debuted with their single "Sorry".
On March 20, 2019, it was announced on Twitter that Kim will be the third MC on After School Club, replacing Seungmin. Kim would MC along with Park Jimin and Han Hee-jun beginning with episode 361 on March 26, 2019.[9]
Kim's pre-release single "Lonely" came out on July 19, 2019.[10] His first extended play Wolf was released the following week on July 25, along with the title track "Face". The music video for "Face" was directed by Lee Rae Kyung and quickly amassed more than 20 million views on YouTube.[11] The EP peaked at number 19 on the Gaon Album Chart.
In 2020, Woosung lent his vocals to the original soundtrack of the award-winning K-drama series, Itaewon Class, for a track titled "You Make Me Back".
His full-length album Genre was released under his own indie label, Woolfpack, on December 9, 2021.[12] [13] It included collaborations with KARD’s BM on ‘CWS’ and Ladies’ Code’s Ashley on ‘Oh’, alongside previously released songs "Dimples" (September 2021) and "Lazy" (July 2021).[14] He then opened for Epik High on their American tour from March 1 to April 12, 2022.[15]
His EP Moth was released on May 13, 2022.[16] It featured the title track, "Phase Me," which he introduced during his tour with Epik High.[17] On April 15, he started his own tour in Europe, the USA, and Canada, "Moth EP Showcase", which will end on May 26 in Seoul, for a special appearance with the presence of the members of The Rose for the first time in several years.[18]
In July 2022, The Attire, a Los Angeles-based duo, released 'Sriracha' featuring Woosung.[19] He also features prominently in the music video for the song.
Along with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, Woosung was featured on the track "Snooze" on Agust D's (also known as Suga of BTS) album D-Day, released on April 21, 2023. The song has received great commercial and critical acclaim, with all three artists' contributions being praised.
| Title | EP details | Peak chart positions | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR [20] | ||||
| Wolf |
| 19 |
| |
| Moth |
| 18 |
|
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR [23] | US World [24] | ||||
| As lead artist | |||||
| "Lonely" (Korean: 외로워) | 2019 | — | — | Wolf | |
| "Face" | — | 21 | |||
| "Beautiful Girl" | — | — | |||
| "Lazy" | 2021 | — | — | Genre | |
| "Dimples" | — | — | |||
| "Phase Me" | 2022 | — | — | Moth | |
| Collaborations | |||||
| "Sign of the Times" | 2019 | — | — | JTBC SuperBand Episode 5 | |
| "ILYSB" | — | — | JTBC SuperBand Episode 7 | ||
| "Cake by the Ocean" | — | — | JTBC SuperBand Episode 10 | ||
| Soundtrack appearances | |||||
| "Feel My Heart" | 2019 | — | — | Catch the Ghost OST Part 1 | |
| "Wanna Be Bad" | — | — | Psychopath Diary OST Part 1 | ||
| "You Make Me Back" | 2020 | — | — | Itaewon Class OST Part 5 | |
| "You Are My Star" | 2021 | — | — | Original Television Soundtrack | |
Note: all songs released by The Rose are written and composed by the band, and are thus credited as such.
| Year | Album | Artist | Song | Lyrics | Composer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credited | With | Credited | With | ||||
| 2019 | Wolf | Woosung | "Wolf" | ||||
| "Moon" | |||||||
| "Face" | |||||||
| "Lonely" | |||||||
| "Beautiful Girl" | Peniel | Jerry. L | |||||
| 2021 | "Lazy" | Reddy | Lee Gyu-ho, Kim Hong-woo | ||||
| Year | Title | Network | Note(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | K-pop Star (season 1) | SBS | Contestant | [25] | |
| 2019 | After School Club | Arirang TV | Host with Jamie and Heejun | [26] | |
| 2019 | Superband | JTBC | Contestant; his team ranked 4th during the finals | [27] |
| Year | Title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | "Face" | ITCHCOCK | [28] |
| "Beautiful Girl" | Kim JW Andy | [29] | |
| 2021 | "Lazy" | Valentina Vee | [30] |
| 2021 | "Dimples" | HYEYA | [31] |
| 2021 | "CWS" (feat. BM of KARD) | Valentina Vee | [32] |
| 2022 | "Phase Me" | Jonathan Chou | [33] |
| 2022 | "ComE dOWn"(Visualizer) | [34] | |