In this article, we are going to discuss the profile of one of the members of Fly to the Sky, Brian Joo. When they hear his name, of course, many people think he is a foreigner who came from outside South Korea. However, Brian Joo is actually a Korean who lives and was born in America, the United States, and returned to his home country to debut as a member of Fly to the Sky. Let’s take a more detailed look at the profile, career journey, and the latest news from Brian Joo in the article below!
Brian Joo’s Full Profile and Interesting Facts About Him
Korean Name: Joo Min-kyu (Hangul: 주민규) Birth Name: Brian Joo (Hangul: 브라이언주) Stage Name: Brian (Hangul: 브라이언) Place and Date of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States, January 10th, 1981 Star Sign: Capricorn Height: 176 cm (5’9″) Weight: 60 kg (132 lbs) Position: Lead Vocalist, Rapper Education:
Dankook University Holy Spirit High School Dongguk University Seoul Campus Rutgers University
Official Sites: Instagram (@thebrianjoo)
Fun Facts
Brian Joo’s Music Videos
Brian Joo debuted as a member of an RnB duo with Hwanhee. The group is already well-known and popular in South Korea and even worldwide with the music they produce and they even got top hits on several music charts. In this session below, we are going to take a look at the discography of Fly to the Sky throughout the years, as the duo that popularized Brian Joo as a musician! Fly to the Sky debuted under SM Entertainment in 1999 by releasing a studio album consisting of several tracks and also collaborating on other projects to compose a song. Fly to the Sky released their 1st studio album titled Day By Day with 12 tracks in it, such as “INTRO,” “In My Dream” (feat. HOT), “Day by Day,” “I Don’t Wanna Say Good-bye,” “Fly to the Sky,” “Wanna Be With You,” “Everything…,” “You’re So Beautiful to Me” (Hangul: 내겐 너무 예쁜 그대), “A Song for Love” (Hangul: 사랑 을 닮은 노래), “Warning,” “Love Forever,” “In My Dream” [Extended Version]. Their debut song was “Day by Day.” At that time, Yoo Young-jin participated in many SM singers’ albums, but only their albums had low participation. While advocating a talented group, the group also performed by holding a crystal microphone and lip-syncing. The debut concept is still often talked about because their hairstyle made them so embarrassed that they cried as soon as they entered the dorm.
In 2009, Fly to the Sky appeared as guests on a talk show, said that it was an old story that could be said, and at that time, Hwanhee said that he did not like not only his hair, but also the bridal make-up or the slim and feminine concept. However, it was a concept that contained Lee Soo-man’s philosophy of living when it came to life, and thanks to that, their first album and single “Day by Day” was a pretty hit for a rookie and won the Rookie Award and climbed to the top nomination. After that, the follow-up song from their 1st studio album, “Fly to the Sky,” also reached the top 10 on music charts. Meanwhile, another tracklist song, “I Don’t Wanna Say Good-bye,” also worked for a short time. On February 2nd, 2001, Fly to the Sky released their 2nd studio album titled The Promise with several tracks, such as “The Promise,” “Maybe God Knows,” and “The Promise” (remix version) which mostly contained ballad genres and upbeat songs.
On April 26th, 2002, Fly to the Sky released their 3rd studio album titled Sea of Love with several tracks, such as “Sea of Love,” “Condition of My Heart,” “Rains,” “I Know… But…” (그대 를 …), “Future Tonight,” “Say My Name,” “Trust,” “No More Games,” “In Love,” “How Many Nights, How Many Days,” “All My Love,” “5 Minutes,” “Resentment” (원망), “Sea of Love” [Fany Version] – Bonus Track.
The third album was a very monumental album for them. “Sea of Love” gave them the first place in music broadcasting. This song is also the only fast-tempo title song among eight regular albums. The fact that they received a song from Brian McNight also became a hot topic. The song title was “Condition of my Heart,” which was written by Brian McNight for them. However, he gave it to other singers later. At the time of recording for the 3rd album, Brian Joo recorded the album in the United States due to visa issues. Listening to the 3rd album, the proportion of solo songs is higher than the songs sung by the two members together. Especially, there are more solo songs of Hwanhee. Even after the comeback, Hwanhee had to stand on the stage alone for a while. On July 7th, 2003, Fly to the Sky released their 3rd studio album titled Missing You with a total of 13 songs, such as “후” (Intro) (After), “Missing You,” “Grudge” (한), “Habit” (습관), “2 Become 1,” “Magic Song,” “Still,” “Only One,” “Good to You,” “You,” “My Love,” “I’m Gonna” (Streaming TRAX), “Baby Baby Baby.”
