백지영
Baek Ji-young (백지영, born March 25, 1978) is a South Korean pop singer. She began her music career in 1999, splashing onto the Korean dance scene with her first album Sorrow. The first single, 선택 (Choice), was unusual in that it was one of the first Korean pop songs to feature Latin beats. However, this catchy single, complete with Baek's dancing skills and natural beauty, propelled her to the top of the charts. She quickly followed this album with a second, Rouge, which came out in April 2000, selling 360,000 copies and cementing her status as one of Korea's most popular female dance artists.
Her career took a major hit, though, in the fall of that same year. A sex tape leaked out on the Internet featuring Baek having sex with her former manager in a hotel. The tape spread widely on the Internet, due to heavy media coverage and South Korea's status as a heavily "wired" country. A major scandal, Baek initially apologized, but then claimed that she had no knowledge of the videotape and refused to remain quiet. Baek underwent severe rejection from the Korean public. Audiences at her performances went so far as to throw straws and apples, amongst other objects, while she was onstage.
The video was recorded secretly in the hotel room without Baek's knowledge and was later used to threaten Baek when she attempted to change her contracted manager at the peak of her career. The former manager, who fled to the U.S., is currently serving time in a Los Angeles jail for charges of sex with a minor, which he recorded on video.
She released a third album, Tres, in June of the following year, and it sold a respectable amount of copies (the total close to 200,000). However, the scandal still plagued her; as a result, Baek took a break from the Korean music industry.
Two years after the release of "Tres", Baek released her fourth album Smile in September of 2003. Although not a runaway success, it managed to sell a decent amount of copies, placing 46th for the year.
As of July 2006, Baek is promoting her fifth album Smile Again, released in March of 2006. Unlike her other singles, 사랑 안해 (I Don't Love), her first single from the album, is a ballad. However, this does not mean that she has alienated her fan base; there are many Latin/dance tracks on the album. In fact, the second single has seen Baek going back to her musical roots, as Ez Do Dance is a sexy Latin number.
On September 7, 2007, Baek's sixth album, The Sixth Miracle, was released, with the lead single "사랑 하나면 돼" ("I Only Need One Love"). She won an award for the album at the Seoul Music Awards in January 2008. Baek released her seventh album, Sensibility, released on November 14, 2008. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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