The Korea Herald

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Tony An joins list of this year’s old-school comebacks

By Korea Herald

Published : July 2, 2013 - 19:39

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Former H.O.T. idol star Tony An is joining the list of veteran stars working their way back into today’s dynamic music scene.

Representatives of An’s agency TN Entertainment announced that the star is releasing his newest EP “I’m Tony An” Wednesday.

This is the first album he has released in more than two years since his previous EP “Top Star” in 2011. An’s new four-track album includes the electro-heavy lead track “Until Here…” and features the members of Big Bang and Se7en.

“An is currently abstaining from other activities in order to focus working on the upcoming release of his new full album,” said a TN Entertainment representative. 
Tony An’s soon-to-be-released EP “I’m Tony An.” (TN Entertainment) Tony An’s soon-to-be-released EP “I’m Tony An.” (TN Entertainment)

An is most popularly known as a former member of one of the country’s most iconic boy bands, H.O.T., which debuted in 1996. After the group disbanded in 2001, An went on to form the group JTL with limited success before venturing off into his solo career. Now, An has joined the handful of past idol stars this year looking to make their marks with present-day music styles of the 21st century.

The artist has also teamed up with former band mate Moon Hee-jun, who released his solo album “Begins” in June, as well as members of some the nation’s most popular ’90s groups with Eun Ji-won of Sechs Kies, Danny Ahn of g.o.d. and Chun Myung-goon of NRG to form the comeback group HotSechGodRG.

Lee Seung-chul is also another singer to add to the list of 21st-century comebacks with the release of his latest album “My Love” on June 18. The album marked Lee’s 11th studio album since he debuted more than 25 years ago and also landed the artist’s first No. 1 ranking on the K-pop Hot 100 Billboard chart.

The ’90s ballad singer Shin Seung-hun, popular today as one of the coaches on the “Voice of Korea” singing audition program, is also reportedly preparing for his comeback album.

However, this year’s biggest comeback is, without a doubt, the new youthful image of legendary rock star Cho Yong-pil. The 63-year-old rocker released his first album in more than a decade with his comeback album “Hello,” on April 23. Cho dominated the local real-time charts.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)