The 4th album Missing You after that was the album that had a great influence on Fly to the Sky’s development as musicians. It can be said that it was the time when the identity of Fly to the Sky was established. In addition, it can be said that it is an album with a voice of joy using a deep heart. Shortly after the comeback with their 4th album, the manager became famous due to a traffic accident, and “Missing You” is also a song dedicated to the deceased.
The traffic accident involving the Fly to the Sky manager was so tragic that he could not be saved and was pronounced dead. As soon as Fly to the Sky members arrived at the hospital, they saw the manager’s wallet and body, and fainted on the spot. Even now, if two people need to sing a representative song, it is a song that is so emotional that you can pick “Missing You” without hesitation. The 5th album, Gravity, is the last full album released by SM Entertainment on November 8th, 2004. The title song “Gravity” is a song by Park Chang-hyun who made the 4th album, Missing You. Despite the high quality, album sales were below expectations, resulting in a lot of regrets. As it was the last album, it was even more pitiful because the push of the agency decreased as the end of the activity approached. However, at this point, they were completely recognized by the public as talented singers.
The tracklist on the album consists of 11 songs, such as “Stay,” “Gravity” (중력), “Goodbye,” “Old Skool Love,” “Rest of My Life” (열감기), “If You Go Away” (한참 이 지나도), “Take A Bow,” “Monologue” (사랑 을 모르다…), “Tell Me,” “My Neverending Story,” “For You.” After deciding to end their contract with SM Entertainment, Fly to the Sky had an argument because Brian Joo wanted to end his career in entertainment but Hwanhee forbade him because he still wanted to continue their work in the music field. Fly to the Sky continued their career under PFull Entertainment and released their sixth album.
The album, titled Transition was released on December 20th, 2005, and contains 12 songs with 2 songs that managed to become top hits at the time, which are “Blood” (피 (避)) and “Like A Man” (남자 답게). At the same time during that era, Brian Joo grew up as an entertainment star, released his first solo album with momentum, and Hwanhee was cast in a drama. The 7th album titled No Limitations was released on July 7th, 2007, which was having their lead song, “My Angel,” that went down low compared to the 6th album, but it still showed off the power of Fly to the Sky and got 1st rank on music charts. Like the 6th album, it was produced by Hwang Se-joon, and outstanding artists such as Pfull Entertainment, Jo Gyu-man, and his younger brother Jo Gyu-chan participated.
Besides that, Aoi Miyazaki appeared in the music video for “My Angel” about narcolepsy. The music video for the follow-up song “I Love You” (사랑해) was directly starred by Hwanhee.
The 8th album that was released on February 12th, 2009, titled Decennium, is an album that left many regrets and scars on fans in many ways. With the release of their 8th album, they declared that it was the last regular album. It was even more abrupt because they had been working well after releasing a remake album just a few months ago. Eventually, they ended their short album activities without any follow-up songs. It is said that it was because there was a misunderstanding at the time. The misunderstanding was resolved and reconciled on the occasion of the best friend’s note, the last filming of the two members. The album has 12 songs in total, such as “Decennium,” “Restriction” (구속), “Close to You” (feat. Dynamic Duo), “Just Go,” “You” (가버려 너), “Good Girl,” “Song for You,” 즐겨 찾기 (feat. Gary of Leessang), “Alcohol” (술), “Last Prayer” (마지막 기도), “It Must Be Love” (사랑 이겠지), “I’m Sorry,” “Tears” (눈물 아 미안해), “Whole Note” (온음표). On May 20th, 2014, breaking the long hiatus of five years, Fly to the Sky made a comeback with their 9th album titled Continuum. The title song was “You, You, You.” They made an appearance again on the music charts in South Korea. Based on the 9th album, the agency was H2 Media that was lead by Hwanhee. South Korean boy group My Name, also belong in there. On May 30th, 2014, the song successfully ranked first on the music charts.
