Yoo Hee Yeol (1971)

Other Name: 유희열 柳喜烈 You Hee Yeol

Age: 53

Birthday: April, 19, 1971

Nationality: Cheongun-dong, Seoul, South Korea

Height: 185 CM

Zodiac sign: Aries

You Hee Yeol is a South Korean singer-songwriter, radio DJ, and the host of "You Hee Yeol's Sketchbook". He is the founder of the record label Antenna Music and the sole member of the project band Toy.

You Hee Yeol was born in Seoul and attended Kyungbock High School. He graduated from Seoul National University's College of Music with a major in composition. He first appeared in the local pop music scene by winning the grand prize at the fourth "You Jae Ha Music Contest" held in 1992 with the song "The Moonlight Song" (달빛의 노래).

In 1994, he started the band Toy as a duo with Yoon Jeong-oh. But after releasing Toy's first album, Yoon left the band to study overseas, and You joined the navy for his mandatory military service. Since 1996, Toy has continued as a one-man band with You as the sole member.

After his discharge from military service, Toy's second album, "Fairy Tales for Adults", was released, with the title song "Remember I Was Next to You", sung by Kim Yeon Woo, becoming a big hit. Since then, You has rarely sung the songs in his albums and instead features guest vocalists such as Kim Yeon Woo, Kim Hyung Joong, Lee Jang Woo, Yoon Jong Shin, Kim Jang Hoon, Jinu, and Byeon Jae Won.

You has also produced many albums for K-pop musicians, including Lee Seung Hwan, Yoon Jong Shin, Lee Sora and Lee Moon Se. In 1997, he founded the record label Antenna Music, then known as Toy Music.

In July 1999, You published a book of illustrations titled "In Front of a Familiar House". The album of the same title contained instrumental tracks in a range of genres. Besides songwriting, You has worked as a radio DJ, appearing on MBC FM4U's "Yoo Hee Yeol's Music City" (1999–March 2001), MBC FM4U's "All That Music" (October 2, 2002–April 25, 2004), and KBS 2FM's "You Hee Yeol's Radio Heaven" (2008–Nov 11, 2011).

Since 2009, You has hosted the major K-pop live music program "You Hee Yeol's Sketchbook" on KBS 2TV. The first episode was aired on April 24, 2009. The final episode (episode 600) was aired on July 22, 2022. Previously, he was swept up in plagiarism allegations which he later acknowledged that he unintentionally plagiarized Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Aqua.”

He was also a member of the judging panel for "K-pop Star 3" (2013–14) and joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live Korea" in September 2013.[4] In 2015, he appeared in the music video for Psy's single "Daddy".