At the beginning of August 2014, the news that they will appear at the 2014 Chuseok special was finally spread through the internet. During this era, they also participated in the SM Town concert and gave thanks to Lee Soo-man, showing a close appearance with SM artists at that time. On October 17th, 2019, Fly to the Sky released their 10th full-length album titled Fly High as the 20th-anniversary album. The fans can listen to famous songs of Fly to the Sky sung by other singers such as “Day by Day” by Baek A-yeon, “Sea of Love” by Ailee, and “Missing You” by Gil Gu Bong-gu. In addition, a remake version of “Call My Name in the Storm,” which aroused a crowd of fans at each concert, was included, as well as other new songs. The title song of this album is “Thank You For Being A Memory” (추억이 돼줘 고마워).
In addition to pursuing a career with Fly to the Sky, Brian Joo also had the opportunity to become a solo artist and has released several albums and singles that he promoted. In total, there are four albums that Brian Joo managed to release during his career in the entertainment industry. Let’s take a look at Brian Joo’s albums and tracklists in what follows below! On December 20th, 2006, Brian Joo released his 1st album with the title Volume 1 – The Brian with 12 songs in the album, such as “Living One Year in Winter” (일 년 을 겨울 에 살아), “Don’t Go” (가지마 ), “First Date,” “Because I Don’t Love You” (사랑 하지 않으니 까요), “Becoming Similar” (닮아 가기), 하지 말라고, “Gentleman” (신사), “Black Tear” (검은 눈물), “Into the Tears” (눈물 속 으로), “I Want! I Want!” (바래! 바래! (Feat. 윤동훈 Trepass)), “All I Know” (I Want! I Want! Remix Ver. (바래! 바래!)).
One of the singles in this album that has a music video is “Living One Year in Winter” (일 년 을 겨울 에 살아) with the theme of a music video that tells the story of a boy and a girl who are ballet dancers and have a touching story during winter. On December 10th, 2009, Brian Joo released his 2nd album with the title Volume 2 – Manifold with 13 songs in the album, such as “Dreaming,” “My Girl” (내 여자 (feat. Supreme Team)), “One Step,” “Erase,” “Tell Me Baby” (feat. Day Day of Dalmatian), “Lock Me Up,” “Bullet,” “Move It,” “A Friend’s Girl I Loved” (친구 의 여자 를 사랑 했네 feat. Tablo & Mithra Jin), “Tears Run Dry” (눈물 이 마르면…), “Do It” (Move It English Ver.), “눈물 이 마르면…” (Tears Run Dry Eng. Ver.), “Bullet” (English Ver.).
For one of the singles of the tracklist of this album, Brian Joo released a music video, namely for “My Girl” (내 여자 (feat. Supreme Team)) with a Hip-Hop and cheerful concept. Brian Joo was seen there with several back dancers dancing in a studio that had been set to be a city. On December 7th, 2011, Brian Joo released his 3rd album with the title UNVEILED with nine songs in the album, such as “Domino” (눈물 의 구성 요소), “Love Is Now Over,” “I Wish I Had A Promise” (나도 약속 이 있었으면 좋겠다), “24,” “Song 4 U,” “Domino” (English Version), “Loved,” “It’s Now Over” (English Version), “Loved,” “It’s Over Now Instrumental” (사랑 하다 끝났어), “Shine” (On Your Heart_ 단편 영화 “출발” OST) (Physical Only) [Bonus Track].
The lead song on this album is “Love Is Now Over” which also has a music video and two versions in Korean and English. The music video shows Brian Joo who is on a rooftop with a tall building as a background. The music video also has a theory about Brian Joo wearing a mask when he is in a public space and meeting a crowd which suggests that he has two different personalities. On January 26th, 2012, Brian Joo released his 4th album titled Reborn Part 1 with seven songs in the album, such as “Let This Die” (너 따윈 버리고; feat. Tiger JK), “Can’t Stop” (feat. Jay Park, Beenzino), “Don’t Tell Me I’m Wrong” (Duet with Jade Valerie), “Let This Die” (Extended Eng. Ver.) (Feat. Flowsik), “Can’t Stop” (Eng. Ver.) (Feat. Jay Park, Dumbfoundead), “Domino” (Acoustic Ver.), “Let This Die” (Inst.).
Brian Joo’s last album release was accompanied by a stage comeback with the track “Let This Die.” This song has several versions as well as a music video that was released with the concept of Brian Joo, which has RnB characteristics. Not only that, but there are also several scenes in the music video that show a romantic story of a couple.
